Wacky news 2.5 million people in France drive without licence

Maciamo

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I have seen a French TV programme about fake driving licences in France.

They explained how the fakes are often made in Thailand, because the legislation of that country does not make it punishable to counterfeit foreign documents.

But others are made in France itself, and look very much like real ones, with the watermark. In fact, thousands of real driving licences are stolen each year before being issued to someone's name. The counterfeiters just have to fill the blanks and imitate official stamps.

One common use of fake permit is to steal cars from car rental companies. The reporters tried to rent one (with a hidden camera showing the scene), and the staff didn't realise it was a bad imitation from Thailand, with spelling mistakes and without stamp on the photo !

Even the police is usually duped by these fake licence on real paper. The only way for them to find out is to verify the unique series number in the computer, so as to determine whether it belongs to a stolen lot. But some thieves manage to steal blank licences before they get numbered. The reporters found such licences from an Islamic network in Paris. In that case, there is virtually nothing that can be done.

After visiting the Ministry of Interior, they were told that 30% of foreigners requesting to swap driver's licence via mail actually had fake licences that they tried to convert into real ones. A stunning number.

The government now estimates that no less than 2.5 million people in France drive with fake driving licences or no licence at all. This represents about 5% of all drivers (one car out of twenty !). Imagine yourself stuck in the traffic jams in Paris, with hundreds of cars around you. You are almost certain that a few people around you are criminals...
 
Conditions to obtain driving licences in France has always been hard but this recent increase in fake driving licences results from the new heavy-handed security road policy. It is sure that people with fake driving licences can be dangerous but at least the death toll speaks in french government's favour.
 
The increase in the number of fake driving licences result from the heavy handed road safety policy. It is dangerous that so many people drive with these fake licences but, at least, the death toll speaks in government's policy's favour. The number of lethal road accidents has decreased by 43% since 2001.
 

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