First time driving in France – what do I need to have/know?

Do they still do that thing where they use their indicator to tell you they wanna come past?

It’s good, innit? Far less aggresive tha flashing you lights. The best would always to be using the mirrors and gettng out of the way in the first place. 😉

I’d respectfully suggest that if anyone finds its happening often, their lane discipline / forward planning needs work.

Well, respectfully, its something I observed happening quite regularly. Not to me as my lane discipline is beyond reproach obviously. But observed quite regularly as traffic passed me on the other lane – you get a really good view of the distances involved when you can observe them side on

Did 2000 miles across France last year, found the overall standard of driving to be far above that of the UK. Road surfaces smoother and better especially on Peage roads.

The AA do a good line in what you should and shouldn’t have. Speed limits all seemed sensible and there was no need to blast through places at well above the limit.

Overtake and move back over, simple thing that most people do in France (just not the GB or Belgium drivers).

I really liked driving over there and the right hand drive car on left side of the road was largely fine too.

Belgium drivers

oh I wondered when they’d be mentioned – surprised it took so long!

its something I observed happening quite regularly.

Find happening to them, I meant; but yeah, fair point.

I’ve done two france road trips

The only problems I had was with non-motorway petrol stations not taking a UK credit card. Had a VERY slow journey home one evening nursing home the car on fumes, it had hit the needle at the bottom by the time I got home

I don’t know if that problem has gone away now, there weren’t any locals around to pay cash to and let me use their card either.

Apart from that it was easy, roads are good and driving standards were generally good

Sat nav was helpful but map reading was more fun

Last time I went was about 2007 though!

Watch out for E10 unleaded at the pump!

Driven in France a fair bit, wouldn’t stress about th hi-vis, the other week an utterly spannered young lady Rolled her car in front of us on the motorway and the gf and myself were the only ones to put on a hi-vis of those that actually bothered to stop. The driving can be a pleasure purely down to the space, not the standard of driving. Lack of cats eyes and lighting combined with un unwillingness to dip lights makes driving overnight a bit shit.

legend – Member
Belgium drivers
oh I wondered when they’d be mentioned – surprised it took so long!

Nah, Luxembourg drivers are worse…. As bad as Belgians but drive a hell of a lot faster

Priorite a droite should be signposted with a red and white triangle and a dark black cross .

people flashing their headlights in daylight means that the police are on your side of the road soonish , either with speed cameras or just random checks . it is just a courteous warning signal .

Cougar – Moderator

As well as bulbs you need to have the tools that allow you to change them.

I don’t know why this keeps coming up, but you do not need to carry spare bulbs (or tools for that matter) in France.[/quote]
It used to be AFAIK that working bulbs were needed and fines were issued for bulbs that were not working. To move on without getting another fine you needed to change the bulb.

Nah, Luxembourg drivers are worse

If you’re on the motorway it’s fine here if a bit crowded. Once you’re off the motorway it’s chaos. Priority on the right rules and roundabouts are something else.

Check your car insurance…just checked the wife’s policy and it drops to 3rd party when you leave British soil…minimum required by law. So she’s got to ring up later and get shafted!

Jus to add to my previous ‘relax and enjoy’ post, I did get pulled over coming off the toll,road at LeMans about 2 years ago. I’d been cruising at the speed limit so it was just a random, try to catch the Brit moment. I had a Hicks chat, he checked that the car was insured, that I had a licence and wished me a good journey. No breath test, no bulbs, no high viz. I didn’t have bulbs or a breath test anyway, never had despite countless miles and many trips.

No breath test, no bulbs, no high viz. I didn’t have bulbs or a breath test anyway, never had despite countless miles and many trips.

Regardless of the legals, at least the high vis and bulbs are things that wouldn’t go amis in any car in any country. Just use the excuse to get yourself up to date.

Driving in France really is easy. You’ll get used to driving on the wrong side of the road within a few miles. It’s more of an issue being on the wrong side of the car compared to when i’ve rented cars on the continent in the past. Just take extra care at roundabouts. Motorways are just the same as the UK in terms of driving standards – probably because most cars in holiday season are British cars. I did get the whole high viz jacket and spare bulb pack – however to replace the bulb on an SMax requires removing the whole headlight assembly so that is not a job i’d be tacking at the side of the road, but other bulbs are fine.

The most important thing to remember is that France is a huge country and often you’ll be getting off a ferry after a few hours of driving to get to the ferry and are facing a good many hours of driving on the French side – so be wary of your fatigue and factor in regular stops and rest breaks. Often i’ll get to my destination and realise i’ve just driven 500 miles in one day. If in the UK i’d probably split a journey like that up and have an overnight stop somewhere en-route.

Just back, 3 hours ago, after 17hr drive. French half was great, UK not so.

Hi viz, documents, bulbs. All good. Stick to speed limits, they’re pretty generous.

Difficult stuff is turning left at junctions, just remember you’re aiming for the far away side of the road you’re turning onto. Traffic lights sometimes have a flashing right turn, which seems to mean go with caution. Ditto lights at roads works.

Oh an pedestrian crossings allow pedestrians to cross and they have priority, so have your eyes peeled in town.

Oh an pedestrian crossings allow pedestrians to cross and they have priority, so have your eyes peeled in town.

So… just like the UK, then?

Errrr yes but in towns there are many more, without traffic lights and belisha(Sp?)beacons. So you have to be more aware of them. And half the population must have concrete legs allowing them to step out with impunity.

Ah, got that wrong. I did have a high viz, just wasn’t asked for.

I’ll tell you what – driving in France is a breeze compared to Romania – they are some *terrible* drivers here. Had to completely change my riding style (and partly throw IAM out of the window) as they *always* cut the corners onto my side of the road.

They do tend to overtake and expect you to get out of the way, too. That’s a new one…

Rachel

Cheers for all the tips guys – and gals.

Any recommendations for the best road map/atlas for France as a back up to sat nav?

ring bound worked better… picked one up in the first services, page an hour…

I’ll tell you what – driving in France is a breeze compared to Romania – they are some *terrible* drivers here.

Amen

My wife is from Romania, I’ve been plenty of times and can confirm some of the driving is absolutely extraordinary.

They are slowly improving – mainly through natural selection I think

But yes give me France any day!

Another thing to remember when driving through small towns/villages: when you get to a cross-type junction with no road given a priority – whatever comes from your right, they go first!

It feels totally unnatural, but the “right hand rule” applies to most continental countries.

France is nice to drive in. Not as nice as Spain though IME.

The roads and the volume of drivers per sq mile make it a pleasure the French drivers in my experience are rubbish however and many of them are dangerous. The need to get 12 inches from your bumper at 120km when you move out to overtake is ridiculous.

My wife is from Romania, I’ve been plenty of times and can confirm some of the driving is absolutely extraordinary.

They are slowly improving – mainly through natural selection I think

last time i was in Romania, was being driven around by a local bloke who was complaining about the standard of driving there. At one point an old lady coming the other way down this narrow road starts gesticulating violently towards him, until he reversed and let her pass.

“You see what I mean? So rude!” he says.

then a pause….

“To be fair, we are going the wrong way down a one-way street. But still, there was no need to be rude about it”

😆

The need to get 12 inches from your bumper at 120km when you move out to overtake is ridiculous.

The speed limit is either 110 or 130 so you’re probably holding them up. Get a move on tourist.

On the first page, one of the requirements was spare bulbs.
What if you have LED headlights?

As I understand the spare bulbs isn’t an actual requirement but rather a recommendation and only for those that are easy to change as some still require a dealer visit

e.g. from the eurotunnel site “On some cars it is inadvisable or impossible for anyone other than a qualified technician to change a headlamp bulb unit e.g. high intensity discharge (HID) headlamps and carrying spares is not an option.”

similar info from aa

@doris 🙂

Changing the headlights on my car isn’t feasible roadside. As above the spare bulb thing goes back donkeys years when doing so was easy. What’s bizarre is the French MOT is only every 2 years and the number of cars you see with a non functioning headlight or brake light is very high.

On the first page, one of the requirements was spare bulbs.
What if you have LED headlights?

That’s exactly why I don’t carry them, same as the LED brake lights. Still, I’m sure someone will be along to say it’s good practice to have every conceivable spare unit and know how to fit it.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned that might be helpful to a first-timer:

Motorway junctions!

There is rarely an option to undo a wrong turn, so take care that you’re getting off at the right exit.
Also, forget long, straight slip roads; mostly they’re a sudden test of your car’s handling with little or no run-off – it’s wise to respect the “countdown” speed limit signs on the exits…

On Euro breakdown cover – having just got off the phone with the RAC and been quoted considerably more than my annual UK premium for 2 weeks, any recommendations? Seen a few hovering around £40-60 but would appreciate a steer..

Just had to stump up £50 to the AA for 8 days breakdown to France 🙁

I found it as cheap as £29 for reasonable cover that will bring the vehicle back to the UK, but unknown company/service, Green Flag was £36 but I lost the will to live as couldn’t open the policy booklet, so just wrote off the £15 extra to the AA as I already have a policy with them. I’m taking a bags of croissants and will miss out eating at the services to recoup the £15!

I’m taking a bags of croissants

Taking bags of croissants to France doesn’t seem like a good plan to me 😉

TBH as we have reasonably new (9yrs old) and reliable cars we don’t bother with breakdown insurance.

TBH, they will be scoffed before we get off the ferry 🙂

There is rarely an option to undo a wrong turn, so take care that you’re getting off at the right exit.

Oh man! I remember an overnight stop at the end of a long day looking for our hotel that lead to about an hour of increasingly-frustrated milling about – it was just off the French version of a four-leaf clover, so the various legs looking for the right turn were about fifteen minutes long, no option to turn round. The sign, we eventually discovered was about the size of a fag packet, the entrance not much bigger.

Does the speed limit still drop by twenty klicks when it’s raining?

Yup, 130 > 110.

How they define “raining,” I don’t know. Misty? Light UK drizzle?