Reflecting Helmet Stickers are required by visiting motocyclists in France
 

Some time ago ( 2000) the UN directive for the homologation of helmets was signed to an agreed spec by all nations. Annexed to this was a voluntary requirement to attach reflecting stickers to the helmet. France was the only country to sign up to this, but it is mandated in France that all helmets must carry these stickers, and that any helmet not carrying them is considered NOT homologated.

There have been some concerned questions about whether this law effects visiting riders, so in my capacity as legal moderator on a French based English speaking biker forum, I asked the question to the FFMC ( Federation Francaise de Motards en Colere). Their legal co-ordinator wrote back to me yesterday to confirm that France does apply this law to all riders in and visiting France, although to their knowledge no visiting rider has yet been cautioned or fined.

The reason this is relevant now is that since the scrapping of the retro reflective material law at the beginning of the year, the Parisian Gendarmerie have been very active with the Helmet homologation requirements, and helmets not considered correct ( ie without stickers) can get you a €135 on the spot fine.

This is a link to the recent reminder by the FFMC (in French) about the law, and it also gives the detail of the required size of reflective stickers.

http://www.ffmc.asso.fr/spip.php?article2487

more rubish stuff !
 

So assuming this is actually happening and all "visitors" decide to go down the route of "stickering" their helmets, where would one obtain such stickers? ( P&O ferries will no doubt be flogging them in the cue to board along with high vis and red triangles, first aid kits, bulbs )

Another point to consider; how does this affect the shell of the helmet, I have always been told and read in paperwork enclosed with new helmets, " Don't stick stickers on"

If I stick stickers on a UK/EU "approved" helmet because it needs to be French "approved" or at least match French "approved" - does this mean that it is now not UK/EU "approved" because it has stickers on which the manufacturer does not approve of which in turn leads to warranty being void as well as the manufacturer quite likely saying it no longer meets level of approval with stickers fitted ???????

As a matter of course I've always affixed 3M reflective tape to all my helmets. It's the highest and most visible part of a motorcycle/rider, so to me it makes a lot of sense.

I don't agree with the nanny government attitude, but as far as helmet viability I don't see an issue. The reflective tape has not hampered my helmet in the slightest regard.

doh

Dipped headlights illuminate the lowest level of the road ahead first. So reflective material placed at the lowest point on your motorcycle will be effective at a greater distance that that placed on a helmet...

So if you have a hi Viz top coat, like mine. But not helmet sticker. What's the score?
John933

One of the reasons that Claude Gueant introduced the retro reflective material law in 2012 ( now scrapped),as an adjunct to the 2000 helmet law, was to help highlight the presence of a rider who might be down off his/her bike in the road after an accident/fall. A lot of riders have been killed by passing traffic in poor visibility or at night as they have not been easily seen due to the usual dark clothing favoured by bikers. Gueant's law was scrapped by Manuel Valls on 1st Jan this year because it was unworkable and the FFMC campaign proved it is was useless. It is almost certain that the recently reconvened CNSR ( Conseil National de Securite Routiere) are redoubling their efforts to reduce the number of fatalities caused by such accidents by clamping down on the helmet reflective sticker law.

Reflective stickers can be bought almost anywhere very cheaply. ebay is a good source.

It is improbable that a visitng biker will get pulled up over this, but one should be aware that this local law has now come to the fore again, and my posting is merely information which if acted on could save you €135 or several tanks full of fuel.

This is about Helmets, nothing to do with clothing. If your helmet hasn't got reflective stickers on it, then in France it would be considered not Homologated.

The Marushin helmet I bought in France a few years back came with four retro-reflective stickers in the same packet as the instructions which, yes you've guessed it, told me that sticking stickers on my helmet would invalidate the warranty.

Perhaps - but when I'm out on the road at night, reflective decals on a helmet still are extremely noticeable at a considerable distance...
:cool4:

Thanks for this topic.
I will be travelling to Spain/France later this year, and was hoping to treat myself to a new helmet before the trip.
I will be contacting Schuberth direct to enquire about the reflective stickers on the helmet and their position on the issue.
I will report back to this topic when I get a response.
Taken from the Schuberth www on the S2 helmet
Reflex pads


The silver-coloured appliqués of reflective material which are in included in the nape zone of every SCHUBERTH helmet ensure that the motorcyclist can be seen better, especially in twilight or at night.

• Improved visibility = Enhanced safety
• Enhancement of the passive safety
• Early recognition by other road users

Would this be enough to satisfy the law in France??

Wot he said... and there is a good dose of paranoia/H&S thrown in.

I have this morning ( Wed 27th March 2013), spoken to a Legal advisor at the French Ministry of the Interior and discussed this law which is only in force in France, with specific reference to visiting riders. This is the response.

Code de la Route regulation R 431-1 annexe 22 05, states that all helmets sold or used on French territory must be homologated. In France homologation requires that reflective stickers must be attached.

As the code de la route regulations apply to everyone on French territory ''without exception'', then it follows that Annexe 22 05 also applies to visitors.

He did go and check to see if there are any exceptions or exemptions written into the law, and there aren't.

:eek3:

I reckon if your helmet says no stickers then it is a cheapo polycarb one which should go straight in the bin.

I have an advrider.com "Ride the World" reflective sticker on the back of my lid- would that do?

Unfortunately not. Four stickers required, one back and front and one on each side. Oblong ones O.K. as long as they are big enough or 40mm diam round ones. Any colour will do as long as they are reflective.

http://www.ffmc.asso.fr/spip.php?article2487

That is a link to the FFMC website that has recently posted a reminder about the requirement, and the detail of the required size of the stickers is included. It is in French, but not difficult to understand.

Stickers
 

Pongo,

That was a hard sell and an unpopular post for any number of reasons. Thanks for taking the time and going to the trouble. I hate the thought of all the crap that's come to be over the years and sometimes it's very hard to take it seriously. Most of the time it's ignore-able .. but the fines are seemingly more frequent now. In particular on coastal sides and generally closer to uk portal regions. 135 euros is better in my pocket than theirs' so cheers for the tip.

Moss

Reflection on French Stickers
 

It's a good idea. I want helmets with electroluminescent paint, or recessed LEDs.
I want a clear helmet and will put stickers on my head.
No seriously, I'm a tourer, and reflective tape on your panniers makes a huge difference. I'd happily tape my bright yellow XR1100.

Yep, I've just bought my reflective sticker material from ebay.
It cost a lot less than 135 euros.
I would expect Le Flic to be active on this issue around the channel ports and nearby routes if only because it is an easy violation to identify; "caught red-handed" so to speak.
I have a strip of the stuff, so any left over can go on my 4x4, or my panniers.

Liberte, egalite, refectivite!:D

Paul:

I suspect that the statement "the retro reflective stickers, once glued on, can not be removed without without damage to the helmet" is a poorly worded attempt to disqualify stickers that can be easily removed and replaced, for example, a sticker that clings to the helmet by static cling or temporary adhesive.

In other words, my guess is that as long as it appears that the stickers have a reasonably permanent adhesive, and do not appear to be designed to be repeatedly removed and replaced, the intent of the regulation will be met.

Michael

ok I found a soloution
 

Just a thought? Does this mean daylight hours too? Or just effectively a requirement for night time. ( dark or bad vis. )

Just ride through France during daylight hours! doh

That will save us all forking out on 99p worth of stickers :thumbup1:

If it does, then it hardly meets the requirement to be stuck on such that the helmet is destroyed by trying to remove them; so at dusk the stickers are applied and removed again at dawn, each and every day (which reminds me of all that nonsense about tinted visors and their use during hours of darkness).
My standard of French could not explain that to the bobbies.

By the way, the stuff I bought is 25 mm (1 inch) wide and the metric measurements given in the earlier post (thanks for them) equate to 1 inch x 2 inch in good old imperial sizes.
I bought a metre length of it for just over £1.

There is shed loads of it on UK ebay; I thought I had said that, but anyway that's where it is. It is even being advertised for motorcycling helmets - obviously, the sales folks are aware of this French law!
I got more or less the first bit of reflective stuff I saw advertised; for me it is all bluff - so long as it looks right Le Flic will go after someone else!!
I shined a flashlight at it in semi-dark and it does reflect pretty well.

Has anyone found any stickers yet which look permanent but can actually be removed afterwards? The ones I've seen on eBay all say they can't be removed once fitted.

Has anyone heard of any fines issued? We will be going through in a week or so, but heading straight to Belgium. probably only spend a few hours on the road in France...

Sent from my HTC J Z321e using Tapatalk 2

Never heard of a one.
Never seen a French guy with them on either and deffo not the moped riders.
Don't fret about it.

John

I'm happy enough to out stickers on the lid. If I have a fall I don't fancy passing traffic mistaking my head for a hedgehog. I'm less enamoured about stickers that destroy the helmet if removed. Can't see the point in that

Improvise
 

I suggest that you leave the sticky material covered up with the original backing material and attach the reflectors with, say, double sided tape; that should come off when ever you wish and nor should it affect the helmet finish.

Just a note. I passed through France yesterday and this morning. I have not seen any motorcyclist (and there are many on the roads) be they British, French or any other nationality sporting these stickers on their helmets.

Quick hijack...
Is it also compulsory for motorcyclists to carry two breathalyzer test, same as the motorists?
Hijack off...
Sent from my HTC J Z321e using Tapatalk 2

Yes... but... there is NO fine for not having them as of last March... no brainer:D

Knowing the level of French arrogance and animosity towards foreigners - do you really want to risk getting a Gendarme on a bad day?

I would opt instead for getting stickers made into this shape :thumbup1:

http://ih0.redbubble.net/image.12933...er,375x360.png

Probably a dislike of the stupid laws they keep inventing here in the name of road safety.
I live in the sticks and the number of people that drink and drive is huge. There is little chance of getting caught. They tend to do breath test on a Saturday lunch time. No bugger is about to be caughtbier

A few months ago I was in the local bar and the Gendarmes came in at about 9pm and said they were doing a control by the graveyard until 1am. If anyone wanted to leave before then, please use the other road. How civilised :rofl:

John

I visited a large motorcycle dealer when I was in Montpelier, France two weeks ago. I asked them what the story was regarding foreign bikers and the requirement for stickers. The staff told me that they had never heard of a foreigner (i.e. someone with a driver licence and a motorcycle from a country other than France) being given a hard time by the gendarmes about helmet stickers.

Nevertheless, I asked to purchase 4 stickers, so that I could put them on my helmet and be compliant with the law. They told me that they did not 'sell' the stickers, instead, they provided them free of charge to their customers. The clerk then reached under the counter and retrieved a giant roll of stickers, ripped off a set of 4 of them, and gave them to me. He was actually quite impressed that as a visitor to his country, I even knew about the regulation concerning stickers.

So... my conclusion is that visitors to France really don't need to worry either way about these stickers. By that I mean you can ride without them, or, if you wish to comply with the rule, I suspect that most large motorcycle dealers will just give you 4 stickers without any charge.

Michael

I understand that the French government has announced that they will not be enforcing the requirement for anyone to carry a breathalyser test kit for some time (at least until the end of 2013), this because the companies that manufacture these portable kits are unable to keep up with the demand for them as a result of this rule being put in place.

So, for this riding season at least, nothing to worry about.

Michael

neither have I nor any of the guys in the bike club here. (Burgundy) None of us have ever been hassled about it either (& I've been stopped for usual checks a number of times in the last few years)

same here



last I heard on this was that the breathaliser law has been rescinded for the very obvious reasons that I have already stated elsewhere. The law obliges you to carry one, in working order, the gendarme cannot oblige you to use it as this would put you outside the law (a gendarme is not allowed to oblige you to break the law). If the law says you must carry two, same rules apply. Someone took a long time to figure out that no one was going to use however many things the law obliged you to carry. Meanwhile, the maker of the objects (allegedly a relative of a high placed politician & director of the "campaign pour la securité routiere" who's study & statistics prompted the law...) has become a millionaire... & added about 20 million euros of VAT to the states coffers!

me? bitter old cynic...? not half!bier

I bought four HU reflective ones; they look fine, and it's one fewer thing to 'find' wrong if stopped! :innocent:

Sorry I'm being dim but how would the gendarme be making you break the law if he asked you to use a breathalyser?

If the law says you must carry 2 breathalysers, by making you use one, you then are only carrying one, and so would be breaking the law.

Ah right gotcha. I hadn't thought if it that way. :)

Ah, but they don't make you use your own if they stop you, they get you to blow into their,
more accurate machines.

You carry them so that you can check yourself before you start your vehicle, or as
we used to do as teachers out on the lash to see who could get their breathalyser to go red the quickest.

The law states you should have one ready in your vehicle, it's up to you whether you use it or not, so if you're the type of person who would test yourself buy enough to make sure you always have one spare.

Also forget satnavs that warn you of speed locations are illegal as are detectors and speed cameras are now not signed, in fact they're often camouflaged, ready to catch out the driver or rider.

......which tends to indicate that the French system is designed to collect cash rather than to deter speeding.

I have never understood how those cameras remain so "immaculate", being sited at ground level - in the UK they would be covered in graffiti including spray paint on the camera lens.

And I used to think of France as such a civilised place to ride :thumbup1: These days though, what with sky high fuel prices, unmarked cameras in every hedge and a whole bunch of here today, gone tomorrow, not quite certain the day after rules like breathalysers, stickers, first aid kits, glow in the dark jackets etc the "liberte" bit seems to be only a fond memory. Can only be a matter of time before the German "different tyre for every day of the week" regulation crosses over the border.

It seems to be making the ferry companies happy though - they're flogging just about every possible stay legal gadget you can think of at vastly inflated prices on the ships. They even have someone handing out "You must have this stuff in France" leaflets as you arrive in your loading lane at Dover.

Or that it's designed to deter speeding EVERYWHERE, not just the 100 yards either side of a speed camera?

Nah, definitely about le moola ;)

It is probably a good time to discuss this off topic subject: Bastille day and the French citizenry heading down to the coast with the attendant accident statistics.
In my riding/driving time in France, the cameras don't work to that end; all local drivers/riders in France know their patch and where the cameras are located (which is why I am amazed that they are in such good condition, being so vulnerable). So, they slow for them and then drive faster elsewhere to make up for the delay.
The same pyschological thing happens in the UK of course.

If the French authorities were so concerned about their driving accident statistics, which used to be much worse than those for the UK - are they any better nowadays? - then they might spend their money on average speed camera systems; by and large, they do achieve a reduction in speeds in the UK.

It is not just in France
 

Now there's a topic!
The UK is supposed to have a highly taxed road fuel system in place and yet the fuel costs just about anywhere in western Europe are not much different: sure, the prices vary by a few Euro cents and diesel is cheaper than petrol (which is the reverse of the UK and tells a different story from that told by the UK fuel refiners).

So, if a big chunk of our cash spent on UK fuel is going to the taxman where does the money spent in mainland Europe go?

Incidentally, there are some UK govn plans to tax foreign trucks running on UK roads to recover the costs of their wheel damage to the running surface.
But that's even further :offtopic:

Back to helmet stickers for what its worth, just done a 2 week tour of France, basically down west side, across south and back up east, never noticed a single motorcyclist with reflective stickers on their helmets, glad i also didn't bother now.

Another datum that the police don't care about stickers
 

Just to add a datum, my wife and I just got back from three weeks touring, mostly in France. Based on this thread, we decided to cut some sticker sets out of some red 3M reflective tape we had and carry it with us, hoping that applying them on the spot if questioned would be enough. In the event, the other vehicle with us had a high-speed shunt (no casualties) on the A61 in Languedoc-Roussillon, which meant that I got all up close and personal with the French police while wearing my motorcycle gear.

In the event, he didn't care about missing stickers. He didn't care about breathalysers or my high-viz tabard (though I have to say that, standing by the side of the A61, I was very glad to have it). He only cared that I'd taken photographs of the accident scene and had thus violated the _loi d'images_, that I understood that he could seize my camera and drag me in front of a court that very afternoon, and about making sure that his colleague supervised the deletion of every photo of the accident site that contained any part of a person.

An interesting development has come to light today, which is the direct result of a question to an MEP ( Member of the European Parliament), by a member of Bike Club France, who questioned the legality of the application of this French law concerning foregin visiting motorcyclists on French territory. The answer which has at last come back from the European commission refutes the original answers given by both the FFMC ( Federation Francaise de Motards en Colere) and the Ministry of the Interior legal advisor. Here is the relevant section of the text:-

Regulation No 22 leaves the mandating of conspicuity marks to the discretion of individual Contracting Parties, allowing them to prohibit the use of helmets not meeting the conspicuity requirements. However, it is the Commission’s understanding that the obligation contained in the French legislation cannot apply retroactively to helmets already in use. As a consequence, foreign motorcycle riders carrying a helmet not containing these reflective markings cannot be obliged to bring their helmets in conformity retroactively. Only new helmet types placed on the French market must comply with the new requirements and bear this reflective material.

Hey Ho!