Is it difficult driving for the first time to France in a UK right hand drive car, and is it easy to follow?

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bill757051

Yes - it's fairly straightforward. Just make sure you learn the French road signs and speed limits before you go and concentrate hard to make sure you stay on the right side of the road!

It does help to have someone on the passenger side to help check the road is clear when overtaking.

DONALD B

if you remember that left turns require far more care than right, then you should have no problems.
Signs , are I am afraid in French, BUT, so are the names on the map you should be looking at. So no problem. Just find a sign with the name you are looking for.
One little point.
The French have a bad habit of signposting directions, especially on country roads, on tiny little signs actually on the corner you need. So speed is a bad idea.
Couple of hints.
Cedez la gauche means give way to left
Cedez la droit means give way to right
Autre rout means other routes except those signposted.
For diversions the word suivre means follow.
When in rural towns, remember, a lot of little towns, still cling to the old road usage of "Give way to vehicles on the right.
So beware of Xroads in little villages, even if you are on main road, cause old farmer Claude could drive straight out in front of you.
Take care and you will enjoy France. Superb country, with wonderfully friendly people

rolo

France is a great place to drive,far less traffic in most places,except cities and you can always by pass them on the motorways.Even mway traffic is easier than England.

Cabal

The biggest danger when driving a right hand car it when you try to take over another car. Better have a passenger who knows your car and the time you need to take over because you won't see a thing until you have cleared the car/truck in front of you.

The biggest danger when driving in France for a British is turning at a crossroad. You will swing automatically to the... wrong side of the road. My personal trick is a post-it on the dashboard with a drawing of a crossroad and a big arrow showing which side to go to. I glance at it before turning.

Remember that unless the road on the right - or the street on the right - has a stop sign usually marked with a sign and a white line on the ground, they have priority over you and the driver will expect you to slow down to let him go through first. If you forget... crash, ouch, and you're the one to foot the insurance bill.

Once you get used to all that it is clear driving to wherever you are going.

PS: Don't drive in Paris, this requires special skills

Graham I

No, it's very easy except that you will find it difficult to overtake without passenger assistance.

Road signs are predominantly place names and therefore easy to follow, but beware that when driving through a larger town the signs can change somewhat unpredictably between a large town far away and a small town nearby, so it's well worth really looking at the map and being familiar with all of the towns coming up on your route (or even past the end of your route) so you don't get confused when you arrive at a junction which doesn't have a sign for the town you were expecting.

There are a couple of other aspects of roadsigns which are worth knowing -

"rappel" underneath a sign simply means "reminder"
"hors gabarit" means "outside the limits", so for example if there's a low bridge coming up this might be a sign for an alternative route for high vehicles.
A little yellow diamond means "you have priority" so you don't have to worry about side-roads to the right.
When you enter a town and pass the town name, this automatically makes the speed limit 50km/h unless otherwise indicated - it also means that you no longer have priority, and need to give way to traffic coming from the right (unless they have a stop or give way sign of course, not that that's easy for you to see!)

Rowan

It's pretty easy, you can get a book telling you what the signs mean before you go (most are obvious anyway.) The difficult part is occassionally you may forget to drive on the other side of the road, when you're pulling out from a supermarket for example. If you have a bad memory just put a note on your seat or steering wheel reminding you and which you have to look at every time you start the car.

midge

The worst bit is driving off the ferry and everything converging, when you hit the road it all falls into place.

The French are very good on motorways, but have quirks in the departments when driving in towns, so give yourself space to react. They also have a much greater awareness of 2 wheel users, ie they see them and give way. the riders ride with this in mind, so give em a thought and use your mirrors.

Priority is to the right!!!!!! If the road is not marked so watch out. No one told me this so I spent a time cursing them, when it was actually me at fault.

They stick pedestrian crossings at the mouth of road junctions, so watch out when going round corners. This can vary as to how they are used. One town Annemasse the pedestrians cower on the roadside hoping they can cross, looking strangely surprised if you stop. 20km up the road in Bonneville its the opposite the pedestrians throw themselves in front of moving vehicles.

Paris yup stay clear.

Watch out when parking there seems to be a habit here of knoking chunks out of neighbouring cars with your doors.

I ride a bike too and have noticed the roads seem to be abnormaly slippy when wet, so if you drive at speed bear it in mind.. then also have plenty of cash to pay on the spot fines for any infractions. And carrry all the documents for the car at all times .

I think the rest has already been covered.

Have fun

richard b

You have received loads of advice in your answers but one extra little tip. It concerns the use of headlights and, specifically, flashing them as a signal to other road users. In the UK, if a vehicle facing you flashes its headlights it means, "I'll let you go first." In France it means the opposite, "I'm moving first, you must wait." If the vehicle behind flashes its lights it means he's going to overtake you. French drivers, in my experience, will always overtake when they can and they tend to drive right up to your rear end before they pull out to do the overtaking. One other thing, speed limits on Autoroutes (Motorways) are reduced when it rains.

Barry K

You shouldn't have any problems. The signs are clear enough. Just give yourself extra space behind the car in front before overtaking. Check your mirror work and signalling perhaps more carefully than you might in GB.

Bon voyage.

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