catinou Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Just spotted a programme on tonight which we will be watching with great interest - it apparently highlights the penalties of breaking European driving laws... *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Thanks for that tip. I've put it to record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usinmyknaus Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Sounds like Johnny Foreigner has become rather uppity since we mothballed all the gunboats and grounded all the bombers...........! Bob :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyH Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Watched this. Did I hear right that one of the presenters said "If you stop at a pedestrian crossing in France, you are liable to be prosicuted for holding up the traffic" ? Anybody hear this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catinou Posted July 15, 2008 Author Share Posted July 15, 2008 Yep heard that - also now understand the yellow diamond thingy - when it has a black line through it , vehicles from roads on the right have priority, even if you are on a "main" road; when there is no line they have to give way - why do they do this???? *-) Looks like pedestrians and drivers on main roads are at risk, think we will just stick to the toll roads - no pedestrians, no black striped diamonds ;-) or is that their cunning plan all along? Maybe that's where Mr Brown learned his craft? >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I answered your post once today - must have pressed the wrong button!! I am not sure that stopping at a crossing is a crime in France - it might have been one time but many French drivers now stop (watch out for the Belgians still though!) and I certainly always do. With regards to the priority from the right rule when I first drove in France there were no roundabouts and priority from the right was the norm everywhere. In fact when I learned to drive in England prioriy at roundabouts was given to those coming on to the island, just like the Arch de Triumphe in Paris - done that too many years ago towing a caravan (not allowed now of course)! There weren't many signs then either and those that existed were very different to ours. Miracle I survived really! PS Just noticed that there is another thread with the same name as this in Chatterbox so I did press the right button! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith T Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 RoyH - 2008-07-15 8:56 PM Watched this. Did I hear right that one of the presenters said "If you stop at a pedestrian crossing in France, you are liable to be prosicuted for holding up the traffic" ? Anybody hear this? Hi yes, 'half watched' the programme, and sort of heard this (my wife did anyway), although I wans't sure if was refrring to France - however it does explain how we often get nearly run over by the French drivers when trying to get over their pedestrian crossings...so much for EU 'harmonisation'. Is this correct however - some of your learned people who live over there must have an answer for us who only visit occasionally. Also, with reference to the 'priority' sign, I always understood, that it referred to roundabouts or other junctions where traffic from the left has priority, not ffom the right? There are still very few occsional junctions where traffic come out from the right ,in front of you, generally in small towns/villages, but was not aware the 'non-priority' sign was shown for these - maybe I'm just half asleep ( like most of the residents!) when driving through such places...! Come on, you folk with more experience than most of us, let's have your views on this subject! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Keith you are mixing the priority sign e.g. when approaching a main road or roundabout so give way to the left, with the yellow triangle sign which means give way to the right. In some quite large towns all priority is given to the right and there may only be a very small sign to this effect when entering the town. I am thinking of one in particular on the main N road towards Narbonne but unfortunately the name escapes me. It's a nightmare driving through. Also have you read my post above? You have to remember that France has only become a busy vacational country in the last 40 or so years, before that most main roads were cobbled and the little car (CV2 Diane?) was the most common vehicle on the road - too slow to follow, too fast to overtake safely on cobbes when towing! Very many French people lived like peasants still in those days and you could see farm animals inside their houses as you drove past! They have not only caught us up but overtaken us for cleanliness (all streets are cleaned every night in the large towns), lots of flowers and so very little rubbish lying about. Just quirky road conventions! Oh and of course it is legal to park on the pavements and in the cities French people leave their handbrakes off so that anyone trying to park can "shunt" their car forwards or backwards without too much damage!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith T Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Patricia - thanks for this...certainly clarifies the situation, and whilst I've been driving in france for many years, ahd not appreciated (even seen?) the yellow triangle sign. I shall look out for these when we go back over next month! Strange regulation though, and I have often wondereed why some french cars stop when it would appear they clearly have priority over me if I'm coming out from a road and turning right - now I know, even though it'still not logical to me!!! I can't think that anyone would actually be charged with obstruction for actaully stopping to let pedestrians across a crossing, and seem to remember that several years ago, the French drivers were encouraged to be more courteous and carefull...and we certainly noticed improvements that year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Keith T - 2008-07-16 5:51 PM Patricia - thanks for this...certainly clarifies the situation, and whilst I've been driving in france for many years, ahd not appreciated (even seen?) the yellow triangle sign. I shall look out for these when we go back over next month! Possibly the reason you have not noticed it is because it is NOT a triangle but a diamond shape! Without a bar it means you have priority on the main road and with the bar means your priority ends and it reverts to the old French rule of 'Priority to Traffic from the Right' i.e. joining the road. See http://www.france4families.com/DrivingInFrance/Roadsigns.htm Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesmad Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Most of the visual road signs throughout Europe are more or less the same, I think that signs that are worded are the problem, have you driven in Andorra? a lot of the signs have words under them in Catalan which I thought was like Spanish until I tried to read them. I do like that when you enter a village, town etc you see the village name and that means that the speed is automatically 50KPH and when you leave the village you get the same sign but with a diagonal strip which means that the 50 KPH is recinded. In Germany this sign show the next town or village that you will encounter on that road, and what a help that sign can be. I found that driving in France was great with the exception that their signs are few and far between and when you do see them they are are all cluttered together making it difficult to read, on the whole though i think that driving in Britain might be congested, but the signs are easier to read. I see that a lot of councils over here are putting road signs onto a yellow background, this is good except that the STOP sign was designed to be the shape it is so that it cannot be mistaken for any other sign, looks like that's going out the window, to save money as well. happy motoring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 While driving around Paris years ago, I flew around the Arch de Triumphe giving way to no bu**er and the French chap we were staying with slapped me on the back and said "excellent - you drive like a french man!" I did not take this as a compliment :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Basil - 2008-07-17 9:38 AM Keith T - 2008-07-16 5:51 PM Patricia - thanks for this...certainly clarifies the situation, and whilst I've been driving in france for many years, ahd not appreciated (even seen?) the yellow triangle sign. I shall look out for these when we go back over next month! Possibly the reason you have not noticed it is because it is NOT a triangle but a diamond shape! Without a bar it means you have priority on the main road and with the bar means your priority ends and it reverts to the old French rule of 'Priority to Traffic from the Right' i.e. joining the road. See http://www.france4families.com/DrivingInFrance/Roadsigns.htm Bas Can't believe that I wrote "triangle" instead of diamond - well spotted Bas! Just driven down to Cornwall and noticed severel signs with a yellow square background with a black circle in it. Not consciously noticed this one before and must look it up. I assumed it meant "main road" similar to the French diamond (nearly types triangle again!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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