European Roads

[Off da Grid]

Your right no pun intended my mistake. It was last year

 

[maison]

Better still, try driving round the Arc de Triomphe! Ranks on a par with throwing live hand grenades for danger.

Once did that, as a tugger , and turned the wrong way onto the round-a-bout.

Very interesting experience.

 

[autorouter]

I think you'll find in France that that is wrong.
The yellow diamond shaped box means you have priority. If it has a black line diagonally through the yellow box it means cars coming from your right have priority.
It's often in the centre of small towns and villages that some roundabouts still have this old system.
See here: https://www.drive-france.com/faqs/get-your-priorities-right/

A bit more info on this. In places where the rule is overridden, the road with no priority has a STOP sign, or a standard 'Give Way' sign in the local language (eg 'Cedez Le Passage'), just like the UK.

In contrast to the UK, the road with priority needs a yellow diamond sign (= You Have Priority) so that you definitely know you have priority. Also the STOP or Give Way signs are located so as to be visible by drivers on the priority road as well as (obviously) the drivers on the no priority road.

When driving through a village, there are often zebra stripes on an approaching side road, which are actually a pedestrian crossing, but subconsciously you tend to think of them as give way markings which they definitely are not.

 

[Camdoon]

Better still, try driving round the Arc de Triomphe! Ranks on a par with throwing live hand grenades for danger.

We normally have a couple of days in the Bois de Boulogne camp site each year and their shuttle takes you to within a quarter of a mile of the AdT so we walk round it at least twice. The UK could not cope with such anarchy, we would need a tanker full of white paint markings along with further traffic lights and dead ending a few of the roads joining. Vive la difference etc but no thanks.

 

[wotme]

The UK is one of few countries that don't/haven't used give way to the right we are odd ones out. Apart from European counties it also applies in the USA, Canada , Mexico, Australia.
White numbers in a blue circle for minimum speed are quite common in the UK and all other European countries, you should know that sign if you learned to drive in the UK.

From the Highway code,
View attachment 357604

Lenny you must be joking. When I past my test these signs along with many others were not even thought of but of course that's no excuse not to keep up with the times. It took me a while to get used to operating electronic signals instead of hand signals. Now if you can honestly say you know every current rule of the road then I take my hat off to you. Take that 30mph on a blue circle for instance, if you travelled at a lower speed than 30 would you be prosecuted with the same severity as travelling above 70mph on a motorway. And what about the unwritten law that if you stay within 10% above 70 on a motorway its okay and you won't be prosecuted. Agreed?
As far as the prioite a droite law in France is concerned imagine the shoe is on the other foot and you are the one entering a line of traffic from a minor road, the chances are if you braked you'd have a French vehicle ram you up the backside and you would be in the wrong for stopping

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[chaser]

Lenny you must be joking. When I past my test these signs along with many others were not even thought of but of course that's no excuse not to keep up with the times. It took me a while to get used to operating electronic signals instead of hand signals. Now if you can honestly say you know every current rule of the road then I take my hat off to you. Take that 30mph on a blue circle for instance, if you travelled at a lower speed than 30 would you be prosecuted with the same severity as travelling above 70mph on a motorway. And what about the unwritten law that if you stay within 10% above 70 on a motorway its okay and you won't be prosecuted. Agreed?
As far as the prioite a droite law in France is concerned imagine the shoe is on the other foot and you are the one entering a line of traffic from a minor road, the chances are if you braked you'd have a French vehicle ram you up the backside and you would be in the wrong for stopping

Just as an aside to hand signals, what happened to the, " I am slowing down signal", I remember when my father had his first car with semophore signals, he used to switch it on and off so the hand thing went up and down when he intended stopping.

 

[wotme]

Just as an aside to hand signals, what happened to the, " I am slowing down signal", I remember when my father had his first car with semophore signals, he used to switch it on and off so the hand thing went up and down when he intended stopping.

I recon your father's idea was ingenious. Not sure if anyone would understand his intension, probably thought his indicators had a short

 

[autorouter]

Just as an aside to hand signals, what happened to the, " I am slowing down signal", I remember when my father had his first car with semophore signals, he used to switch it on and off so the hand thing went up and down when he intended stopping.

Most vehicles now no longer use acetylene lamps, but use the new electrical lights. They have lights with red filters, automatically switched by the brake lever, or the foot pedal on the latest cars.

This is such an improvement - it was always a problem steering, operating the brake lever and turning the ignition retarder all at the same time as waving your hand up and down as a slowing-down signal.

 

[wotme]

Bloomin hec autorouter what the hell was your first car ?

 

[nicholsong]

When in France and driving through towns villages and in case I have missed the 'No Priority' sign on the main road at the start of the town/village I check the approaching side road to see if there are stop/give way sgns or lines on the roadway. If neither I assume 'Prioite a la droite'

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[Top Hat]

I sort of get this. However as some roads joining main roads are almost a blind approach the vehicles on the main road would have to travel at such a low speed to enable them to stop in virtually their own length if a vehicle decided to drive straight onto the main road without slowing or looking just because they can.

The vehicle coming from the right that you have to give way to cannot come straight out, because they have to give way to vehicles coming from the right on the oppisit side of the road you are on.

 

[autorouter]

The vehicle coming from the right that you have to give way to cannot come straight out, because they have to give way to vehicles coming from the right on the oppisit side of the road you are on.

If they can see that the road to the right is clear then, yes, they can indeed just come straight out, across your path. If you drive into them, it's your fault.

In a foreign country, they have different rules to the UK. Learn them and stick to them, don't keep thinking you can just drive like at home. It's a classic joke that UK drivers are the ones with a crumpled right wing.

 

[busby]

Just as an aside to hand signals, what happened to the, " I am slowing down signal", I remember when my father had his first car with semophore signals, he used to switch it on and off so the hand thing went up and down when he intended stopping.

I had i guy stop dead in front of me at night on a narrow service road to our depot..When i got out and enquired whether he had ever heard of signals he said OF COURSE,,didnt you see my brake lights,,,Gob smacked or what,,BUSBY,,