PARIS — Getting your driver’s license in France is no small feat. Endless hours of studying the holy “code de la route” for a tricky written exam, followed by a minimum of 20 hours of mandatory driving lessons before the road test. And high rates of failing marks all around. But for one teenager near Lyon who’d managed to pass, it was all wiped away in half an hour.
As local daily Le Dauphiné Libéré explains, upon learning that he had passed his driving exam on May 12, the 18-year-old decided to hit the road right away for a celebratory drive around his hometown of Villefontaine in the Isère departement.
But when the police stopped him for a routine roadside check 30 minutes later, he tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, leading authorities to immediately suspend his license — a new record in France.
Back to dreaming about having a driver’s license, the young man also faces a 600-euro fine. Did he remember that entry from the code de la route?
