Strange driving habits in France?
Discussion
Wish said:
This something my father , originally from Belgium would do over here. He also use to indicate right at zebra crossing when being the lead car, letting someone cross.
Not something I ever noticed when I lived in Belgium. however when my parents asked a Belgian lady I brought home to London with me what were the differences between England and Belgium, she thought for a moment and said “you stop for people at crossings...”I always felt the indicator thing just meant “i’’m pressing on”, the doing it 6” from a bumper was more of a lack of regard for safety thing.
Belgians would drive right up behind a Dutch car on the road and complain they couldn’t drive. Then, when I moved to Holland and went to Belgium, a Dutch driver would do exactly the same, complaining Belgians can’t drive.
The run south from Calais always gets much more interesting when you pick up the Belgian traffic.AC43 said:
Stuart Fordyce said:
- drive at the speed limit at all times, regardless of whether this is appropriate.
If they're irritating me I just give it a quick squirt, make some distance and then resume my cruising speed.
Overall I find them a lot less irritating that Brits. For the first hour or so out of the tunnel there were loads of Brits pulling out on me to overtake with no notice, hogging the outside lane for miles and, in one case, a bloke in a diesel Mazda 6 who decided I was leaving too large a gap from the car in front and promptly undertook. In another thread on adaptive cruise this is precisely why I don't use it in the UK.....
He was a grade A knob and in 20-odd miles he gave me the full M25 treatment of tailigating, blocking, pulling out and undertaking. He seemed to take special umbrage every time I passed him. I wasn't trying to do anything special, just maintain my speed at 110 to 130 kph on a pretty congested bit of motorway.
Eventually on a long uphill section I just nailed it for long enough to make sure I wouldn't have to deal with him any longer.
I just don't some across any French people pulling those sorts of stunts.
My heart usually sinks when I re-enter the UK motorway network at the end of the holiday and it all starts again.
Just returned from two weeks in Scotland. Driving there really is bliss. Mixture of the best of French and UK (yes there are some good drivers in the UK) habits. I love driving in France BTW. Helped by low traffic levels away from the big cities, I experienced very good lane discipline, but with people keeping a good gap behind you when you're in the process of overtaking. Very strict observation of 30MPH and 40MPH limits in Urban areas. Very good driving on derestricted A and B roads, i.e. no 45 MPH dawdling and plenty of safe overtaking with no gesturing or flashing of lights
Driving back south my heart sank the closer I got to home on the south coast. All the knobbish tailgating, people chopping 4 lanes and off the motorway exit at the last second and general selfishness and aggressiveness just got worse from Birmingham downwards... I can only assume the clogged up roads in England are a factor and in Scotland where there's less traffic and more space, people chill out and develop better habits.
Driving back south my heart sank the closer I got to home on the south coast. All the knobbish tailgating, people chopping 4 lanes and off the motorway exit at the last second and general selfishness and aggressiveness just got worse from Birmingham downwards... I can only assume the clogged up roads in England are a factor and in Scotland where there's less traffic and more space, people chill out and develop better habits.
NewUsername said:
Simply this, its my usual experience too, i usually do a two week holiday in France or Italy and driving over there is bliss compared to here.
The Italians are crazy and in towns and on motorways. They drive far too close to others cars and in an erratic way.The motoways in France tend to be very quiet, so its difficult to compare to the UK. But the French are rather poor drivers in towns.
But people on here love a good moan about England and how everything is awful and isnt as good as it was back in their day.
Driving on empty French motorways is a good way to do big miles relatively stress-free, but I've actually encountered road rage of sorts from the French. A few years ago I was near Montpellier, getting held up through a village by a ropey old van doing about 30kph. I passed the "leaving village" sign, I could see a little way further the solid line became a broken line a little further up the road so I indicated my intentions. When I reached the broken line I moved left and squirted past Gaspard up to the 90kph limit. As I past him it became clear that the line was broken due to hidden driveways, not because it was a broken line. Cue honking and waving arms as I pulled back in front, I raised my hand with an "oops, my mistake" gesture, but that wasn't good enough for him or the cars that had previously been directly behind me. When we got to a RN all the cars previously behind me started having a go, one by one as they overtook me.
I assume their rage was due to a Brit overtaking on a broken unbroken line, unless hearses in France are rusty yellow Renault vans and I violated common decency.
I assume their rage was due to a Brit overtaking on a broken unbroken line, unless hearses in France are rusty yellow Renault vans and I violated common decency.
DoubleD said:
NewUsername said:
Simply this, its my usual experience too, i usually do a two week holiday in France or Italy and driving over there is bliss compared to here.
The Italians are crazy and in towns and on motorways. They drive far too close to others cars and in an erratic way.The motoways in France tend to be very quiet, so its difficult to compare to the UK. But the French are rather poor drivers in towns.
But people on here love a good moan about England and how everything is awful and isnt as good as it was back in their day.
tannhauser said:
DoubleD said:
Jaguar steve said:
Indeed.
Just popping over for a long weekend and a bootfull of booze reminds you what a ghastly overcrowded and rapacious dirty little s
thole the UK has become.
So why stay here then?Just popping over for a long weekend and a bootfull of booze reminds you what a ghastly overcrowded and rapacious dirty little s
thole the UK has become.king born here, maybe?NewUsername said:
DoubleD said:
NewUsername said:
Simply this, its my usual experience too, i usually do a two week holiday in France or Italy and driving over there is bliss compared to here.
The Italians are crazy and in towns and on motorways. They drive far too close to others cars and in an erratic way.The motoways in France tend to be very quiet, so its difficult to compare to the UK. But the French are rather poor drivers in towns.
But people on here love a good moan about England and how everything is awful and isnt as good as it was back in their day.
The common theme is volume. Wherever you are & there is heavy traffic you get people staying in lane, driving too close, aggressive/combative & selfish.
Mind you in Italy I've experienced far more drivers who don't like being overtaken on single carriageway roads, France far less so.
DoubleD said:
tannhauser said:
DoubleD said:
Jaguar steve said:
Indeed.
Just popping over for a long weekend and a bootfull of booze reminds you what a ghastly overcrowded and rapacious dirty little sthole the UK has become.
So why stay here then?Just popping over for a long weekend and a bootfull of booze reminds you what a ghastly overcrowded and rapacious dirty little s
thole the UK has become.king born here, maybe?Why shouldn't he be able to complain about what an overpopulated, miserable place the UK has become?
tannhauser said:
DoubleD said:
tannhauser said:
DoubleD said:
Jaguar steve said:
Indeed.
Just popping over for a long weekend and a bootfull of booze reminds you what a ghastly overcrowded and rapacious dirty little sthole the UK has become.
So why stay here then?Just popping over for a long weekend and a bootfull of booze reminds you what a ghastly overcrowded and rapacious dirty little s
thole the UK has become.king born here, maybe?Why shouldn't he be able to complain about what an overpopulated, miserable place the UK has become?
Taylor James said:
DCWs would hate driving on the continent. It's not a place for the nervous and incompetent.
Have to agree. City chap hired a DBS Volante for a trip, coming from a Renault Clio DD... Should have been his dream break but he was terrorised by Clios and 106's. And it was ugly. But it was his fault and they punished his inexperience. I still feel this pain 4 years on!Once you are used to autoroute behavior and react accordingly it's a good way to cover the miles easy enough.
In town and country driving !then that's something different. Defensive driving is the order of the day and be ready for anything!
It's common in that some drivers do one trip a week into town and have been doing the same and only trip since the 60s.
Expect a car to stop in front of you for no reason whatsoever apart from the driver saying hello to someone they know.
Expect them to be,at best ,in the middle of a country lane or completely on the other side as they come round a corner,they just don't think forwardly.
In town and country driving !then that's something different. Defensive driving is the order of the day and be ready for anything!
It's common in that some drivers do one trip a week into town and have been doing the same and only trip since the 60s.
Expect a car to stop in front of you for no reason whatsoever apart from the driver saying hello to someone they know.
Expect them to be,at best ,in the middle of a country lane or completely on the other side as they come round a corner,they just don't think forwardly.
mike9009 said:
I 'think' the French have always done this. They were doing it in the 90's when I was over there many times and still doing it now whilst I was in Paris a few weeks ago.
It is a matter of intent - 'I need to get somewhere quicker than you' or whatever the French is for that??
Merve erver dirk hed.It is a matter of intent - 'I need to get somewhere quicker than you' or whatever the French is for that??
Taylor James said:
The expectation is that you overtake briskly and then get right. You are not expected to crawl past traffic you are overtaking, regardless of the speed limit. Having a 911 turbo or any other performance car is completely irrelevant. Why should it be? You don't get brake testing either.
Each journey with our French holiday hosts is a true white knuckler. Too fast, too close, sums it up nicely.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff