Driving in France

I've never plucked up the courage to drive abroad. I've always used the excuse, I do all the driving at home, I'm on holiday, I'm not driving. It's always worked fine as we've always been to places that are well connected by public transport.

This year we're thinking of going to a campsite in rural France. It's about an hour's drive from the airport apparently. There's a train that goes somewhere near it but we'd still have to figure out the last twenty or so kilometres.

I might hire a car. But I've never driven on the wrong side. A thought suddenly occurred. If I hire an automatic, then at least I won't have to worry about changing gears with the wrong hand. I'll still have to drive the wrong way round but gears would be one less thing to worry about.

Any thoughts or tips? I can easily revise the french equivalent of the highway code, but I mean confidence tips or tips to help avoid mistakes. For example, turning right in the UK, I know I'm aiming for the far side lane. What if out of pure habit I do the same in France? How can I train myself not to do things that have become second nature to me on UK roads?

 

I found it fairly easy after a short while. I did stick a note to the wheel the first time I drove there to remember to drive on the right. the French are pretty good drivers in general and their roads are much better than ours, again in general.

The first time I hired a car abroad I had never driven an auto, so went with a manual. It was much easier than I thought it would be. Now I've driven an auto I'd only just hire them from now on if possible, automatics are just better than manuals at pretty much everything these days.

Also get the best insurance you can from the hire company, I imagine it's still an optional extra over their basic insurance. I've not hired a car in about five years though

 

The first time i drove over the pond was in a 44ton lorry (right hand drive) and found it easy but take it steady and don't rush or take an chance's, i was out there for 8 weeks and done France,Belgium,Germany,Holland,Denmark,Sweden & Finland and some of the places i was in the capitals, The worse was driving into Paris near that mad roundabout (arc de triomphe), so if i can do that you should be ok on normal roads

Get as much info on the laws, ie breath test kit, red triangle etc, i'm not up to date with laws now as it's been over 10 years

Good luck

 

If you're hiring a car it should have all the kit you need but you should check anyway. We certainly don't have breath test kits in ours and no-one has aksed us to produce one. Read this - Breath Test Kits - a legal requirement for driving in France You do need to make sure lights are working and that you have a warning triangle in case of accident.

If you're collecting a car at an airport there will be plenty of direction signs to keep you right, literally. It's after being there a day or two on rural roads that you're more likely to set off on the left side.

Road markings and direction signs on roundabouts are pretty clear and an English voiced satnav on your mobile will help with lane management on motorways and dual carriageways. Do be sure to keep to the speed limits and observe parking restrictions. Lots of radar about and, in holiday areas, policemen too and they will catch up with you for fines, especially in a hire car.

Most of all, have fun. Roads are generally better in terms of surface and markings but the French on holiday can be just a bit lackadaisical and not concentrate like they would at home.

 

The breath test thing is strange and reverse of over here as I thought the British police dont like the public getting hold of this kind of stuff.

They prefer you to be ignorant about if you are legal to drive so that they can catch you.

My cousin came over from Australia and brought his own electronic tester.

 

I cannot be of any help. I learned to drive in America in 1965 ... then learned to drive in England in 1978, then moved to Portugal in 2001. I am right handed but you learn to adapt.
have never driven an automatic. Prefer gear shifts.

 

Whereabouts are you going, Clue? If it's just a case of getting from the airport to the campsite, I could arrange to taxi you...got a seven-seater . If as I suspect, you'll be wanting to get about and explore, then you'll have to take the plunge. One tip for getting prepared for driving on the wrong side is to 'practise' in your head. That's what I did before moving over. A bit too successfully, as I set off from a friend's house in UK in 'French' mode
Another tip is re. the signs for 'straight on'. They can be a vertical arrow but for place name signs, it can be a slightly offset horizontal arrow which gives the impression that it's sending you left when in fact it's 'straight on'. A Satnav will keep you sorted.
I'm not sure you've got the big, green and white 'road dividers' for slip roads there? Best not to do what a Brit friend did as he was undecided whether to take the slip road or not, so he drove straight at the divider
Definitely observe speed limits...blasted radars are everywhere, as are speed bumps.

 

I shall ask my ladies at patch tomorrow about the breathalyser thingies and at physio on Wednesday but, TBH, no-one has ever mentioned them since we arrived here in 2016.

I don't think they're going to be a factor in driving here and driving on the right side of the road in a left hand drive is really not a problem. The pedals and other controls are the same, just the gear stick on the wrong side.

 

Driving an automatic certainly does remove one potential distraction. I've driven automatic in the USA and Canada, but manual when renting in Europe. I've tried to change gear with the window winder (remember them?) a few times but nothing worse than that. There is also a natural tendency to look to the left for your rear view mirror in the first couple of days.

 

I'm not sure yet. It's my teenage son that's determined, and is doing all the looking up of places. The region is the south, Provence I think. He's looking at Eurocamp sites cos I said I wanted self catering. He found a couple that are quite far from the main train line. I haven't took much notice of the details yet because he keeps changing them.

Maybe now I think about it driving in France probably shouldn't be my biggest concern, compared with not really knowing what the plan is, and letting my teenage son work it out, but it's an adventure I guess. We could end up anywhere.

 

When me and my mates first went to Florida 34 years ago, we just booked a fly/drive. By not having a plan, these types of holidays can be the best. My first trip to Thailand was in 1999, again, all I done was book a flight, then just went with the flow.