Random question about driving

[Shagly]

Whenever I drive in France I have to change more than the side of the road.

In the UK we drive on the left. At roundabouts traffic already on the roundabout, or coming from my right, has priority.

In France they drive on the right. But at roundabouts traffic coming from my right STILL has priority. Unless otherwise stated by road sign, ALL traffic coming from my right has priority even if it is a tractor coming out of a farm track on to a main road.

On Autoroutes, the French equivalent of UK motorways and US freeways, traffic MUST keep to the right hand lane at all times unless actually overtaking another vehicle. So drivers pull out to the left to overtake, pull back to the right as soon as they can, and out to the left to pass the next vehicle, repeating this several times in a kilometre if there are several slow vehicles in the right hand lane. In the UK to pass three slower vehicles I would stay in the fast lane until I had passed all three.

Speed limits are in kilometres per hour. If you pass a town or village sign, unless there is a speed sign mandating a higher limit, the speed limit is 30 kilometres per hour until you pass the same town or village sign with a red line across it to show the end of the community. 30 kph seems very slow, but do 35 and you'll get a ticket to be paid in cash on the spot. No cash? Your vehicle is seized and you are dumped at the roadside.

Also in France you have to have:

A fire extinguisher
Enough hi-vis jackets inside the car, not in the trunk, for the driver and passengers.
A First Aid kit
At least two breathalyser test devices. If the police ask you to demonstrate that you are not alcohol impaired you must still have another breathalyser.
A warning triangle
Spare bulbs for all driving lights and the knowledge to fit them.

In other European countries the requirements vary.

Almost like driving in Canada yet they still drive to the right side of the highways.

They prefer doing stuff in metric.

 

[torchthebitch]

Also in France you have to have:


Spare bulbs for all driving lights and the knowledge to fit them.

My brother had a Citroen. You had to remove the front valance to change the head light bulb.

 

[EternalFantasies]

Whenever I drive in France...

Thread spoiled.

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Denny

perhaps youhave had this experience:

you are passing or about to pass a car, but you are not going fast enough for the patience of the driver behind you. the driver behind yiu comes up right behind you and uses his/her brights!.

The question is: Do you have an immediate desire to just slam on the brakes? YES!

I am not, obviously, asking whether you would give into the desire ( in which case you would likely not be able to answer the question). But does it occur to you?

YES!
I was a trucker in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. I've pulled RV's and driven street rods all over the midwest and south. I've seen everything, man!

No, I've never done it because I've never owned a bullet proof vehicle.

 

[EternalFantasies]

YES!
I was a trucker in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. I've pulled RV's and driven street rods all over the midwest and south. I've seen everything, man!

No, I've never done it because I've never owned a bullet proof vehicle.

Well, here's one for you.

And please no offense, but truckers have a bad rep.

One almost rode over an old man, and the truck was a six wheeler pulling muscle with an old man in a car who had to run over a little ditch to get away from the truck.

I followed the truck, over took him, then had him dance around trying to overtake me while I did 15 miles/hour in front of him.

He was honking and jumping in his cabin for 10 minutes going nuts.

When i felt he may have learned his lesson, I continued on my way.

 

[Hypoxia]

I drove the autobahn for four years, and LOVED it. German drivers drive FAST, but are the safest drivers on the planet...

Germany ranks well, but Ireland, Israel, Malta, Spain, Switzerland, Iceland, Netherlands, Japan, UK, Norway, Sweden, and Maldives all have lower highway death rates. http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/road-traffic-accidents/by-country/

Meanwhile, I've been driven around Germany in military vehicles, none very fast, so I missed that Autobahn experience. Bootleg schnapps almost made up for it.

 

[coachdb18]

Not only that, but in Germany, one LEARNS not to drive in the left hand lane. I would never continually drive 150 mph in the left lane of a German autobahn for the simple fact that someone will almost certainly come up behind me doing 155 mph.

When I got back in the states, I was depressed for a week.

Fastest car I saw in my time on the autobahn wasn't a Lamborghini, nor a Maserati... nope, it was a lowly Volkswagen Golf... I was doing my usual 150MPH, and he passed me like I was sitting still. I was NOT in the left hand lane, and I don't think whatever he had under that hood was stock!

 

[EternalFantasies]

Fastest car I saw in my time on the autobahn wasn't a Lamborghini, nor a Maserati... nope, it was a lowly Volkswagen Golf... I was doing my usual 150MPH, and he passed me like I was sitting still. I was NOT in the left hand lane, and I don't think whatever he had under that hood was stock!

I think you saw a GTI.

It's over 300 horses, and very light at just over a ton.

It's a rocket from stock as it is.