A 45 km/h chase may seem almost routine on paper. In the streets of Thiers, this Thursday, September 17, it nonetheless mobilized an entire patrol of the gendarmerie, pursued behind a carriage without a license that kept weaving and performing dangerous maneuvers. At the end of this very tense sequence, the driver said he had heard voices ordering him to accelerate, before refusing the breathalyzer and drug tests.
Four days later, on Monday, September 21, 2026, the matter went before the Clermont-Ferrand criminal court. The driver of this car, a lightweight quadricycle limited to 45 km/h and about 6 kW of power (nearly 8 hp), was sentenced to nine months in prison for refusal to comply and for refusal to submit to checks. A case that raises as many questions about road safety as about the limits of this defense, in a Puy-de-Dôme where the stance is clearly hardening.
In Thiers, a no-license car chase that spirals out of control
On September 17, just before 3:30 p.m., the Thiers gendarmerie brigade was on a routine patrol. In front of them, they spotted a voiturette sans permis that, according to the file, flouted the most basic road-safety rules. The small vehicle weaves and overtakes by crossing central medians, amid the flow of traffic. The soldiers activate their audible and visual signals to carry out a stop. The driver, however, continued on as if nothing were happening.
The pursuit unfolds at the maximum speed for this class of quadricycle, roughly 45 km/h (about 28 mph), but lasts several minutes. The car enters a parking lot, makes a U-turn, narrowly misses a collision with the officers’ car, then heads off again. It eventually stops at a stop sign. It is in this context that the motorist is said to have explained hearing voices telling him to accelerate, an explanation that intrigues as much as it raises questions about his state at the time of the events.
Voices heard, refusal to comply and tests refused: nine months of prison
Beyond this fairly peculiar defense, the case encompasses several traffic offenses. The gendarmes note dangerous driving, with zigzags and crossing of medians, followed by a refusal to obey despite the flashing lights and the siren. Once the vehicle was stopped, the driver also refused to submit to the breath tests and to the drug screening. In traffic law, these refusals constitute separate offenses, exposing the offender to prison time, hefty fines, and a suspension, or even a revocation of driving privileges or the AM license for this vehicle.
Presented the following Monday before the Clermont-Ferrand criminal court, the motorist was sentenced to nine months of prison. This case comes as authorities in the department announced, at the start of September 2026, a “zero tolerance” approach to road safety, with a revised schedule of administrative suspensions that can reach up to twelve months in cases of refusal of screening or refusal to obey. In a region already scarred by other tragedies involving carriages like these — such as the death of a driver who fell into a creek near Job — this new episode serves as a reminder that a vehicle limited to 45 km/h, even without a B license, remains a motorized vehicle subject to the same rules and responsibilities on the road.
