The following guide to road rules may help you to adjust to driving in France. Don’t, however, expect other motorists to adhere to them (most French drivers invent their own ‘rules’).
All motorists in France must be familiar with the highway code ( Code de la Route), available from bookshops throughout France (around €15), when they take their test, but most promptly ignore it as soon as they’ve passed. Note that there isn’t a single official highway code, but numerous versions of it produced by different publishers (e.g. Ediser and Rousseau)!
The Prévention Routière produces a leaflet in English called Keep Right highlighting the major rules and conventions, and a similar guide, entitled Welcome on [ sic] France’s Roads, including a list of common fines, is downloadable from the Sécurité Routière website (www.securiteroutiere.gouv.fr – click on ‘ Les dépliants thématiques’ under ‘ Ressources’).
These are both rather basic, however. For more detailed guidance, you should obtain the Guide Pratique et Juridique de l’Automobiliste (Editions Grancher), which explains the rights and obligations of car owners. If your French motoring vocabulary is wanting, Hadley’s French Motoring Phrase Book & Dictionary (Hadley Pager Info) is a handy reference.
All motorists must carry a full set of spare bulbs and fuses. It’s recommended also to carry a red breakdown triangle (compulsory if your car doesn’t have hazard warning lights), a fire extinguisher and a first-aid kit. An ‘F’ nationality plate ( plaque de nationalité) must be affixed to the rear of a French-registered car when motoring abroad. Most French registration plates incorporate the nationality letter. Similarly, drivers of foreign-registered cars in France must have the appropriate nationality plate affixed to the rear of their cars; you can be fined on the spot for not displaying one.
The wearing of seatbelts ( ceinture de sécurité) is compulsory for both front- and rear-seat passengers (unless belts aren’t fitted; front belts are mandatory on cars registered after January 1965 and rear seatbelts on cars registered after October 1978). Even passengers can be fined for not wearing a seatbelt. If you have an accident and weren’t wearing a seatbelt, your insurance company can refuse to pay a claim for personal injury.
Studded tyres may be used from 1st November to 31st March (although this can be extended in bad weather) on vehicles weighing under 3.5 tonnes. Vehicles fitted with studded tyres or snow chains are restricted to a maximum speed of 90kph (56mph) and a ‘90’ disc must be affixed to the rear. You can be fined for not having chains in your car in winter in mountain areas, even when there’s no snow!
A recent government ‘directive’, which may become EU law, advises motorists to use dipped headlights (low beam) day and night when driving outside built-up areas between the end of October and the end of March (i.e. when the clocks are on winter time).
In any case, it’s illegal to drive on side (parking) lights ( codes or veilleuses) at any time. It’s also illegal to use full beam ( pleins phares) when you’re following a vehicle or when a vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction; failure to dip your lights can cost you a penalty point on your licence. You should also use dipped headlights ( codes) in tunnels and when driving onto and off cross-Channel ferries. Side lights should be left on when parked at night on an unlit road.
You should flash your headlights only to warn other road users of your presence, although the French usually do so to mean “get out of my way” and occasionally to warn other motorists of police speed checks and road blocks, which is illegal and punishable by a fine. Hazard warning lights ( feux de détresse or warnings) may be used to warn other drivers of an obstruction, e.g. an accident or a traffic jam and should be used when being towed.
The use of horns ( Klaxon) in built-up areas is restricted to situations where it’s necessary to avoid an accident; in any case, a horn should be used as a warning signal and not an expression of frustration (Parisian drivers please note!).
Mobile (cellular) phones ( portable or mobile) shouldn’t be used while driving, even with a ‘hands-free’ system. As with non-use of seatbelts, you can be fined on the spot.
The driver is responsible for all passengers under 13, who should travel in the back of a car whenever possible. It’s dangerous to fit a child seat (even a rear-facing seat) in the front of a car fitted with a passenger airbag; some airbags can be disabled for this purpose .
Babies weighing under 9kg (20lb), i.e. aged under around nine months, must ride in a rear-facing baby seat. Infants weighing between 9 and 18kg (20 and 40lb), i.e. aged between around nine months and three or four years, must ride in a front-facing child seat and children over 18kg and up to ten years of age must ride on a raised seat and wear a standard seatbelt.
The traditional French rule that you should give way to traffic coming from your right ( priorité à droite) still applies in some cases, and it’s important to know what these are. Failure to observe this rule is the cause of many accidents and punishable by fines and licence penalties. The rules are as follows:
If you’re ever in doubt about who has the right of way, it’s wise to give way (particularly to large trucks!), and you should always give way to trams and to emergency (ambulance, fire, police) and public utility (electricity, gas, telephone, water) vehicles when their lights are flashing or sirens sounding (or they don’t look as if they’re going to stop!).
Vehicles on a roundabout ( sens giratoire or rond-point) usually have priority and not those entering it, who are faced with a ‘Give Way’ sign (‘ Cédez le passage’ or ‘ Vous n’avez pas la priorité’). While it used to be that drivers on the roundabout at times had to give way to vehicles entering the roundabout, this has slowly changed, and almost all roundabouts give priority to the vehicles on the roundabout. British drivers should note that traffic flows anti-clockwise round roundabouts and not clockwise.
The sequence of French traffic lights ( feux) is red, green, amber (yellow) and back to red. Amber means stop at the stop line; you may proceed only if the amber light appears after you’ve crossed the stop line or when stopping may cause an accident. Traffic lights are often suspended above the road, although most are on posts at the side, with smaller lights at eye level for motorists who are too close to see the main lights (an excellent idea).
In Paris and other cities there’s a two-second delay after one set of lights changes to red before the other set changes to green, to allow time for those who don’t care to stop at red lights or cannot tell the difference between red and green (a significant proportion of Parisian drivers). You can be fined around €300 and penalised four licence points for driving through a red light.
An amber or green filter light, usually flashing and with a direction arrow, may be shown in addition to the main signal. This means that you may drive in the direction shown by the arrow, but must give priority to pedestrians or other traffic. Flashing amber lights are a warning to proceed with caution and are often used at junctions at night, in which case you should be very careful and observe the priority signs (see above). Occasionally you will see a flashing red light, meaning stop or no entry, e.g. at a railway crossing.
Most level crossings have automatic barriers; red lights start flashing and a bell rings a few seconds before the barriers come down, indicating that you must stop. At crossings without barriers, a similar light system is in operation, and there may be the classic French sign, ‘ Un train peut en cacher un autre’.
White lines mark the separation of traffic lanes. A solid single line means no overtaking in either direction. A solid line to the right of the centre line, i.e. on your side of the road, means that overtaking is prohibited in your direction. You may overtake only when there’s a single broken line in the middle of the road or double lines with a broken line on your side of the road.
Note, however, that if the gaps between the lines are short and the lines long you should overtake only slow-moving vehicles. No overtaking may also be shown by the international sign of two cars side by side (one red and one black). Processions, funeral corteges, horse riders and foot soldiers mustn’t be overtaken at more than 30kph (18mph).
Don’t drive in bus, taxi or cycle lanes (you can be fined for doing so) unless necessary to avoid a stationary vehicle or another obstruction. Bus lanes are identified by a continuous yellow line parallel to the kerb. Be sure to keep clear of tram lines and outside the restricted area, delineated by a line.
If you want or need to stop on a main road, you must drive your car completely off the road, but beware of ditches and soft verges ( accotements non-stabilisés).
The French are obsessive overtakers and will do so at the most dangerous moments, often cutting in sharply within inches of your front bumper. It’s therefore wise to decelerate when being overtaken. You must indicate left before and while overtaking; on single carriageway roads you must indicate right when moving back into your lane, but this isn’t necessary on dual-carriageways or motorways.
Many French motorists seem to have an aversion to driving in the right-hand lane on a three-lane road, in effect reducing it to two lanes, but it’s an offence not to move over to the right-hand lane if it’s safe to do so. It’s illegal to overtake on an inside lane unless traffic is being channelled in a different direction, although this is a favourite manoeuvre among impatient French drivers.
Cars mustn’t be overloaded (particularly roof-racks), and luggage weight shouldn’t exceed that recommended in manufacturers’ handbooks. Carrying bicycles on the back of a car is illegal if they obscure the rear lights or the number plate. The police make spot checks and fine offenders around €75.
The maximum dimensions for caravans or trailers are 2.5m (8.2ft) wide and 11m (36ft) long, or a combined length of 18m (59ft) for car and caravan/trailer. No passengers may be carried in a moving caravan. On narrow roads, drivers towing a caravan or trailer are (where possible) required to slow or pull in to the side of the road to allow faster vehicles to overtake (although they rarely do). The speed limits for a towing car depend on the weight of the trailer or caravan. A special licence is required for towing heavy trailers or caravans.
Goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes are banned from roads between 10.00 Saturday and 22.00 Sunday, and from 22.00 on the eve of a public holiday to 22.00 on the day of the holiday. In Paris, goods vehicles aren’t permitted to travel out of the city between 16.00 and 19.00 on Fridays to allow car drivers to get a head start for the weekend.
Although France generally adheres to international standard road signs, there are also many unique signs with instructions or information in French.
Always come to a complete stop when you’re faced with a Stop sign and a solid white line across the road and ensure that you stop behind the line. (Junctions are a favourite spot for police patrols.)
The Autoroutes du Sud de la France publishes a booklet explaining motorway signs and symbols, which is available from motorway toll booths or from the ASF (08 92 70 70 01, www.asf.fr ).
The use of radar speed checks is widespread (including on motorways). Around 1,000 of these are already in place with an additional 1,000 due to be installed in 2006/07 (find out where they are on www.controleradar.org ). Police also use concealed cameras to snap speeding motorists. French drivers often flash their headlights to warn other motorists of speed checks, but radar-detection devices are illegal. Speed limits are enforced by motorcycle traffic police operating in pairs.
If your car has a GPS system, you can be ‘caught’ speeding by a new Big Brother-style satellite surveillance system called ‘ Lavia’ (short for Limitation s’adaptant à la vitesse autorisée). Note also that motorway toll tickets are timed and you can be convicted of speeding if you complete a section of motorway in less than a certain time!
French drivers routinely speed everywhere, generally at least 20kph above the speed limit and often far more: a recent motoring magazine survey (in Var) found that the average speed on motorways was 160kph (100mph) and on routes nationales 107kph (67mph)! Drivers rarely slow down for villages and are often irritated by motorists who do so. Usually you’re ‘allowed’ to be 10 per cent above the limit, so if you’re clocked at 55kph in a 50kph zone, or 99kph in an 90kph zone, you won’t normally be penalised – but don’t bank on it!
This article is an extract from Living and working in France. Click here to get a copy now.