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Cyclist with headphones in Nice, France (image by Kurayba on Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED)Cyclist finds he’s been fined €400 for riding with headphones after having money blocked in bank account, despite French police never sending a penalty notice
A 23-year-old student in France has found out that he’s been fined €400 the hard way: having his money blocked in his bank account, for riding a bike with headphones, despite never receiving any notice of a fine from the police.
Martin, a student in La Rochelle, west France was riding his bike last August when he was stopped by the police. He told France Bleu that he wasn’t aware of the law and thought he was being pulled over for something else.
“I didn't understand at all why I was getting stopped as I didn't know the law. I asked them: ‘Am I going too fast?’," he said.
The amendment was introduced to France’s Highway Code in 2015 banning the use of headphones for anyone in control of a vehicle in a public space, including cars, cycles, e-bikes, and e-scooters.
Martin told the officers that he was unaware of the law and took off his headphones promptly. He didn’t think much of it, until two weeks ago when he found out that €400 — which he points out is equivalent to two months of his rent at the university accommodation — had been blocked in his bank account by the La Rochelle fines office.
If a cyclist is found riding his bike wearing headphones, the usual fine is €135, similar to other minor offences. If paid within 15 days, it’s reduced to €90. If the fine is not paid within 45 days, however, it can rise to €375, or in Martin’s case, €400.
He said that he did not receive any prior contact regarding the fine before the sum was frozen in his account. “They weren't able to find my address [to send a notice] but they did find my bank account very quickly,” he said.
Jean-François Changeur, who specialises in road cases claimed that Martin can still appeal the fine, and if the public prosecutor’s office is convinced of his good faith, along with the fact that he never received a notice to pay the fine, he may be exempt from the whole amount.
Can cyclists be fined for riding with headphones in the UK?
No, in the UK, riding with headphones is not illegal, unlike France as well as Spain and Italy. However, cycling without due care and attention is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Just a few weeks ago, the Met police was heavily criticised after its attempts to prosecute a cyclist who filmed a driver using their phone under the same offence.
Dave Clifton submitted the footage of the driver using the phone, which is also an offence and can draw up to six penalty points on your licence and a £200 fine, as well as losing your licence if the driver passed their driving test in the last two years.
The police force let the driver by sending an advisory letter, however it deemed Clifton’s riding as posing a “danger to other road users” because he was “riding in the middle of the road”.
After the heavy backlash, the Met dropped the charges and apologised for any “stress and inconvenience” caused just one day before the cyclist was due to face trial for cycling without due care and attention.
However, fining cyclists under the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) has become somewhat of a commonplace occurrence in the UK, as many councils have started implementing the act to stop people from riding their bikes in city centres.
The council most infamous for its somewhat liberal usage of the act is perhaps the North East Lincolnshire Council, which has been making headlines for the last couple of years for slapping cyclists with hefty fines.
Last year, a cyclist was ordered to pay over £1,100 in fines and costs for riding her bike through Grimsby town centre, just months after unhappy locals claimed that the council was imposing the cycling ban unfairly and targeting “old and slow” cyclists, instead of cracking down on anti-social behaviour.
And a year before that, an 82-year-old cyclist became somewhat of a legend in the road.cc archives after claiming that he would rather go to jail than pay the £100 fine he received for cycling in Grimsby town centre.
He said: “I’ve been riding my bike around here for 40 years and have never once been fined. When he gave it to me I told him, ‘stick it up your arse’. I’m more annoyed about it because my biking is what keeps me going.”
Earlier this month, a North East Lincolnshire councillor claimed that the fine was a “great result for our enforcement teams” after a cyclist was fined £500 for breaching the PSPO.
More recently, Southend Council also made the headlines after its deputy council leader said that issuing a fine of £100 to cyclists who ride in the town centre was “one of the few options left” for the council in order to take care of anti-social behaviour complaints.
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after completing his masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Cymru, and also likes to write about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
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66 comments
The wind plays havoc with my tinitus so I'm usually wearning ear plugs on my rides. I'm an old motorcycle rider (ear plugs always too) so my heads on a swivel!
My local postman rides a bicycle to deliver mail and he is completely deaf; does France ban deaf people from riding bicycles?
I'm surprised by how many people seem to be expressing opinions against this law. Let's remember that this law came in specifically to stop the use of hands free kits by drivers. The law is there to protect cyclists not penalise us. OK so its not perfect, and yes, drivers can still crank up their car stereos, but try banning those! I'd also argue that the law came too late, as by 2015 most cars were being fitted with bluetooth systems. Nevertheless, any small step towards reducing the isolation of drivers from what is going on around them must be a good thing. Or is it just that folk here expect an exception to be made in the case of cyclists. (Incidentally, I live in France, and it does seem as if motorcyclists think the law doesn't apply to them, headphones integrated into helmets seem to be quite common)
No eating, applying makeup or listening to loud music
Eating a sandwich behind the wheel has become prohibited as it is deemed to prevent proper concentration by the motorist on the road. Other entertainment will also be outlawed. Putting on makeup whilst driving is also banned, as is playing your music too loud. These offences are punishable by a fine of € 75.
Headphones banned
It is now illegal to drive with any form of headsets (earphones or headphones) in a car or on a motorbike. The only form of communication allowed is through loudspeakers for cars or via specially equipped helmets for motorbikers. Fines imposed for breaking these laws will be 135 euros and 3 points taken from your license. Alternative suggestions include a handsfree speaker, handsfree radio transmitter, GPS systems & integrated phone systems already built into some cars.
I'd say that banning hands-free kits being used by drivers is more to do with the distraction caused by holding a conversation with a remote person (a person in the same vehicle knows when to stop talking when more attention is demanded of the driver) rather than the reduction in hearing ability. As far as I know, listening to music is much less distracting unless you're head-banging along to Queen or something.
I don't think that it's worthwhile trying to prosecute cyclists for not paying enough attention as they invariably are a lot more attentive due to not being shut in a metal box. Driver inattentiveness is a real problem that ruins lives, but cyclist inattentiveness is more likely to lead to some bruises and a teaching moment.
.....except that holding a conversation with a remote person is not what was banned. It is still legal in France to hold a conversation with a remote person through the car ICE system
It could be that the law has been poorly targetted, or maybe it's the difficulty of policing in-car systems as an outside observer won't see anything other than the driver talking (possibly to themselves?).
https://www.rospa.com/policy/road-safety/advice/drivers/driver-distraction
The only evidence I have seen quoted by countries who have imposed the ban is from the Nelson and Nilsson 1990 study, where drivers in a simulator had their performance assessed listening to music from a Walkman through headphones and a dashboard speaker (nothing to do with phone calls). Reading through the paper, it does seem to lack scientific rigour in a few areas (too many "probably" and "likely" statements for my liking), but the quoted 14% increase in reaction time by headphone wearers to unexpected events does seem significant and worthy of further study. It seems strange that France, Italy, and others reacted to this study 25 years later without further evaluation, and update to 2015 technology, such as wireless rather than wired headsets and phone calls in addition to music.
It depends really where you drive, where I mostly ride now I would not feel comfortable with headphones, but in the city centre with no segretated lanes, I consider suicidal the riders I see with headphones. On the other hand, relaxed cycling with headphones in countries with strong cycling commuting infra and education like Netherlands or Denmark would not seem unsafe.
In any case, three digit fines for cyclists seem crazy to me, this is the price of more or less a bicycle while the chances of harming somebody else are minimal.
So the solution is a huge feck off ghetto blaster so everyone can listen in. or some speakers and a DJ set up.......
You mean like this?
So, I wear hearing aids. Am i illegal on a bike in France?
Whats is a head phone? Over-the-ear cans and in-ear buds? Behind the ear thingies with an in-ear bit? I have no idea.
My hearing aids also connect via Bluetooth to my phone to play music. Am i now more illegal in France?
But, I can adjust the balance between amplified external noise and streamed music so that I can hear both. Am I now confused? Yes.
I can also tune out noises that I don't want, such as background chatter in a crowded room, or turn up noises that I like, like bird song.
But, I can get into a car, turn the music up so that the whole car is shaking, and that seems to be legal, with or without hearing aids. Because engine.....
Driving with loud music is also illegal in France.
In Spain the fines for this are about the same.
I got fined once, after the police, who were also on bicycles managed to catch up with me.
I didn't notice them before, as I was wearing headphones.
I don't do that on the road anymore.
What is the exact law? I.e. how are headphones defined? Does it include open-ear, head-phones? I.e. the ones that are basically small speakers worn /near/ the ear, but not over it (some claim to be "bone conducting", which isn't really true).
Any form of headsets (earphones or headphones).
And are car drivers banned from having headsets?
Talking on the phone while driving, even via a hands-free earphone, is /proven/ to impair driving performance, aking to having an illegal blood alcohol level. So... that's banned too, surely? Right?
Yes. That was the whole point of bringing in the law. It applies to all road users with a few exceptions such as motorcycle instructors.
They took money directly from his bank account, for a traffic offence? It concerns me that tin foil hat wearers might not be 100% barking bonkers. Best keep some cash stuffed under the mattress, as a hedge.
Tell that to drivers here and they'll be donning hi-vis vests, blockading mayors in their city halls and probably setting fire to
sheepplanters, quicker than you can sayou la la'oh I say'!It's not tin foil hat stuff. It's what quite a number of national and EU level politicians have been describing as what they want for the future - complete insight into and control over everyone's finances. All to fight the bad "terrorists" of course. Which is always how power grabs are justified (in the UK power grabs over civil liberties in anti-terror laws ended up being used widely by councils, for things like breaking bin rules).
Yup. Where powers exist they will be used.
Now - that isn't necessarily for "no reason at all". AFAIK the cases which have come to light more recently involved investigations in to actual crimes (albeit "low level" ones, slightly above the level of "nuisance") rather than sheer harrassment. But of course it's simple to say "we had a duty to investigate to find out if there was a case to answer" and some of the original concerns were use of these over matters of "bending school cachement regulations" and "dogshit"...
Probably the (chance) blessing is in the UK the police tend not to regularly send in SWAT teams armed with hand-me-down military-threat-level hardware - unlike in e.g. the US. Though of course when they do go armed sometimes people do get killed.
Scrap plans to scan accounts of benefit claimants or risk new scandal, MPs told
"The Department for Work and Pensions is seeking new powers to require banks to trawl the accounts of millions of people who receive benefits in an effort to cut the £8bn currently lost annually to welfare fraud and error. The plan is close to being passed into law by parliament and will be “fully automated”, the government said. It is likely to use artificial intelligence to flag activity considered suspicious by the DWP."
I'm off to buy shares in Alcan.
Canada blocked bank accounts of protestors..
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken the unprecedented step of invoking the Emergencies Act to crack down on anti-vaccine mandate protests.
With no need for court orders, banks can freeze personal accounts of anyone linked with the protests.
Crikey. Have they still got their knickers in a twist about covid jabs? How long ago was that? Or is it something else now?
The thing that surprised me most about this article was not that riding with headphones is illegal in France but that student accommodation is only €200 a month...
My daughter goes to an international school in Paris and the prices are nothing like they are in the UK. And university education is free. Also 'le flic' are devious. Twice I've been fined for 'speeding' and going through a red light with zero evidence provided. The police surrounded me, asked for my ID and then put it in their pocket and told me I would get it back when I paid the fine. I asked for evidence that I had been speeding - a photo or a speed gun. Nothing, so I had to pay 100 euros to get my ID back. And the same with the red light. So I believe this article on both counts.
That's the sort of traffic policing you'd expect in the global south..
It's more like £200 a week here, and that's for a basic room with a shared bathroom and kitchen.
But mould and dodgy electrics are included in the price, so it's a better deal than it looks.
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