Driving to France

[5tiletto]

Hi All

We are driving to France next week. I have googled the regulations that we need to know before we go but it would be helpful to hear from those who have done it recently.

Thanks!

What do you want to know? I assume you have all the things that you legally need to carry and display.

Let your insurance know that you’re driving in Europe (don’t think a green card is needed) and ensure that your breakdown cover includes Europe.

I found it really easy to get used to, I only really had to think at the first couple of roundabouts that we came to.

If you can swap your car’s speedometer display into kmph that’s really handy.

The town name signs indicate where the speed limit changes

If you’re doing a lot of motorway miles it’s a good idea to get a tag for the tolls.

You'll need hi viz vests for all occupants of the car, and readily to hand not packed away.
Potentially a crit-air sticker depending on where you are driving to.
A UK car sticker.
Familiarise yourself with French road rules, you have to reduce your speed if it's raining, again easily searchable online.

French motorway driving can seem a bit scary at first but actually I prefer driving over there than here. Rarely get middle lane hoggers! They can drive up very close behind you, but that's to get you to move usually.

Just don't overthink it, you can drive a car so you can drive anywhere. Yes it's a bit weird driving 'on the wrong side' but you get used to it quickly.

Yeah you def need
general insurance coverage
breakfdown insurance
UK sticker (not GB!)
high vis jackets for everyone
warning triangle
critair sticker if driving into central Paris or other cities with low emissions zones. If you are doing this don’t panic you can apply online and you get an email with a temporary sticker, the actual sticker takes about 10 days to come and costs a handful of euros

other than that and outside the cities it’s an absolutely breeze. Stick to the autoroutes and have a car ready to pay the tolls which generally will be worth paying for over long distances. Because the toll booths are on the passenger side of UK cars that will be your passenger’s job, and if by yourself you will have to get out and walk round.

there are far more service stations but they tend to be smaller with less food offerings than their British cousins. However they do things like picnic areas much better.

Whatever you do don't buy the above kit at the ferry/euro tunnel terminal as you will get ripped off.

Definitely worth getting the windscreen tag, you can whizz through the toll barriers in no time.

This is all really helpful - thank you!

Turning out of T junctions is IME the most likely place to accidentally turn onto the wrong side of the road so pay special attention there, roundabouts and traffic lights usually guide you by lanes and markings.

If you are driving on a Saturday in August it. Can be be really busy. It took us double the Google Maps time to travel Brittany to Cognac last week. Best to go really early or later if you can. Also the yFrench seem obsessed with having lunch at 1pm exactly. Try to stop earlier if you can.

I wear a hairband on my right wrist to remind me which side of the road for moments of doubt (normally at a junction when there isn't another car to follow).

Seriously !

If there is time, get a Bip&Go device - saves hassle and arguments at the toll booths. Also, get stickers for your headlights to adjust beams

Ow and we stuck a sticky on the dashboard that converted miles into kms

Get a roundabout sticker put it on your windscreen and reminds you about roundabouts

As pp say quiet T junctions are the worst for going in the wrong side of the road.

Handsfree is illegal I think so disable that and so are sat nav's which tell you where the speed cameras are

Plan to stop regularly. When we were younger we had a rule that we never drove for more than 2 hours without taking a break. Now we are late 50s it's more like every hour.

This is for safety and it also makes the drive a lot more pleasant as you stay fresher. You will find the driving more tiring.

Get some decent maps. Michelin do an excellent road atlas for France (Amazon, yellow cover). Google maps are good but if it fails for whatever reason you need a backup.

Make sure you have a rudimentary toolkit. This year our rear windscreen got shot by a rogue strimmer stone. Fortunately DH had packed some strong tape so he was able to tape up the shattered screen so we could complete our homeward journey.

Re hi-vis jackets. If you get out of the car on the motorway you should be wearing it. We have ours on the backs of passenger and driver's seat as a visual reminder.

Relax and enjoy it. We have always driven to France and treat the journey as part of the holiday.

Have a lovely holiday.

They drive on the right.

It is more tiring, it really helps if you have a second adult to help navigate and watch out for anything unexpected especially in towns and cities or complicated motorway intersections. I agree with having a back up, we lost all connection to Waze last week and had to use offline Apple maps which worked fine but was the equivalent of an atlas, needed a second person to read out the directions. Whichever of you is the best navigator should be in the passenger seat for the complicated parts of the journey. If you are on your own research the route properly first, it is really easy to take a wrong turning off a dual carriageway as they often seem to be very close together. On the whole it is pretty straightforward though.

If your car can turn the Speedo to km figure out how to do that. It makes it easier to stay within the limits without having to keep calculating.

If you are driving on main roads that go through towns or villages the limit will be 80/90 until you hit the village. Some have a sign giving the reduced limit but others don't and I think it is 30 by default until you hit the sign for the village name with a line through it as you are leaving the village.

Have your MOT / Ownership doc handy.
We were once stopped randomly by the police and asked for these. Dh had them on the phone screen, but I had to explain why he didn’t have them in document form! (French speaker)

You'll be fine! Less traffic away from the cities on the motorways and A-road equivalents, so very pleasant. Lot's more places to stopon the motorways, too.

Stupid things to not do? If you pull across the road to a garage on the left, that's when you'll pull out and drive off down the road on the wrong side...then wonder why some French twit is heading straight for you... Not that I would do such a thing. Of course not. The very idea!

Do not sit in the overtaking lane on the peage. They use it strictly for overtaking and pull straight back over again.

You will need:

• a spare set of bulbs (Halfords sell these)
• a Crit Air sticker (most regions/cities seem to want this now, so definitely worth getting - costs around €5, and you apply online
• a high viz jacket for every person in the car
• your insurance documents
• your driving licence(s)
• your V5
• 'beam benders' if you're going to need to drive with your headlights on

The RAC/AA websites will also tell you if there's anything else that you need, but I think that's the full list

We've just come back from a couple of days, so it's fresh on my mind!

In general, driving in France is pretty easy. Their main roads usually avoid you having to go through town/city centres.

If you do find yourself in a town/city and not knowing which way to go, look out for signs that say 'toutes directions' and they will guide you out of the town/city.

Beware that there are different speed limits when weather conditions aren't good - especially if it's raining, and French traffic police are strict. If you get pulled over and fined, they will escort you to the nearest cash point for the money! (So probably also always worth having Euros to hand!)

A lot of their main roads/motorways are 'péage' - tolls - so be ready for those. As PP have said, you can buy tickets in advance, although we've never bothered to do that. Many of them are automated these days, and take cards - just check the lights above each lane, to see if it's card or cash.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/country/france/

waze satnav works well in France

AFAIK It is illegal in France to be notified of the location of speed traps. Your GPS won't (shouldn't) show them.

It definitely is very much illegal and the potential sanctions that can be applied if you are found to be equipped with speed trap warning of any sort are eye watering…(they include the possibility of having your car impounded)..

Yes! 100% the Bip and Go - they're so much easier