Thirty months of his jail sentence were suspended, meaning he faces 18 months in prison.
Fernand Blanc was convicted of manslaughter for ploughing into a team of firemen at 150 kph (94 mph) in November 2002 as they cleared a stretch of the A7 motorway in southern France after a previous accident. Speed had been restricted to 80 kph.
Blanc, once a leading businessman, was ordered to pay 300,000 euros ($367,000) in fines plus damages worth some 140,000 euros. He was stripped of his driving licence for three years.
The government has launched a campaign to cut the road death toll in France, which is among the highest in Europe. There was a public outcry over the deaths of the emergency workers, whose funeral was attended by President Jacques Chirac.
Road deaths in France fell by 20 percent to 5,731 in 2003 as speed traps were built alongside motorways and the government urged courts to deal harshly with reckless driving.
“It’s not the fact that he (Blanc) will be sent to jail that comforts us,” said Xavier Chambot, a colleague of those killed. “But it is reassuring that someone from high society can be convicted too.”
Blanc, a former president of the chamber of commerce in the southern city of Lyon and ex-local councillor for Chirac’s former RPR party, said he had no recollection of the accident. His lawyers did not say whether he would appeal. (Reuters)
