Our French life - Driving on French Roads
Driving on French Roads is indeed a pleasure, ( City areas excluded) you can drive for miles without seeing another vehicle especially on a weekend, that said, the French when encountered can be a bit crazy, I think they class their time on the road as empty time (not eating and drinking) a traffic jam here would be more than 4 cars.
Drinking and driving is the same here as in England so best not to is my motto
However plod can be around any corner so it is best to be prepared for them, here is what you will need:
- Driving licence - Vehicle documentation - Insurance etc - Your passport should always be carried too.
- Hazard warning triangle
- High vis vest, this should be on the back of the seat not in the boot and the reasoning behind this is: if you are hit in the back and cannot open the boot you can't get it out to wear. you must put it on if you breakdown or are involved in an accident and place the warning triangle before your vehicle to warn oncoming traffic.
- Breathalysers (2) which are available at most chemists and some supermarkets - I believe they have stopped the fine of 11€ - they also have a best by date so keep an eye on that.
- Seat belts are to be worn at all times both front and back.
Speed limits are approx - inner areas 50 km Big roads 90 km, dual carriageways 110km Motorways 130 km but when it is raining this is reduced to 110 km
Headlamps must be changed so that they dip the other way, get the men to sort the technical stuff I say.
Another hazard here is of course the wildlife such as deer or wild boar, we just missed a very large angry looking wild boar when returning from a shopping trip.
He shot out of the forest and was obviously on a mission straight in front of us, 2 seconds earlier and we would have hit him, whilst this clearly conjures up a vision of a lovely pig on a spit with crackling it also entails a very damaged car and unless you can prove the boar did the damage you are unlikely to get it covered by the insurance, well they can't claim it off the boar!, one tip a french man gave us was to keep a bit of the skin.
There are lots more that I won't bore you with but I know you will enjoy driving here in France and take in the beautiful views and always have a camera ready.
á bientot
