Beware While Driving in France
Never forget to take with you necessary documents when you plan to take a drive on the roads of France. This is because the French police may intercept your path any time. It is the duty of the police to conduct regular checks in this matter to ensure that everything is going on legally regarding driving.
If you are asked by a policeman in France for your documents while you are driving you must produce four separate credentials; an official identity card, driving license, car ownership papers and insurance documents. The reason why police seem so strict concerning the producing papers is that car crime in France is a crucial problem.
Passport or a national card can be shown as the evidence of identity. A period of one year from your entry into France is the validity period for the foreign driving licenses which are also accepted. Grey card or \’cart gris\’ and the green card or \’cart vert\’ are the papers supporting car ownership and insurance respectively.
If you own a used car then ensure to collect the related documents from the previous owner because police has every right to levy fine on you if you are caught driving in France without the car ownership proofs.
Keep Photocopies of these car related papers and do not ever place them anywhere in the car so that they could be seen by others. This is because of the fact that the thefts related to car are ever increasing in France and take care not to fall a prey to these thefts. Besides you should not be caught by the police in France.
Driving in France can be a absolutely enjoyable experience provided you to remember you\’re in a foreign country and they do things differently in France. For example, turning right at a red light in France is illegal whereas in the US it\’s fine.
While driving in France be particularly conscious of the fact that all drivers coming from the right have prime concern. This is irrespective of the sizes of the two roads and even applies on T junctions. French drivers are accustomed to this so will often pull out of smaller paths onto busy main roads expecting you to slow down. The anomaly to this rule in France is when you are on traffic circles. In such cases priority goes to the person already on the circle.
The ordinary limit while driving through built up areas in France is 50km p/h. When you are on the open roads of France you have to slow down to 50km p/h when you see a white sign with red borders displaying the name of a place in black, this indicates that you\’re entering a built up area. You can resume higher speed driving when you see the same sign with a red diagonal line through it which means you\’re leaving the built up area.
Auto routes in France can be passed through at a speed limit of 130km p/h. These are the largest motorways in France. Dual carriageways can go at a speed of 110km p/h. These speed limits are regrettably not shown on the traffic boards in France and it is mandatory that you know them once you are in France and driving.
Driving in France is generally a manageable experience. If you are unsure, then you might be interested in looking at alternatives such as Trains in France.
