Driving in France

Up until 1st October, you will just be warned about the vest and triangle. The triangle must be somewhere in the car, the vest MUST be in the car itself, under a seat or somewhere but NOT in the boot.

But (I'm on my local French road safety committee) remember that if you're caught breaking the speed limit in France (a) you'll be fined on the spot (b) if you're going fast enough over the limit, your licence will be revoked on the spot and you wont be able to drive again in France, could put a serious bump in your holiday and (c) in extreme cases, you can have your vehicle impounded on the spot as a few people going to/leaving Le Mans recently found out.

And also, the easiest one for the Police/Gendarmes to enforce - if you come to a stop sign at a junction, please stop. There isn't the latitude in France for moving over the line etc, carrying on, that there is in the UK and it's a favourite stunt, especially in gendarme controlled areas, to do checks close to road junctions. 120 euros on the spot of you get caught.

There's a huge anti dink-drive campaign on at the moment and there is no latitude here - get caught, get your licence pulled immediately, no waiting for court dates and you'll have to come back if your reading is too high.

And remember folks, carry all your documents in the car, passport included so if you're stopped and you've done nothing wrong, you'll be on your way quicker.

And for the smart arses who think they can get away with speeding because they're on English plates - the French and UK authorities are using Euro legislation to give the other police services access to each others databases. So if you get clocked going way over the limit - even a bit over - the French can now pursue you when you get back home. If you don't pay up or co-operate, don't bother to come back because your vehicle details will be logged and you'll get stopped at the port of entry, as the UK if now doing with the illegal Brit cars running round France - when they go back, the computer systems are clocking the cars, checking the plates automatically and those with out tax, insurance etc are getting a very nasty surprise.

All that said, it's black weekend in France, every other person seems to be on the move and my local town market was heaving at 9.30 this morning, mainly with French and Dutch tho.

If you're coming over - have a great time, just be careful out there!!

WOW

You guys are FAB. Thanks.

We're on a driving holiday over there very very soon, and no idea about the yellow vests.

We don't speed [we have a Prius!], definitely don't drink drive and we are on our way out in an hour to get the lights sorted...so this is timely indeed.

I love this forum.

Thanks for that info Tony!
Vests INSIDE the car!!now I'd not read that one...thanks

I had thought that the vest thing was just for french registered cars??

That's not my understanding of it Tootles, nor the gendarmes I spoke to this morning.

So all the Brits running round in their illegal cars get webbed up in this also

I was stopped for speeding in France. My front seat passenger said he had glanced at the speedo when he saw the police car parked in a lay-by and was as sure as he could be that I was doing 10MPG over the limit, but they fined me for 30MPH over (well, the equivalent in KPH), I did my best to protest, but my French isn't that good, and I wanted to just get on my way ...

I wasn't tanking along, it was just a lapse in concentration at that point in the journey (which I expect most of us without cruise control are capable of).

Anyway, for reference, it was about 1 mile South of the tolls (when heading North towards Calais), and is a common trick they use - radio ahead and then pull people over as they stop at the tolls - they were doing a roaring trade that day! same money-making opportunity as in this country, I expect.

So I recommend you are extra vigilant on the approach to tolls.

Also there's the new way of doing things. At the toll booths the G men ask you for your ticket, you produce it and they know how far you have travelled and how long it's taken you - if your journey time is too short because you've been speeding, you may well get fined.

Also a guy I know who regularly works down here but is based in the UK, who was in a bar one evening boasting how quickly he could get back to Calais. Next day, he's off, it's raining so the speed limit is reduced to 110 on the autoroute. He's not taking any notice, as per usual, and gets clocked at 170kph.

The G men couldn't catch him immediately but had him stopped at the peage. He had his licence revoked on the spot, had his car (his bosses pride and joy brand new Range Rover thingy) impounded and was left stranded. Interesting how many people were 'unavailable' to go the 150km to pick him up.

All in all it cost his boss a lot of money to get his car back and the driver - who needs his licence to work in France - is facing a 3 year ban because his speed was so excessive.

Kristen, you probably were fined in a particular band, between just over and 30kph fast, 31 to 50 kph etc.

please folks, don't assume that if you get stopped here you'll be able to continue driving - the G men on the autoroutes have a lot of powers, especially if your speed is too excessive.

And watch it in the rain, remember the speed reduction and that unless otherwise indicated, like for schools, speed limits in towns (between the place names) are 50 kph.

"you probably were fined in a particular band, between just over and 30kph fast, 31 to 50 kph etc."

Yes, my French is ifffy, and you are probably right, but I'm pretty sure he said "You were doing 170KPH" [or whatever figure it was he had in his mind] rather than "you were doing "131-170KPH"" or "You were doing 140KPH" [i.e. the speed that I though I was doing].

I suppose he could have said "You were doing up-to-170KPH" 'coz its the number bit I heard clearly - its all that daft "60-plus-10-speak" they do over there ...

(Maths iffy for MPH to KPH conversion, but YKWIM!)