Driving in Europe

[ViaRia01]

Hello, any advice/ pointers welcome :

I’ll be driving to the Netherlands (Holland) soon via France and Belgium. Can anyone advise what I need to do to ensure my car is compliant in those countries (ie a sun strip on the windscreeen if that’s still a think in France…?? I think a warning triangle is also legally required whereas it’s only advised in uk)

Also, I’ve never driven outside of UK. Any resources for that would be useful as well, ie driving on the right-hand side of the road in a right-hand drive car.

I seem to remember one previous holiday (where my husband was driving in a hire car) the rules for the roundabouts were odd - the driver already on the toy davout gives way to you if you want to join… or something like that. How can I find out about all these things?

Huge thank you

Check your insurance covers you to drive in EU, and for how long.

Get the"driving in the EU" kit from Halfords, plus the disposable breathalysers (for driving in France?). That will save you being fined if you get pulled over by the police, ie if you dont have something from the kit.

Is there someone else needed to be added to your insurance, to share motorway driving there?

Watch loads of "driving in France" videos on YouTube to get familiarised before you go.

I find motorway discipline is better in France, than UK.

Good luck

We drive every year from Germany to UK and back. I would only advise you watch out for the drivers in Belgium. Honestly, they can be erratic and not very good at using indicators. Oh and I think you'll be required to have a first aid kit in your car and possibly a visibility vest also.

Really useful advise thanks to you both.

Any others please keep them coming!

Most of our previous driving outside of the uk was in Italy. Absolutely beautiful and scenic. It definitely made me quite aware of different driving styles and how the norm might differ from place to place. Lots of hooting in Italy. it it wasn’t road rage exactly… just kind of bossy but then everyone seemed to be partaking (at each other I should add, not all directed at my husband!) and everyone just cracked on with no further incident or insult.

Warning triangle, hi vis jacket for everyone, registration and insurance /MOT documents. Beam deflector Stickers for the lights. GB sticker. Double check on LEZ depending on where you are going. Ghent and Antwerp have them and you need to pre-register - though if just passing en route this shouldn't be an issue.

https://www.dfds.com/en/passenger-ferries/destinations/belgium/driving-in-belgium
https://www.dfds.com/en-gb/passenger-ferries/destinations/driving-in-europe

You don't need breathalysers for driving in France any more. They have a lower legal blood alcohol threshold than the UK though, so best approach is just not to drink anything if you're planning to drive. Have a look here for relevant info on driving in Europe.

You don't need beam deflectors anymore either, at least in France. How the hell would you deflect the bloody new LED lights anyway.

If you're going anywhere near Paris you need a Crit Aiir Sticker

@boulevardofbrokendreamss - I thought headlamp deflectors are still a legal requirement in France. Would be interested to know if you have different info on this - I couldn't find anything to say they're not needed. We're headed there in a couple of weeks; our car is quite modern but doesn't have scope to change the angle of the lights so we still fit deflector stickers (and still get flashed a lot by lorries in particular, on the motorway).

Don't worry too much about all of this stuff you are supposed to carry. There seems to be this undercurrent of thought in the UK that driving in Europe is really scary, with police ambushes of UK-plated cars every couple of miles and deportation for people who don't have a hi-vis jacket for the baby. As you enter the terminal at Folkestone there used to be a large cardboard cutout gendarme with a list of stuff you "need" (including breathalysers for France, 5 or 6 years after that project was dropped). In practice you will never, ever be asked for any of this. And if you have a bad enough accident and the police decide that they don't like you while waiting for the ambulance to arrive, a €50 fine for not having a triangle will be the last of your worries. This is not legal advice, of course, but I lived in a few EU countries for several decades and I was never, ever asked to show that I had any of these gadgets.

I seem to remember one previous holiday (where my husband was driving in a hire car) the rules for the roundabouts were odd - the driver already on the toy davout gives way to you if you want to join… or something like that.

This was the rule in France until 1989, until they realised it defeated the entire point of a roundabout. They are now just like roundabouts in the UK (except of course you go round anticlockwise). The "priority on (i.e., for traffic coming from) the right" rule still applies, but this is mostly just to have a default when two minor roads intersect. In general a major road will have priority, indicated either by a yellow diamond sign for the whole road, or by a black sign in a red triangle where the thick bit means your road (with priority) and the thin bit means the other road (where they have to give way). See attached images.

A couple of tips for the wrong side of the road:
First, you can go wrong when setting off if there are no cars around. This is particularly easy to do if you're coming out of a narrow lane onto a main road at a T junction, or coming out of a petrol station or car park. We developed a ritual for that. Whenever we move off, the driver says "Drive on the..." and everyone else in the car shouts "Right".
Second, if you are in a UK car and driving on the right, it can be hard to see enough to overtake. Prepare to sit behind vans or slower cars for longer than at home, unless you trust the front seat passenger to judge your overtaking manoeuvre and communicate perfectly with you. However, when you are approaching a right-hand bend, you may actually find it easier to overtake than at home, as you can see the road all the way behind the vehicle in front of you.

@ViaRia01

loads of lists on line from RAC/AA etc

dont forget proof of car ownership or right to use.
also you cant use anything thing like haze or so forth in france that shows where cameras are. Or infact have installed on your phone.

ps also you cant use anything get a bleeper for tolls
look on line its very useful.

Thanks so much everyone for the advice

Beam deflector Stickers for the lights

May not need, depending on how new your car is - my Kuga you can just go into the settings and tell it you're driving on the right, and it shifts the beams itself.

@samarrange

Great summary.

The "priority on (i.e., for traffic coming from) the right" rule still applies, but this is mostly just to have a default when two minor roads intersect. In general a major road will have priority,

Agreed, in France at least the priority to the right rule only really becomes a factor on some rural roads and sometimes in towns- it’s certainly not the default anymore and the situation is usually made clear by the road signage/road markings.

Crit Air sticker so you don’t have to worry what routes you’re taking in France.

Also I use one of these stickers on the windscreen and find it really helpful
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/travel-accessories/travel-equipment/driveright-lane-safety-device-138860.html

Check insurance covers you
Take out AA cover for the duration of trip
Draw an arrow on the back of your right hand between thumb and finger
I have some small stick on adjustable mirrors that stick to my side mirrors and give me a wider field of vision for merging into traffic.
Head for Dunkirk