beigey

Do you have a link to the test? I think I might need to check up on some stuff - Last year I was nearly hit by an irate Frenchman who I was frantically honking and yelling at for cutting me up viciously from the RIGHT - ah ha - enter "priorite a droite" Thankfully after years of defensive driving in Dubai I was able to avoid the accident but my passengers were freaked out.

Tweedpipe

I'm glad someone touched upon the sign and mentioned "priorite a droite". I was just going to.

A potentially deadly rule which has been responsible for writing-off the cars of countless of thousands of French and especially foreign motorists.
Rules HERE. For anyone unsure, I suggest you read & inwardly digest!

A number of years ago the general rule was that traffic joining a roundabout had priority, and traffic already on the roundabout gave priority to traffic from the right. Not sure what year this was changed but now it's no longer like this - except for a very few communes. Surprising enough until quite recently there were still a few roundabouts in Colomiers (near Toulouse) where traffic joining the roundabout had the priority.

I've been driving in France for longer than I care to remember, and my fix of 'if in doubt - give way' of coping with the priority rules has several times saved me from a potentially very nasty crunch!

Novocastrian

^^ I've been driving occasionally in France since I think 1969, well before those signs or for that matter autoroutes were introduced.

The number of times I've been driving at about the speed limit along a Route National and had a farmer and his tractor, Gitane hanging from lips, swing in from the right without even bothering to swing his Gitane to look left first.

Them was the days.

cyrian

Like at the Arc de Triomphe

EuroTrash

Priorite a droite is still very much the rules in many places - the small town where I live has a dozen or so junctions, all p a d. It is also still the rule on the Paris Peripherique. In fact, it is still the general rule everywhere in France except where there are signs to say otherwise (i.e. give way or stop signs) - the rule hasn't changed, it's just that there are more exceptions to it.

There are online tests here http://www.anirom.com/codedelaroute/tests/

(something I did wrong first time I had a go - if you want to change an answer you have to 'effacer' the first one you ticked, otherwise it stays ticked as if you ticked both options so you get marked wrong. If that makes sense,)

Tweedpipe

ET - This is a brilliant online test you supplied. A must for all drivers in France!
Just spent 45mins with it, followed by the OH. I was a little blasé at first, but this pulled me up sharply!

Peabrain

I would have thought that such rules apply in most countries; in some places in California parking on the street is limited to 72 hours... and the reasons are not hard to understand
Incidentally, you might like to know that cars that are left on the street for inordinate lengths of time are known as "voitures ventouses." A ventouse being a suction cup or vacuum extractor.
PB

IndiaNovember

Hi peabrain, I could understand if it was just parked "on the street" but it's actually a 'parking gratuit' area outside our apartment blocks. And they don't care if we just move the van to the next space along (we checked) so it just seems daft, they don't need us to move the car to create space for other people, it just seems to be moving for moving sake!

Definitely going to take a look at that online test, should be interesting!

PS. Is 1 week an inordinate amount of time??!?! :P

Peabrain

Hi,
Sounds as though you're a little unlucky. As regards other little foibles to be encountered here, I've been racking my brains to find some, but can't. I suppose you've come across disque bleu parking in zones bleues, which seems to be making a comeback. New disques thanks to a European ruling apparently; another reason for David Cameron to say 'no' to Europe no doubt.

PB

EuroTrash

Does seem a bit pointless! The only possible reasoning could be, to make sure that it isn't an abandonned vehicle - but if they know you live there and it's your van...

But hey look on the bright side, it's not good for vans to stand still for too long. Is this a campervan? Their tyres get flat spots if you leave them parked up for months - I had to replace 2 tyres that had plenty of tread left but that had suffered from not being turned. At nearly 200 € each.

jjmb

Oh god, this thread has just doubled my fears about driving in France when I visit my parents in April. Normally I am the passive passenger when we visit but this year we will be making separate trips as both of us have a seriously ill parent. His Dad in Scotland and my Mum in France. So now I will need to swot up on my appalling French and the French driving laws

MillieF

Don't you worry you'll be fine! I know all sorts of people criticise French drivers, but I never experienced anything but kindness and civility.

Nikki1308

Sorry for jumping on an old thread...I can't believe no-one has mentioned the silly (imo) rule that from 1-15 of the month you can park your car on one side of the street and from 16-30(31) you have to park on the other side!!

EuroTrash

Makes sense to me - (a) it ensures that there aren't ever cars parked on both sides of the street at the same time, making it difficult to get a big truck down the street and (b) seems a lot more democratic than condemning half the street to having cars slap bang in front of their windows all the time while the other half has a clear view all the time...

Nikki1308

You're right, it is certainly fair but not always easy to keep track of - when you are parking your car it's not a natural reflex to work out what date it is and therefore what side you can park on (unless all the neighbours are home before you and you just follow where everyone else is parked)!