On Friday I made my first outing in the car since hurting my hand. I needed to pick up some French people from the station for a meeting and it took all my concentration to get to the station and back, dodging the cities traffic, trying to remember my way and most importantly trying to avoid being hit by another car! The whole experience reminded me somewhat of dodgems but I made it there and back in one piece.
Here are five handy tips for driving in France:
1. Stick to the right!
You must drive on the right hand side of the road at all times.
This is easier said than done for a Brit, even if this particular Brit learned to drive and passed her license in France! Even though I did not learn to drive in the UK it is not rare that I can find myself on the wrong side of the road when in France, heading directly towards the fast approaching lights of the car coming head on at me.
This type of error is most likely to occur at night, when I’m tired or when I’ve not driven for a while. The most scary experience was when I pulled out onto a country lane late one night after a day of exhausting meetings only to realise that I’d be looking the wrong way before pulling out and there was a gigantic lorry heading straight towards me! I now repeat my mantra every time I get in the car: “drive right, drive right”!
2. Beware of cars on your right!
In France, you need to give way to the right (priorité a droite)… This may be the same for other European countries I don’t know, but its not in Britain. When you’re driving along a road, you have to constantly be looking to the right to make sure that there’s not a car that’s going to whiz out in front of you.
How do you know?
Whilst looking constantly to the right you have to check whether the incoming road has a stop sign or a cedez le passage (give way) sign – you can also check the road markings (if they haven’t faded away): a continuous white line is a stop and a dotted white line is a give way so normally you should be safe – no whizzing cars. If you don’t see any of these then its best to slow right down and check that a car is not going to appear from no-where as they have priority over you and should you hit them its you or your insurance that’ll have to cough up!
There are so many accidents in France due to this rule its ridiculous. A lot of my French friends agree and no-one can tell me why this rule even exists. It just doesn’t make sense.
We have a priorité a droite on our street from the road that comes in just before the Boulangerie and nearly every week there is a crash. How dangerous can that be with everyone that has to cross the road to go and buy their bread? The parking space opposite is often empty as all the locals know that that’s the place that gets hit each time there’s an accident.
I tried to explain the Priorité a Droite rule to my parents when they come over and I managed to terrify my Mum who as passenger, is often in charge of checking for cars coming on the right.
Why don’t the French ditch this rule as it makes driving a complete nightmare – as if its not hard enough already!
3. Follow the car in front…This may not actually be a good idea but I’ve found it to be quite helpful as I find French road signs and junctions can be quite confusing. Complicated junctions often come hand in hand with point one, driving on the right, and I get confused which way round I’m supposed to take a junction. So, quite often I find it safer to follow what’s in front. If I’m unlucky enough not to have a car in front of me then I’m sorry for the car that’s behind me and hope they don’t follow!!!
4. Be assertive!
I live in Lyon. It’s a big city with loads of cars, loads of give ways and when driving here it is not a time to be polite! If you are too polite, then you will never get to go where you’re going as people will cut in front of you all the time. A combination of politeness and assertiveness is definitely necessary, do let one car in and then move forward. I wish a lot of drivers here would use this combinations as here in the city at least, arrogance reigns!
5. Remember, a car is a means of locomotion!
At your risk and perils, do not ever forget that a car is just a means of transport in France. People will generally have total disregard as to whether your paintwork will be damaged due to them slamming their door into your car. If you’re parked, people will nudge forwards and backwards, BANG BANG BANG, until they get either in or out of that ridiculously small space behind you. A bumper is a bumper – it is to be used to bump other cars and for no other purpose!
French roads are generally excellent and the motorway system is second to none even though the shortest trips can sometimes cost a fortune! If you can get over some of the hurdles and understand the system then France is your oyster to be discovered and enjoyed.
DISCLAIMER: The above driving tips are meant as tips only and not as a definitive guide to French driving rules!
Hi
Driving in France is definitely NOT for the “Feint Hearted”
Tip number 2 “Beware of cars on your right!” That IS soooo scary and I thought “you have to be joking?”
No…they’re not!
Imagine this scenario. You are trying to navigate round the city unsure of how to get from A to B…Tom Tom has thrown a wobbly, has taken you so far, then you lose the signal…OK you are seriously lost…can’t stop and ask directions, can’t speak the lingo. What next? Suddenly you swerve instinctively. Help! car pulls out in front of you from the RIGHT … Narrowly missing the car, you hit the horn, still cursing, as you are lost.
You also have to be telepathic and decide where the car in front of you wants to go, he is as lost as your are and therefore likely to brake suddenly. Remember – watch out for those sneaky CLUES for “Priority from the RIGHT”
You then catch a glimpse, in the rear view mirror; the nutter behind you is sitting just an inch away from your tail lights. Don’t BRAKE be extra vigilant for the PRIORITY from the RIGHT otherwise he will be a passenger! SCARY! The nutter is obviously a local with a zero tolerance level, waiting for his opportunity to carve you up. Whoops another “Priority from the RIGHT” narrowly missing a pedestrian you swerve again.
This brings my response to Tip number 5. Having arrived at your destination, you are traumatised.
You then note the parking behaviour…
“…If you’re parked, people will nudge forwards and backwards, BANG BANG BANG, until they get either in or out of that ridiculously small space behind you. A bumper is a bumper – it is to be used to bump other cars and for no other purpose!”… unless I had seen it with my own eyes!
Yes, the above is TRUE. I have seen it with my own eyes. I think we will stick to the metro on our next city trip, you only have to worry about “Swine Flu”
So do you need tranquilizers or the courage of the “Kamikaze” pilot to drive in France?
:))
LOL 🙂 Thanks for your comment and your insight into French driving!! Your experience has made me laugh so much, I hope you’re recovered from the experience now!
You’re so right about the nutter behind and also watching out for the pedestrians – I forgot to mention that they come out at all angles and rarely look to see if a car’s coming!!!
🙂 The ‘right priority’ rule works all over Europe. Basically it means that, if u see the “give priority’ sign u should engage in crossing or turning manoevres only after the cars in ur right side have passed by you and no one else is approaching. Accidents happen not because of this rule , but because people don’t obey the rule and they try to cross the street without making 100% sure there is no car coming from their right side. They do so becasue they r in a hurry, and because in a crowded city no one really obeys the driving rules and signs anymore. Sometimes getting100% sure no one is coming is impossible because of the cars parked in ur very right ( the case where I live and where cars do bump into eachother weekly in spite of the explicit sign that marks the crossing). Sometimes they bump into eachother because they drive to fast for a tiny crowded street … but waiting to much is boring and sometimes , when I drive and I wait to “obey ” the rule, my husband keeps complaining- move faster, get into it, force them make you space a.s.o.
Isometimes envy american large streets where one can drive safely but still, when someone told me they HAVE to obey the speed limit because fines ar so big and policemen take themselves so seriously I gave up envying a perfect road where I should respect so many rules :))) ….
Hi Rosabell,
Men can be so annoying can’t they? I had my first accident due to my husband being impatient and telling me to go at a give way sign! I now don’t drive with him as a passenger or he has to promise to keep his mouth shut… LOL 🙂
With regards to the give way, I don’t mean giving way to the right when you get to a junction and there’s a sign (like the white triangle sign or stop sign), I mean when you’re actually on a main road and other smaller, non-significant roads join the main road.
These roads normally would have their own give way signs and the cars coming from them would have to be careful about integrating the traffic on the main road. But not always! Sometimes, these little roads have priority over the main road!! And there are no signs on the main road to tell you! So, if you’re on the main road, driving at say 50 KMH then you have to keep looking at your right to work out whether or not they have priority over you – if there were road signs it wouldn’t be half as bad and there would probably be less accidents but without signs its a constant guessing game! 😦
The French police have been cracking down on speed as well, we have fixed cameras everywhere but they also love to use the mobile radars and all the points on my license come from those little nasties!
They are doing the trick though as road safety in France has been a sore point and is now improving (according to the statistics anyway). After years of everyone hurtling along the motorway at say 150 KMH people are now respecting the limits. 8 years ago, I would be considered as a slow driver at 130 KMH now I’m in the fast lane!! FYI 130 KMH is our speed limit on motorways. 🙂
This just confirms why I will probably never drive in France. The priorite a droite rule is absurd. We were barreling down a country road once and then my husband had to slam on the brakes because some car coming from a dinky little side road was pulling out without looking (they know they don’t have to). Very dangerous!
Guess I’ll just have to keep living in cities where the public transportation is great. I was in New York before Paris – 24 hour subway system – hooray!
Wow! A 24h subway system! I’m lucky to have a good public transport system in Lyon but the Metro isn’t open 24 hours!
I think the most silly thing is that the priorité a droite rule is so dangerous… it wouldn’t cost a lot surely compared to all the accidents that are caused by it? We literally have one per week in our road and oneday someone is going to get hurt!
“This just confirms why I will probably never drive in France.”
Just what I was thinking!! 🙂
I did find out that Colorado (my former home state) has reciprocity with France in obtaining a French driving license without having to test, so I will take advantage of that when my paperwork situation sorts itself out.
In the meantime, I am *loving* not having to care for a car, fill it with gas, pay for insurance, etc. etc. much less freaking out on having to drive it somewhere like Paris! I will take the public transportation system thankyouverymuch, even though I miss the freedom that owning an auto often brings.
🙂 yes,it can be very frustrating at times :)) The thing is, when u have a junction WITHOUT any sign( no give away sign, no lights, no marked crossing) that IS the case where always the right priority works. So, the rule is – when u see no signs, the guy/car in ur right has all the rights :))
When I hd to take my license I had to laern this and I remember how awful the tests were… I had to solve many qui tests to learn it and I remember once I had a problem with a car, a tram, a pedestrain and 2 cars that were supposed to meet in such a juction…. We were asked to decide the order of the crossing and to support the decisions we took… Itwas a nightmare and still, whn I driveand I have a tram on my left side I keep remembering that awful test :))
Romanian law and education system was coppied ater the French one so similarities are often found. Only everything related to driving here is 10 times ( at least) worst than in France. :)))
sorry for the incompetent keybord that literally ” eats” some of my letters :))
Hi Rosabell
“sorry for the incompetent keybord that literally ” eats” some of my letters )”
Now I know LOL 🙂 My Keyboard is Portuguese… it definitely makes its own interpretation, as to what I am typing LOL 🙂 I look back and think…”I never wrote that!”
“The thing is, when u have a junction WITHOUT any sign( no give away sign, no lights, no marked crossing) that IS the case where always the right priority works. So, the rule is – when u see no signs, the guy/car in ur right has all the rights ”
Rosabell, I don’t have eyes in the side of my head! LOL
to study a road I am not on…this is such a crazy rule I am surprised Brussels did not come up with it. I wonder how this priority from the right came about…who invented this madness?
PS do these comments have an italic option ??
Pigs from Portugal
Well, I read yours tips… I agree with the fourth one… even living in a small city… But if you live in Lyon or Paris, forgive politeness or you won’t move…
Lyon is also known for its great traffic jam under the tunnel… How lucky you are… to wait and admire the french way of driving !!!
I know, nobody has eyes in the side of the head and yes, whoever invented that was , probably ,a bit of a retard. Just check these 3 photos ( http://livingromanian.blogspot.com) and u will see what I mean- photos1 and 2 are junctions without any sign- where u apply the priorite a droite and photo 3 is a marked junction- u have to respect the signs not the priorite a droite. The first 3 months of me learning for the driving license I was a disaster no matter how much I had learned because I was merely guessing and couldn’t really figure out what all was about. The truth is , in reality, in photo 1 the yellow car would NEVER give priority to the red car and would just go straight at full speed, consiering the red one should stop since it comes from a side walk…. but if they bump into each other the police would fine the yellow car because it is guilty ( by law, not common sense) . Alas, it happens often-common sense and law do not suit each other to often 🙂
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