French Driving [It gets worse]

File this one under "Do your research before admitting to any driving infractions."

So, most of you know of my on-going struggles with the French government's stringent driving license process. So I jumped through as many hoops as possible, got everything done, finally got my driver's license here and 3 weeks later got "flashed" by unmarked car while doing 62 kph in a 50. Since the car is registered in my wife's name she originally got the ticket; I figured I would do the "right" thing and take the hit. It's a strange process here, but I sent the letter out on Monday to say that it was in fact me driving and that I would lose the point and pay the fine. Today [so Wednesday] I called the prefecture (your one-stop shop for all things bureaucratic here] for this nagging doubt I had about a strange date on my license.

In principle my license should be good for life, but it has a date of 10/14/2005 to 10/14/2008 on it. So I did a little research, didn't fully understand and contacted my friends at the prefecture. Well, it turns out that since they issue licenses here for life, they are incapable of understanding that other governments do not do so. My CT license was issued 10/14/2005 and they recognize this as my driving start-date. I tried to explain to the woman that I have been driving for 11.5 years in the US. She wanted nothing of it. Since 11 of those years were in the great state of NY, which incidentally doesn't have a reciprocal agreement with the French government, it is like I didn't drive for any time (yep, I made it to 28 without driving! Idiots!). So, those dates above are actually the time that I am on probation. 3 years to prove that I can drive. Along with this lovely statute that is reserved for 16 years old (and me), I only have 6 points to play with. So I just shot myself in the foot here. Welp, I now have 5 points for the next 3 years.

I love learning all these fun idiosyncrasies of life in a foreign country. Next time I'm doing my research before I admit to anything and I'm driving at the speed limit (yeah, these things will happen).