Almost hit a police car.It made me think

[plumbersvan]

:-S Driving through a large town lost and dreaming i almost hit a police car 8-) Which drove out in front of me :'( I was on the main road the police a side road,To slow traffic some towns,have pririty from the right :'(

I managed to stop,just in time :-D But from the camping part of the car came crash 8-) :'( The shopping id left on the bed a coffee cup not secured an a kettel half full of water 8-)

 

For all those heading for France remember that quite some towns have priority from a side road to slow traffic :'(

 

I now put everything away properly before setting off B-)

 

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

You should not really be cleaning and gutting your sardines while driving.....Even in France! Naughty! :-S

[plumbersvan]

In lots of towns they now have signs saying that the side crossing should stop,so i wasnt thinking. :'( I glade i didnt hit them as i had forgoten to turn my gas off 8-) Later i saw police checking campervans and scooters,but not for gas??only the campervans

 

They didnt have any sardines :-S Id bought armands(shell fish)and Lot(fish)

[Retread24800]

You should know by now :-)

NB hope you enjoyed your Amandes (Small clams?), yummy with a squeeze of fresh lemon or perhaps cooked with a little Bayonne ham, or did you add them to a soupe de poisson with your Lotte (Monk fish)?

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

Hmmm...searching campervans...for what *-)

[Dave Newell]

I have to say I find many of your postings odd, but this one is plainly worrying. Driving with a half full kettle sitting on the worktop? Really?........................ I have seen some dodgy stuff in motorhomes though, fruit bowls full of fruit sitting on the table with just a piece of non slip mat underneath "that'll keep it in place". I even saw one AutoTrail with a wonderful display of kitchen knives on a magnetic strip on the wall, knife throwing anyone?

 

Heavy and solid items and sharp items like knives should be secured in a way that in the event of a sudden stop, or even worse a head on collision, that they don't become projectiles travelling into the cab at whatever speed you were travelling at. Even that lovely sink cover/chopping board could cause serious injuries if it hit you in the back of the head at 50 MPH!

 

Please, Please people THINK about what you are carrying and what it might do in the event of an accident!

 

D.

[George Collings]

Too right Dave.

 

Our van has a lovely one inch thick hardwood cutting board that drops loosely into the sink for about half the depth of the board. In a head on collision it would take the head off the front seat passenger so now it lives forgotten in a low cupboard.. My maths and physics are too rusty to calculate how far that sort of missile would fall while it travelled the length of the van and sure as hell want to avoid any experiments to find out.

 

Before the wearing of seat belts was compulsory it was not unknown for belted front seat pasengers to be killed by unbelted rear seat pasenger flying forward.

 

[Derek Uzzell]

Priority-to-the-right continues to be the overriding rule when driving on French roads.

 

http://www.vendee-guide.co.uk/priority-a-droite.htm

 

It's an unpleasant rule and I've yet to meet any French driver who is fond of it (let alone a 'foreign' driver), but it's unlikely to be repealed in the foreseeable future.

 

To the best of my knowledge there is no legal requirement to turn off gas-bottles while driving a motorhome in France. I've been told (as I've been told many things!) that this is so, but I've read nothing to make me believe it's true. It is certainly the case that there's a national French regulation that forbids gas-fuelled appliances being operated in a moving vehicle, but that's another matter.

[plumbersvan]

:-S I had arrived found the aire & was just making a short drive,the kettel was in the sink with potatoes broccoli and other things mrom the market :-D

 

The shopping bag has the fish a bottle of wine a jar of cherry jam and mostly safe for a short drive :-D

 

The most shocking part was the vehical i chose to almost collide with,but then as i now know the police central was in the road i chose

 

I was told that it costs 90€ if the gas is not off?But i was told by a French camping car ist.Im sure it has to be off as IF the police make a control they do check that ive seen

[Derek Uzzell]

plumbersvan - 2012-05-01 4:12 PM

 

...I was told that it costs 90€ if the gas is not off?But i was told by a French camping car ist.Im sure it has to be off as IF the police make a control they do check that ive seen

 

It is often claimed authoritatively on French motorhome forums that gas bottles MUST be turned off when a motorhome is being driven in France, but the actual regulation that states this is never identified.

 

It was claimed on a French forum (in 2009) and the response from one participant was:

 

"...mais voila pres de 6 annees que je parcours des forums cc. de France, il n´y a jamais personne qui a presente un texte de loi interdisant de rouler bouteilles de gaz ouvertes..."

 

The replies were on the lines of "I'm sure I've seen the text on this website...", but nobody was evidently able to say where on the forum, or to point to where the law might be read elsewhere!

 

Similarly, it is often said on French forums that not turning off the gas bottles might invalidate the vehicle's insurance in the event of an accident, but I've no idea if that's true.

 

There are good arguments that a motorhome's gas bottles SHOULD be turned off, but SHOULD is not MUST in the same way that OUGHT TO is not HAVE TO.

 

If there were a French law demanding that a motorhome's gas bottles must always be turned off 'en roulant', then systems like Truma's SecuMotion that permit a gas-fuelled heater to be operated in a moving vehicle would be worthless and unmarketable in France.

 

I don't believe there's a French must-turn-off-bottles law and, consequently, I don't believe one may be prosecuted/fined for not doing it. I'm prepared to believe that the French police MIGHT check to see if gas bottles are turned off and MIGHT advise a motorcaravanner that turning them off is good practice, but that's not the same thing as there being a law.

[plumbersvan]

:-S We may never know :-S The police will say the gas should be off,and that an infraction would cost 90€ 8-) That is they THINK you should turn the gas off

 

The only way we will ever find out is to when someone is stopped for gas *-)

 

Maybe its the spanish that insist (on far to much)the gas being off???

 

The French police are very good and dont create problems,but the local police do seem to follow me i had to stop quickly again for one in Decathlon parking

 

And ive read the replies inc from John Newall and put my cutting board in a cupboard,otherwise it used to sit on the table with an anti slip matt *-) *-)

 

Being a campingcar ist is quite q learning curve

 

When my camping van broke down it seems the car bit felt a service was overdue once the garage had found time all the fillters etc changed it runs perfectly again :-D

[trooper]

Always put things up safely.

One of my plumbers had an accident, and even though fittings ect were in racks, many went forward and the windscreen looked as if it had been shot at with a shot gun, the driver was very lucky, it made us all think about storage.