KEY POINTS:
PARIS - Respect for road laws is viewed by many French drivers as an optional extra, something to mull when they are not turning around to scream at the kids, fiddling with the satnav, changing gear to overtake or answering their mobile at the same time.
So traffic
police are viewing the next three months with trepidation.
Under a tradition sadly as Third World as the nation's driving habits, French presidents decree an amnesty for road offences after their election.
Thus, in the run-up to the April presidential ballot, drivers will be tempted to park pretty much wherever they like, blast through traffic lights at amber, switch lanes without signalling, do a dangerous "queue de poisson" (fish tail) on the motorway to zip ahead of the guy in front - all in the cosy expectation that any fine can be shoved in a drawer.
The amnesty was begun in 1958 by President Charles de Gaulle to give a feel-good start to the brand-new Fifth Republic, a way of showing everyone could start again from scratch.
Since then, no president, left or right, has had the will or courage to say it is time for this imperial gesture to be scrapped.
But, to the astonishment of many, this year could be the very last when the road amnesty is invoked.
The reason: France, at last, is getting serious about road safety.
In the amnesty year of 1988, road deaths rose by 2.9 per cent; in 1995, they increased by 0.2 per cent. Pressed by road-safety associations, French President Jacques Chirac, after taking office in 2002, began to restrict the amnesty, denying it (rather vaguely) to "offences that could have harmed others".
This year, Chirac - who so far has left everyone guessing whether he will run again - says the amnesty should apply only to non-dangerous parking offences.
Declared candidates on the conservative right, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Bayrou, are resolutely against any amnesty, saying it encourages bad driving and disrespect for the law. Only two candidates, far-rightist Jean-Marie Le Pen and far-leftist Arlette Laguiller, are in favour of a wide amnesty. The Socialists' candidate, Segolene Royal, says she has yet to make up her mind.
A crackdown on drink-driving and the installation of hundreds of speed radars have helped slash France's road toll from one of the deadliest in Europe to among the safest.
Last year, road deaths fell by 11.6 per cent over 2005 to 4703, the first fall below 5000 annually since adequate record-keeping began.
Since 2002, "more than 10,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries have been avoided", Transport Minister Dominique Perben declared last week.
In the week before Perben's jubilant announcement, a 38-year-old man drove over a ravine near Nice. He was drunk, he had no insurance or a vehicle warrant of fitness, his licence had already been suspended - and one of his arms was in plaster and in a sling.
Near the western city of Nantes, a 77-year-old man, questioned after a minor collision, was found to have been driving for 57 years without a licence. In the southwest, a 23-year-old man with a learner's licence was filmed speeding at 209km/h on a motorway where the limit is 130km/h.
So, France's roads may be statistically safer. But changing ingrained habits is clearly a long-term challenge. If you're in France in the coming months, you might well want to consider taking public transport.
IMPERIAL GESTURE
* French presidents decree an amnesty for road offences after their election.
* The amnesty began in 1958 by President Charles de Gaulle to give a feel-good start to the brand-new Fifth Republic, a way of showing everyone could start again from scratch.
* When Jacques Chirac became President in 2002, he restricted it, ruling it out for offences that "could have harmed others".
* This year Chirac has said the amnesty should apply only to non-dangerous parking offences.
