Don't pay French tolls with your phone

French media is highlighting an issue: If you pay autoroute tolls with your phone, you could be fined.

Social media has several reports of people who say they’ve been fined for using a payment app on their phone to pay, because you can’t use a phone while driving. 

It seems so bizarre that French media fact checked the stories – and found them to be true. 

It is illegal to use a phone while driving, and a lawyer says if you’re in a car with the engine running, you are driving according to the law. 

But that’s not quite the same in Switzerland. A recent case before the federal court clarified the issue: If the car is stopped, you can handle your phone, even at a red light. 

 

 

More from Bitesize News

  • Citizenship remains one of the hardest on continent

    The Council of States has rejected a popular initiative that would have let foreigners apply for citizenship after just five years, closing the parliamentary door on the biggest attempt in years to loosen one of Europe's strictest naturalisation regimes

  • More gun crime in Annemasse

    Seven people are in French police custody after a shooting Monday evening at a drug-dealing spot in Ville-la-Grand, on the edge of Annemasse

  • Geneva land ownership change

    The canton of Geneva is set to become the sole owner of the land beneath Stade de Genève, buying out a parcel held by federal railways CFF for CHF 15.84 million

  • Agriculture warning after record breaking summer

    Farmers warn that another summer like this one would eat through their remaining reserves and force cuts to herds and crops

  • SNB interest rate stable

    The Swiss National Bank has kept its key interest rate at zero, sticking with a policy that has held since June 2025 even as oil-driven inflation ticks higher

  • Phone company going to court

    A Swisscom technician who spent 38 years at the company says he was fired for helping his 80-year-old neighbour cancel a subscription she never wanted

Download our app

  • Available on the App Store
  • Available on Google Play