Over the last few months I have read a number of negative comments about driving in France – the roads are dangerous, the drivers go to fast and tailgate, there seems to be no police presence to catch all the unsafe drivers, etc.

Well, I am about to return home to France after spending three weeks in Canada, visiting family all over southern Ontario - in the city of Toronto, the outskirts, the country During this time we have been passed by cars going far faster than the 20 kilometers above the speed limit that we are driving, going through red lights, cruising across 4 lanes of highway, passing on both left and right, cutting us off, etc. And nowhere have I seen any police cracking down on driving that I think is much more dangerous than we know in France. This is not to say that they are not there. I know because I have stayed with family and watched the local news that the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend hundreds of drivers were ticketed for just such infractions, plus for having cars that were completely un-roadworthy. The point here is that you as an average tourist are not always aware of police patrols.

When we came to France in 1994 we came with Ontario drivers licenses – which could not be exchanged for French. We knew this before we came, but having run out of time before we left, we decided that we’d surely find a solution in France. We did – it was called ‘Take the French drivers test.’ We did and it was a revelation to people who had been driving for many many years, had picked up some bad habits, as most of us do, and didn’t really understand all the rules of the road in France. Anyone getting a license in France must go through a driving school, take a very detailed exam based on the Traffic Code, and be presented at the actual test by the school. For the test you must drive a gearshift, and prove that you can use all the gears, as well as indicate that you understand and can follow the Code. Not only does this take a long time but it is very expensive – it can easily be several thousand euros to get your license. (We passed, by the way, but it wasn’t easy.)

During our lessons we were impressed with the instructor’s emphasis on safety, not speeding and not drinking. Unfortunately many young people don’t listen and do kill themselves in the first few months they drive. He was pessimistic about France’s willingness to come down on impaired driving and speeding. At that time, 1994, the total number of fatalities was over 9000.

Since then things really have changed – in great part because of what the French call ‘peur de gendarme’- fear of getting caught. There is not the same number of speed cameras in France that there are in Britain I understand, but there are more and more cameras, and radar patrols, with heavy penalties. In fact a recent British car magazine had to send a replacement driver when the person driving a test car was caught going 40 km (24 miles) over the speed limit on an autoroute, and had his license confiscated.

And the culture is changing – we don’t see the same number of ‘designated drivers’ among our friends, as we would expect in North America, but young people and others are getting the message. This year the fatality rate was below 5000, almost half of what it was 12 years ago.

So, what will you find when you drive in France? Unfortunately they will still drive too close. That doesn’t seem to change. They may drive faster than you, particularly on twisty roads. But they probably know the roads better than you, and have errands to run, appointments to keep, etc. I drive from my house to Sarlat several times a week (several times a day in summer) and know the road very well. It’s very frustrating to follow someone going 40 or 50 kilometers an hour on a road marked 90, even though I wouldn’t necessarily go 90 on all of it.

But on autoroutes they will for the most part drive on the right, pass on the left rather than cruising from one lane to the next. They will generally behave as well as most drivers we’ve met in North America.

Roads for the most part will not be as straight as in North America. Makes them more interesting. And I’ve never been on one here as narrow as the road in some English counties – in Cornwall we drove a Mini down roads where a bicycle couldn’t have passed us.

Roundabouts/traffic circles which may take some getting used to, but are much easier to deal with than having to turn left (or right in Britain) across three lanes of traffic – especially when some of those drivers coming at you are about to run the amber or even red light.

Roads that are for the most part in much better shape than many in North America – distances aren’t as great, and so it’s obviously easier to keep them in shape.

Cars that will have been road tested every two years, to ensure that brakes, lights, motor, etc., are all working properly.

As someone who drives in the country, I would still personally be nervous about driving in Paris, but that’s because I don’t know the city, and am not used to lots of traffic any more. We’ve become real country mice living in the Dordogne for 12 years. But I would encourage anyone who is thinking of driving in France not to be put off by some of the negative opinions, and to explore the countryside in ways that you just can’t do by public transport, unfortunately. On that road into Sarlat at least half the time I drive it I’m struck by how beautiful the scenery is, and by how lucky I am to live in this lovely part of the world. Please if you drive in front of me don’t go 40 km less than the speed limit, but do come and enjoy it.

We enjoyed our one driving trip in the Loire Valley area, and stayed on the D-roads for the most part. It's more a matter of learning how the signposting works and having a good map than anything else.

We want to do it again some time.

We love driving in France. I think most Americans drive too slow and the French may get on your tail if you slow things down. The way they squeeze in any little spot is amazing.
We were stopped once for speeding and we were surprised to have to pay on the spot $100...lesson learned.

Well, this is just a friendly advice .when you're back in good ole France and driving:

Drive sensibly and keep your eyes and other senses peeled for those cops waiting around the blind corners all over the place. During our week's stay in the Perigord, they're always where you won't expect them to be. Thanks to a lot of friendly healight-flashing warnings from oncoming traffic, we never had any encounters with them.

"...the roads are dangerous, the drivers go to fast and tailgate, there seems to be no police presence to catch all the unsafe drivers, etc...."

You know I could have sorn I've heard the same thing about drivers in the US!

I enjoyed driving in France last year; didn;t think any of the roads I used were dangerous and, frankly, didn't see anything during the week I was driving which I felt warranted any police intervention.

BTW, the ONLY thing which is actually "dangerous" about ANY road is/are the people who drive on it who ignore existing conditions.

I'm just back from a driving tour of France (including around Sarlat for a week) and couldn't agree with your post more.
- The roads out in the country can be a bit twisty, but once I got used to them and got to know them a bit (ie the road north out of Sarlat) I was going as fast as everyone else.
- Most drivers were very courteous, except for the idiotic new drivers, who tend to be idiotic everywhere.
- The Autoroutes put Canadian highways to shame - not only are they smooth and wide, the number of full-service rest stops is amazing.
- Roundabouts are fantastic - other than in really heavy traffic, they never got congested, and even then, at least we kept moving.
- I found, after a week of getting used to driving there, that the most dangerous drivers on the road were the "tourists" going well below the speed limit - especially on the really windy bits where I couldn't always see them around the corners.

I loved driving in France and wouldn't hesitate to do it again, or recommend it to anyone thinking of it.

>Drive sensibly and keep your eyes and other senses peeled for those cops waiting around the blind corners all over the place. <

On a recent visit to New England, we were driving at the spees limit along a very twisty, steep mountain road with signs posted about every 1/4 mile saying "Speed Limit Rigidly Enforced".

Sure enough, around one blind turn were four (count 'em - 4) police cars with radar and another 4 officers on foot writing tickets.

Carlux, that was a great post.

Anselm

Thank you Carlux,
Just want to add when you write "But on autoroutes they will for the most part drive on the right, pass on the left rather than cruising from one lane to the next." that it is actually forbidden to stay on the left lane if you're not undertaking. You can get a fine for that so beware!

And I can tell you "la peur du gendarme" is working very well even when hubby is a policeman. I had a fine a few months ago (65 instead of 50km/h)paid 90€ and had a point removed of my diving license and now I really try to slow down. But it is easier when everyboy else does the same and I realize that this is what is happening now, especially in town and on motorways.
Take care et bonne route!

Just an interesting note on the topic of "Americans drive too slow" in France. Recently Husband and I were driving through Aigle, Switzerland, which is near Lake Geneva, when all of a sudden we had a policeman on a motorcycle at the drivers side window, motioning my husband to pull over. We did and were told that we were driving too slow. Well, Husband meekly explained that Wife (me) was trying to find a place to pull over to take a picture of the Aigle Castle. So of course we were driving in fits and starts as I would say, "Pull over here. No, up there. Lets turn down that road. No, that road up there." The policeman said he didn't realize that we were Tourists and was just checking to see if the driver was drunk or something. Having decided that only the wife was deranged, he pointed out the road to take to get the best photo.

It is nice to know that the Swiss roads were being made safe. He spoke good English as well!

I was one who had posted about my Sept. trip to France and driving 2600 km and never seeing a police vehicle. I was in the Languedoc, Pyrenees, Dordogne and Pays Basque areas. I live in western NC with many mountain roads, so I am used to them. I always drove the local speed limits..not a pokey tourist by any means! For tail gating, I found the worst area for this was the Pays Basque..or maybe I was just tired of it by this time!

French friends spent several days with me when I was in the Dordogne area. He did all the driving while they weere with me...we even went to their friends Chateau near St. Emilion, so did quite a bit of driving. It was interesting that he NEVER drove within the village 30/50/70 speed limits. They also visited me here in NC and he did quite a bit of driving here...he observed our speed limits. I think he was doing here, as a tourist as I was doing there, as a tourist..observing the speed limit laws.

I have to agree that I see people here driving excessively all the time..and doing other things that they should not be doing.

There probably is no solution to the problem whether here or elsewhere.
Tailgating, blinking lights or blowing horns is rude wherever you are..especially when you are driving the legal speed limit.

We will all continue to travel......

One problem with French driving laws is, to my understanding, once you get your license you have it forever -i've heard of old codgers having accidents, etc. by keeping their license. One story had a old lady who had her license since 1920s or something.

Anyway i have a personal knowledge of this - Tante Jeanette - my son's Great Aunt - she drives a Deux Cheavuax bought nobody knows how many decades ago and she is a terrible, terrible driver yet continues to be able to take to the road. She lives by herself and the car keeps her independent but she can barely see over the steering wheel. And she's had numerous accidents - once even went in the wrong entry and drove on the wrong side of an autoroute - i've actually driven with her and she routinely runs stop signs.

So i think the French could attack the safe driving thing even more by requiring periodic checks on driving skills, especially after oldsters have accidents.

Maybe i got this wrong, but this really comes from the horse's mouth so to speak.

I agree with you Pal, one of my young cousins (25 years old)lost an arm last year in an accident with a very old man. The last one didn't see anything and can't remember what he did wrong...

"So i think the French could attack the safe driving thing even more by requiring periodic checks on driving skills, especially after oldsters have accidents"

You are perfectly right, France should have a renewable driving licence.

Thinking of Tante Jeanette, as a quick historical reference, the first French woman to have obtained a driving licence, when driving autombiles was still a pleasure of the (male) elite, is the Duchesse d'Uzès in 1906, a somewhat scandalous figure of the time's jet set, and the descendant of an old aristocratic family.

They keep talking about changing the rules to require the renewal of drivers licenses, at least after a certain age, and then they always suddenly remember that old people vote. So they are just hoping that the point system on drivers licenses will take people off the road -- but if it is with accidents, it will be too late. Nevertheless, the great majority of old drivers know when it is time to stop, and local public transportation is free for them.

I think a lot of countries could do better to re-test drivers after certain ages, but they don't in the US, either, which is really dangerous. Maybe they do somewhere in the US, but that is state-regulated, and any state I've lived in does not. My father renewed his license after he had a stroke and extensive cataracts and could not see well and wasn't even that mobile, but it was automatic, at least the eye exam was very trivial. My sister called up the DMV to complain about them renewing his license, and they said he had just barely passed the eye exam, but that was the only test they gave by law. He did not actually drive after that, thank goodness, due to health problems, but he could have legally.

I haven't noticed a lot of negative comments on here about French driving, but maybe I missed them. I've lived in several large US cities (including LA and Wash DC), so there is nothing remarkable about it to me, and I never noticed anything unusual. They don't tailgate any more there than where I live, probably less. They tailgate terribly in Wash DC, it's my pet peeve.

I definitely do not agree that US drivers drive too slow, they speed terribly, also. When I come to work (25 miles each way), the highway has a 55 limit, and while that seems a bit low if traffic is good, the drivers here routinely speed a great deal over that limit, even when it is dangerous or bad weather, etc.-- 75 is pretty normal here. If that reference was to France, the only issue would be that many people (it's not a US thing) may drive more slowly than normal when they are in an unfamiliar place, driving an unfamiliar car. Thank goodness. People who speed and drive too fast are worse dangers.

I don't find roundabouts anything that unusual or difficult, so don't see why that would be a problem. They aren't on parts of the highway with high speed or a lot of traffic.

I've driven in France twice. Once on a trip from Paris out to Reims and the Belgian border. Once on my honeymoon around the Loire Valley. Both experiences were great-- we didn't encounter any problems at all. I actually marveled in the Loire at how easy it was to navigate the roads. We didn't encounter any crazy drivers or reckless speeding at all. Maybe we just got lucky? Or maybe, being from L.A. and having driven in Italy, we have a different sense of what reckless driving is. ;-) Anyway, I wouldn't hesitate to drive in France again.