Driving in France - some thoughts and experiences
- Thread starter JRS
- Start date
Absolute nutters the lot of 'em. FACT. 
Me and friends would sit outside Cafe's all continental style posing and drinking playing a game to pass the time between eye candy shouts.
It was called spot the car Without a dent. Even the cop cars have dents in them. When they park they just use the bumper to nudge people along and make there own spaces anywhere.
Zebra crossings are drawn on the road but mean absolutely nothing. Cars have right of way and whoever is most aggressive wins.
Also white lines PPfffffff spartan use to say the least.
Having said all that despite being a proud English person I love the French.
I love there women they are fantastic so full of grace. I stayed over there plenty for many reasons but mainly women.
Its a real mellow country has loads of space and lovely countryside. The guys are cool once they realise you are not the normal up him self englishman abroad and at least try to speak there lingo.
I have loads of French storys real classics. When i know you all better i will tell you my ultimate French story. Even if i say so myself its a cracker.
Anyways it's official malc30 loves France.
Me and friends would sit outside Cafe's all continental style posing and drinking playing a game to pass the time between eye candy shouts.
It was called spot the car Without a dent. Even the cop cars have dents in them. When they park they just use the bumper to nudge people along and make there own spaces anywhere.
Zebra crossings are drawn on the road but mean absolutely nothing. Cars have right of way and whoever is most aggressive wins.
Also white lines PPfffffff spartan use to say the least.
Having said all that despite being a proud English person I love the French.
I love there women they are fantastic so full of grace. I stayed over there plenty for many reasons but mainly women.
Its a real mellow country has loads of space and lovely countryside. The guys are cool once they realise you are not the normal up him self englishman abroad and at least try to speak there lingo.
I have loads of French storys real classics. When i know you all better i will tell you my ultimate French story. Even if i say so myself its a cracker.
Anyways it's official malc30 loves France.
Lol so true, I've never understood people who say the standard of driving in blighty is bad, just look at most of the rest of the world! When I was in France I was beginning to think that dents came factory fitted to cars.
Not as bad as egypt though, I remember when our taxi driver went the wrong way round a roundabout because it was shorter and narrowly avoided a car going the right way round!
Also check this out!
Not as bad as egypt though, I remember when our taxi driver went the wrong way round a roundabout because it was shorter and narrowly avoided a car going the right way round!
Also check this out!
Luke15 said:
Portugal is full. of novas and 206's being driven by people who dont understand the concept of lanes, generally they only care about 2 things:
1) How big they can write the name of their stereo system in their backwindow
2) How far and how fast they can roll backwards in to un dented cars when never having been introduced to a hill start.
malc30 said:Absolute nutters the lot of 'em. FACT.
Having said all that despite being a proud English person I love the French.
I love there women they are fantastic so full of grace. I stayed over there plenty for many reasons but mainly women.
Its a real mellow country has loads of space and lovely countryside. The guys are cool once they realise you are not the normal up him self englishman abroad and at least try to speak there lingo.
I have loads of French storys real classics. When i know you all better i will tell you my ultimate French story. Even if i say so myself its a cracker.
OT, but quoted for the truth.
My experience of French driving is great.
On the way down to the Dordogne region (SW France), I sat on the the motorway with cruise control engaged at over 100mph in my Golf for 45 mins - not once having to slow down or brake. The roads were that empty, and the lane discipline that good. If lorries are overtaking each other and see you in their rear view mirror, they will slow down and pull back into their lane.
The roads in the Dordogne region are awesome - great scenery, very very little traffic, and brilliant wide twisty lanes, most of the time with good visibility.
However, avoid Paris like the plague. If you must navigate the périphérie then make sure you: a) have TomTom; b) have written your will in advance; c) do it in a battered car. Lanes seem to merge and form all over the place, people drive as fast as they possibly can regardless of what they're travelling in, and there is no room or time to change lanes without a *lot* of forward planning. Sheer hell - the most unfavourable driving experience I have ever had.
On the way down to the Dordogne region (SW France), I sat on the the motorway with cruise control engaged at over 100mph in my Golf for 45 mins - not once having to slow down or brake. The roads were that empty, and the lane discipline that good. If lorries are overtaking each other and see you in their rear view mirror, they will slow down and pull back into their lane.
The roads in the Dordogne region are awesome - great scenery, very very little traffic, and brilliant wide twisty lanes, most of the time with good visibility.
However, avoid Paris like the plague. If you must navigate the périphérie then make sure you: a) have TomTom; b) have written your will in advance; c) do it in a battered car. Lanes seem to merge and form all over the place, people drive as fast as they possibly can regardless of what they're travelling in, and there is no room or time to change lanes without a *lot* of forward planning. Sheer hell - the most unfavourable driving experience I have ever had.
malc30 said:Absolute nutters the lot of 'em. FACT.
Me and friends would sit outside Cafe's all continental style posing and drinking playing a game to pass the time between eye candy shouts.
It was called spot the car Without a dent. Even the cop cars have dents in them. When they park they just use the bumper to nudge people along and make there own spaces anywhere.
Zebra crossings are drawn on the road but mean absolutely nothing. Cars have right of way and whoever is most aggressive wins.
Also white lines PPfffffff spartan use to say the least.
Having said all that despite being a proud English person I love the French.
I love there women they are fantastic so full of grace. I stayed over there plenty for many reasons but mainly women.
Its a real mellow country has loads of space and lovely countryside. The guys are cool once they realise you are not the normal up him self englishman abroad and at least try to speak there lingo.
I have loads of French storys real classics. When i know you all better i will tell you my ultimate French story. Even if i say so myself its a cracker.
Anyways it's official malc30 loves France.
feel free to tell us
Man of Honour
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Vertigo1 said:
Agreed - I had the fright of my life there, though a close second to when I was in Naples. Now I don't scare easily (not with a hobby such as mine
) but I seriously could not look out of the window when in the taxi - I was staring at my feet constantly 
I've driven in over 15 countries, and it's amazing how quickly you get used to driving in the UK. I have to say the "easiest" place to adapt to was the states 
.I love driving in France as there are some great roads. The rules and "habits" are completely different and can be alien for the Brits. Especially from the courtesy side of things. There is also the "priorité à droite" rule which a lot of people forget. France does have a rep though for people driving too fast and there has been a huge clamp down on bad drivers with a LOT mroe police presence (not speed cameras though) - which is good actually. Too many people were being hurt by crap driving. They've changed learner rules too - you must now do at least 40hrs of "learner" driving before you're even allowed to take your test. The driving gets worse as you get towards the Med, but it's improving - a lot, certainly compared to 10 years ago. Paris is still the dodgiest for driving.
Malc - I now like you a lot!
drove down to the Dordogne and then accross to Ile de re (sp) a few years ago. All the roads were first class, much better road surfaces than here, light traffic on motorways and cross country the roads were literally deserted. We were in an Audi TT and friends were in a Boxster at the time. Probably best driving experience I've ever had to be honest.Lovely part of the world too.
Soldato
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Freefaller said:
Tell me about it! I just got back to the hotel after taking some visitors into Paris for dinner. I warned them before we left Lisses that I would be driving like a nutter once we got into Paris but they didn't believe me that driving in Paris is quite that much fun
