Driving in France

Das882 · Post by **Das882** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:23 am

If you are visiting Paris, Lyon and Grenoble, you will have to purchase a coloured sticker showing the amount of pollution your car causes......heavy polluters can be refused entry, it's a bit like this new tax for older Diesels in London, All in the name of improving air quality in built up areas,

greg1953 · Post by **greg1953** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:58 am

I 've toured France twice on motorbike but not since '05 and one thing I remember was that the rural petrol stations all closed for lunch then closed completely at 17.00, I've heard it's better now but as I haven't been back I can't confirm.
Hardly anyone speaks English, unlike Holland where it seems everyone does.
Greg

Paulwirral · Post by **Paulwirral** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 9:10 am

ronk wrote:Im starting to worry now

Don't , just be careful . My advice is based in living there full time for a couple of years then visiting for 3 months a year since , real world France is different to holiday world France ! I'm sure you'll be fine and have a great time , especially if you try the escalope de fois , I'm assuming as your from Durham youve eaten liver before lol: I'm from gilesgate myself just in case you take offence :
I've only been pulled over a couple of times in all the time I've been in France for spot checks , they just check your paperwork , been flashed by static cameras half a dozen times and never heard anything of it and broken into once , but I have seen people paying a little to much attention to the car in service stations a few times . Mobile cameras usually hide behind the bridge or on the exit of tunnels on auto routes .

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 9:16 am

150 km/h is a 30 Euro fine, so that is the speed I stick to which makes for nice progress without being too expensive.

I use the Cheetah GPS detector now which works well, in case they start to exchange information sometime this year ...

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 9:27 am

You will have a great time, its just like driving any where else. Where possible stay off the toll roads, cost aside, you will see some amazing scenery on the back roads.

As others have said, don't forget your Hi-Vis, 1x for each person in the car and the spare bulbs. The breatherliser is a strange one, as its technically required, but their is no fine for not having one. (Still probably stick one in the car to avoid any hassle)
Only £4.99
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alcosense-ALCN ... eathalyzer

As long as you don't drive it like you stole it you will be fine, so just go and enjoy.

Where are you picking travelling too? We did Belgium - Loire Valley - Bordeaux the other year and loved every minute of it.

Lance · Post by **Lance** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 9:59 am

Don't need spare bulbs. Might be good to have spares, but they're not a requirement.

gannet · Post by **gannet** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 3:42 pm

I know of three people in the last couple of years who've been involved in accidents in France...

all of them had their cars written off!

take care

Paulwirral · Post by **Paulwirral** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:07 pm

pvr wrote:150 km/h is a 30 Euro fine, so that is the speed I stick to which makes for nice progress without being too expensive.

I use the Cheetah GPS detector now which works well, in case they start to exchange information sometime this year ...

I don't think camera detectors are legal , get caught and it gets confiscated ! I know your supposed to turn the function off on the sat nav but I wouldn't honestly know how to . That's me being old though

Das882 · Post by **Das882** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:34 pm

Yes that's correct speed camera/radar detectors are illegal, if your cought using one it's something like a minimum 2000 Euro fine!!!! My TomTom automatically disables this function when driving in France.

ronk · Post by **ronk** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:48 pm

Austin wrote:
Where are you picking travelling too? We did Belgium - Loire Valley - Bordeaux the other year and loved every minute of it.

We are visiting friends who've just bought a place with accommodation in Castelsegrat in the Toulouse area. We stay in the Loire for an overnight then drive to see them - we do the same on the return by but have a couple of nights in Arrowmanches to see where my old father spent his summer holidays in '44

If this works out ok we will maybe do a longer more comprehensive trip next year but in the Z4!

ronk · Post by **ronk** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:56 pm

Paulwirral wrote: I'm assuming as your from Durham youve eaten liver before lol: I'm from gilesgate myself just in case you take offence .

Not me!
I'm not a great fan of liver and although I've lived in Durham for 40 years and love the place - my home was over the Tyne at the coast !

freemadw · Post by **freemadw** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:57 pm

French autoroutes are a great but fairly expensive way to travel, speed limit is 130kph in dry weather, think it's 120kph in the wet. Rest areas and service areas are clean and good value. Lots of cheap places to stay like Formule 1 hotels, not the height of luxury, but cheap, clean and convenient for a night's kip. If you have the time the RN (A roads) are more scenic and interesting but substantially slower. It is obligatory to have at least one disposable breathalyser kit with you - but there's no fine for not having one. Hi-Viz waistcoats should be accessible from inside the car, one per person.
It's not Germany, so you can't go crazy, but you'll probably find most traffic going a bit faster than 130kph - there are urban rumours that they can analyse your peage tickets to see if you've exceeded the average speed, but I've never heard of anyone it's ever happened to.
Cheers, Dave

Roundozo · Post by **Roundozo** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 1:09 am

Pretty sure the breathalyser rules have been thrown out. You don't need one but they are useful to have if you like a beverage or two. Buy a digital one and you can use it again and again. I've used mine many times since getting back from out road trip in the summer and it's probably stopped me driving the morning after when I've felt ok.

Just enjoy it, we did over 5k miles in 3 weeks (leisurely) and it was fantastic. Diving in Europe is so much more rewarding than in the UK. Roads are better, traffic seems to flow and it's usually hotter!

I did get flashed once (in Germany off all places) but never had anything through the post.

We only got window stickers for German cities (emissions based) and for the Swiss motorway.

Our road trip was in July/August but I'm still to write my write-up for the forum, ops!

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:05 am

Drove through much of France a couple of times, first in 2003 then again in 2010.

In rural areas lunch is from 12 to about 13.30 - don't be late or you will get hungry (although this doesn't apply to "motorway services").

Also found many filling stations are unattended in the quieter areas, so payment by card only - but not Visa, MasterCard or Amex. (WTF)! Caused a bit of "squeaky-bum" travel in 2003 - never been more economical!

Hopefully things have improved a bit since then - but we are talking about France, so perhaps not!

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com