TM_001

As a Brit and someone who's lived in The Netherlands, Belgium, UK and California, I am ALWAYS amazed at the efficiency of french motorways and the Gendarmarie....

Yesterday did the 'commute' from Saumur to Calais (Le Mans - Rouen - Calais). The link shows the truck that came off the motorway in front of me.

2 points:

1. The speed at which they dealt with this (including getting to the scene) was impressive.

2. The amount of cars in the 'traffic jam' over a wait of 15 minutes? 10.

My point? People love to complain about French inefficiencies...well, the more I'm in France, the more I think they've actually got it right.

G-J-B

The autoroutes are amazing efficient in France (especially compared to the UK!!!), but they don't come cheap. The other month I went from Paris to Tours and back, and it's not practical doing the national roads, as there's always a town or village you have to crawl through every few km's. When travelling further south, it can be very expensive.
I know the French don't pay road tax, but if I were a car owner, I'd rather pay something than pay the autoroute fees if I was travelling distances on a regular basis.

TM_001

I would agree that the cost is high, but offset by the speed and ease...honestly I try to take the TGV when I can which is a better option on many fronts.

G-J-B

I love the French motorways, but every time I come to the pay booth I dread how much they want to charge. It also seems to vary a lot depending which part of France you're in.
I was a bad lad the other month. I'd ended up going 100km in the wrong direction (pretty stupid I know!), so then had to pay for that error (literally), and had very, very little time to get the car back to Paris and back to the car hire company. I had to increase my speed, sometimes touching 170km/h, frantically scanning every bridge and side road for a gendarmery. I've always stuck to speed limits in the past, and I guess the consequences would have been quite harsh if I was caught, but I got lucky, and kept this speed on the absolutely dead motorway for 3 hours.

Ka Ora!

If you go to a booth with a person and tell them you have over driven an exit they can usually let you get back in the other direction without paying to exit and getting a new ticket when you come on again. I have done it because if you are let back on keeping the original ticket other than your petrol there is no charge for the over drive. Happens to loads of people

G-J-B

Ah, now you tell me! Oh well, good to know.

south_bound

I've done that as well in the past - either asking at the booth or finding a gap in the barrier to do the U-turn before the peage.

Last week, I passed through and the machine didn't give me a ticket, but the barrier was up anyway and I drove on. When it came to the other end, there was no-one there to talk to (it was late at night), but the automatic paying machines have a handy button to call for assistance. I just told that I had no ticket, where I got on and how much I usually pay for that stretch of motorway and the amount came up on the screen to pay in the normal way - all painless and efficient (for once in France). There's an obvious loophole there for the devious minded, but I'm sure they've got it covered on way or another!

Generali

You drove at 170kmh on the motorway! You put being on time quite away above the lives of other people, clearly.

The consequences should be harsh if you get caught.

Courgette

They can be very good, but if one has to travel a lot, one can quickly clock up in tolls the equivalent of a yearly road tax.

We have sat at Lou Boulou for 3 hours in summer for no reason other than volume of traffic, where even the Télépéage lane wasn't moving. In winter, it only needs a bit of snow.

http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-we/bloques-d...6-5619224.html

Im_and_Er

Convenient but expensive.

I worked out recently that in 3 years I have paid close on €1000 in peage tolls so give me road tax any day

TM_001

Do you know how much road tax is in the UK? 1000 EUR in 3 years versus 400 GBP per year (I know my car is in the upper band)....no brainer.

And I just worked it out - I'm spending around 1,000 EUR per year (I'm fortunate not to pay it all myself) and I'd still rather have the french system. Remember you'd not have the same quality AND all of the french would be on the motorway if you had a road tax system....