 Poster: A snowHead
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Someone asked for tips on driving in France. This article is a nice succinct summary of the do's and don'ts....
GENERAL DRIVING GUIDE
SPEEDING CRACKDOWN
Both from the excellent expat ezine 'Expatica' (which also has versions for expats in Germany, Belgium, Holland and Spain).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Interesting articles. I noticed this quote...
> motorists would be alerted to the presence of radars by signs placed a short distance before their locations.
Or not, I've recently come across two radars which were not signposted[1].... although in France it is highly likely that some drunk driver crashed into the signs and there is no money to replace them.
I'm still not clear how this affects non-French registered cars though.
I also note that a 'police crackdown' in France is a bit like a mild slap on the wrists compared to, say, Britain. The reason they have put in a fully automated system is because the police hate to fine anyone if they can avoid it (note that I'm not talking about the more efficient and better equipped Gendarmerie) and that people will try all kinds of ways to get speeding tickets pulled.
[1] One on the A6 coming into Paris (110kph limit) and one exiting a tunnel in the Auverge (50kph limit).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I have just spent ages looking for a map showing where all the cameras are that I found a while back but the police have obviously taken a disliking to it and removed it!! There is an article in the Meribel Times saying that there will be 3 cameras after Chambery http://themeribeltimes.com/07.php Not very sporting at all!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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PG - We really noticed the decrease in general speeds even since last year while driving over to La Clusaz a couple of weeks ago. Apart for the usual manic Belgians and the odd UK registered car (one of which we saw being pulled over) most vehicles were keeping close to the limit. Incredible to think an entire nations driving habits can be altered in such a short space of time.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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There was a 30% drop in mortality rates on the French roads the very first month it was introduced, and the trend seems to be remain constant. I thought theat the French would soon slip back into their old ways, but not so far. Now all we need is for the Government to enforce penalties for ignoring red lights (standard practice), tailgating, and not using indicators (most French are still wondering what that extra lever on the steering wheel can possibly be for).
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Someboady actually stole the side indicators on my Passat when I last stayed in Bourg St. Maurice overnight. I can only assume it was one of the British residents as the French wouldn't know what to do with them!
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Tailgating you while flashing at you to move over while you are in a long line of traffic overtaking trucks uphill still seems to be prevalent.
In my experience although the French seem to get angry very quickly behind the wheel they also seem to have very short memories. I gave a guy who was tailgating us through the streets of Alpe D'Huez the usual British 'wave' as he honked and flashed his lights at us while we were looking for a parking space last year and he pulled up alongside when we finally parked almost in tears wanting an explanation for my disgracefully rude behaviour! - funny lot.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Presumably they are no more lenient at night? Its sooo tempting when you have lovely straight motorways which are empty.... 
I usually mean to keep to the limit - but when there are so few cars around it is easy to lose speed perspective
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Well while the mobile patrols are often conspicuous by their absence during aperitif time, lunchtime and dinnertime, and not too keen on working during the hours of darkness.... it's the new fixed radars that you need to be aware of.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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If you are caught by a french radar driving a british car, do they catch up with you. I do like to drive fast but don't really want to be caught.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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The mobile patrols will catch up with anyone ... if they can. They can and will fine you on the spot. It is unclear to what extent speeders with foreign plates captured by the fixed automatic radars can be pursued, although EU states are allegedly cooperating on this and certain debt recovery agencies claim to be chasing offenders on behalf of some national authorities.
Bear in mind that if there has been a 30% drop in fatalities since the introduction of the new speeding laws, it's "no accident".
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PG - What level of fine do they charge and is it based on the amount of excess speed. I presume the french can't give points on a UK licence.
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You know it makes sense.
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It's complicated, but theory if you're going at over 180kph (112.5mph) they can ban you from driving in France and you'll need a second driver to carry on with your holiday. If you're caught going between 25mph and 32mph over the limit the fine, payable immediately, is 750 euros. More than 32mph and the fine is doubled - 1500 euros! Lesser fines for more minor infringements, but still not to be sneezed at. No no points as yet.... but I believe the EU is working on it!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Ouch
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Poster: A snowHead
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> It's complicated, but theory if you're going at over 180kph (112.5mph) they can ban you from driving in France
Unless something has changed recently (I checked the French Government website last year) you can get a ban from as little as 25kph over the limit but at 40kph over the limit it is automatic. That would be 170kph.
Last night, as I sped back from Cham I listened to an interview with Dominique Bussereau who is the secretary of state for Transport in France. He was being questionned about road deaths. After a bad January the figures once again improved in February. Total road deaths will be down to around 6,000 this year. About half the rate of 10 years ago. However Bussereau made some points. There are more serious accidents and the total number of accidents is the same. He attributed this to a hard core of careless drivers and promissed to crack down harder.
Regarding the crackdown. Between Cham and Paris there is one speed camera, just after the peage on the A6 into Paris. It didn't appear to be operational given the speed some people passed it. There was a suspicous car parked on the hardshoulder near Geneva in the direction of Cham on Friday night. It had a back window with a fresnel type lens and what looked like camera equipment inside. The Gendarmerie were pulling over lots of cars at the Peage about 5km down the road.
So far 200,000 French people have been fined by the new cameras.
I have to agree with M. Bussereau, there are an enormous amount of idiots on the road. Things I saw yesterday.
1. about 50% of French cars with badly aimed headlamps
2. cars and lorries with no rear lighting at all or defective front headlamps
3. a number of cars travelling in excess of 200 kph (largely Parisians)
4. woman doing makeup at 130kph
5. people on mobiles
6. man reading book
7. numerous cars swaying from lane to lane randomly... maybe they'd enjoyed a nice bottle of red-wine with their motorway service station meal
8. not one police patrol vehicle or policeman on the 600 km between cham and Paris
I wouldn't consider my driving the best on the roads either.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Just read a story in my local paper, it would seem that there is now an agreement between Britain and France to stick points on your uk licence if offending in france !
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Davidof, That's interesting. My inpression having regularly driven up and down the motorway to Avignon recently is that there are fewer French drivers speeding well over the limit, and that far more people are sticking pretty closely to or just above the limit than was the case pre-crackdown. I also mentioned elsewhere that when on the M11 and M2 last week in the UK I felt driving was more erratic and aggressive than when I used to live in the UK, and many drivers were at least 20 to 30mph over the 70mph limit.
Still, on driving practices generally, as you say, the French take some beating in the stupidity stakes (it's about time they banned the sale of alcohol in motorways service stations).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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D G Orf, Really? I know they'd been discussing it, but I didn't think it had actually been implemented.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Sorry to sound boring here but it's very straightforward. DON'T SPEED and then you won't have to worry.
The same applies in the UK. I'm sick of people whinging about speed cameras etc. Why do people think that they can break the law and it's somehow unreasonable for the police/government to try and stop them or fine them if they do. Everyone seems to think that they can judge what's a safe speed. Also people complain that 30 in a town feels slow - that's the point, so you've got more chance of stoping if a child runs out in front of you etc. I'm certain that this will open a can of worms but I really think that people need to grow up about speeding and understand that it is breaking the law and if you get caught you've only got yourself to blame. BTW I've been caught by a speed gun and I was p*****d of, but with myself
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Chris Reed, Hear hear. If you'd seen the recent heated discussion on usenet at rec.skiing.resorts.europe you'd know my feelings on the subject!
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Chris, what you say is true. However, the problem with speed limits is that don't allow for differing conditions. A 20mph limit may be put in because of a school, but at 3 am, should I really be prosecuted for doing 24mph? Likewise on a motorway, driving at 80mph on a clear summer night is far safer than 60mph in thick fog/driving rain - yet that is legal (stupid, but legal - incidentally in my previous life as a delivery driver, I would often be overtaken in such conditions by people doing in excess of 80 mph  )
Is it France where they have a lower limit in wet weather? I think that's a good idea.
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Elizabeth B, Yes, 110 instead of 130kph on motorways, 80kph instead of 90kph on A roads, etc.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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110km/h in the wet, 130km/h in good conditions on the Autoroute.
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Funniest thing I ever saw on a motorway, just going past the on ramp near Portsmouth when some joker in a BMW shot past me doing at a guess over 100mph, what I could see but he couldn't was the police car coming up the ramp, he went past the end of the ramp just as the police car got to the top, I guess the policeman couldn't believe his luck as the blue lights went on immediately 
PG I'm not sure from the story if it has already been implemented or if it is iminent, I got the impression that it was due to come in before easter as the story was warning those planning to go away for the school holidays then.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Elizabeth B I know how you feel I once worked for somebody who sent me out with one of the company salesman, coming back to the office he was doing over 80mph down a dual carrigeway (with crossing points !) in some of the thickest fog I've ever seen, when I got back to the office I said that I would never go out in the same car as that rep ever again.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| PG wrote: |
| My inpression having regularly driven up and down the motorway to Avignon recently is that there are fewer French drivers speeding well over the limit, and that far more people are sticking pretty closely to or just above the limit than was the case pre-crackdown. |
I think that is the official message too. Hence the reduction in fatal accidents as there are less accidents due to very high speeds.
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Having driven, in the last 12 months, in both France and Germany I was surprised at the differences in the Autoroute/Autobahn driving. There was a noticeably more cautious approach, on balance, with the drivers in France. Certainly more so than I can ever remember from many past experiences of driving on the continent.
Perhaps the message is finally getting through. As for the driving in Germany, although not a nervous person by any means, I found it quite alarming. Saw more accidents by far as well.
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You know it makes sense.
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It's easy to generalise, but I was driving a party of kids through Swtizerland/Germany into the Czech Republic last summer. No problems (other than anticipating the speed of drivers coming up from behind in Germany), generally good driving.... then into the Czech Republic at 2 am. There was one accident just 200m the other side of the border, 5k further along a multiple pile up that had just happened (no police in sight), then again some 30k later. For my first visit to the Czech Rep I was starting to get a bit worried!
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FAQ
