You can't get there from here

Dave arrives at the end of April. He's an old buddy from Houston who will stay with us in Bordeaux a week and then return to Paris to spend a week there with his wife (don't ask - I have no idea why he's meeting his wife in Paris instead of bringing her to Bordeaux!). While in Paris, he's going to rent a car and drive over to Normandy. That got me to thinking about Americans driving in France. Will he know what to do when he comes on a pedestrian crosswalk or sees the sign 'Autres Directions'? Here are a few thoughts for an American driving in France.

First, contrary to the stereotype, the French are not insane drivers! In fact, as a general rule, French drivers are better drivers than Americans, at least those in Texas. You can expect French drivers to be paying closer attention to what's going on around them. One result is they tailgate more that Americans since they assume you're paying attention too. (In another post I'll talk about how the French are more flexible when it comes to rules in general and traffic laws in particular!) However, just like in America, drinking is a problem here, and so is speeding, the young can be as careless and carefree as in America, and the elderly as unaware and slow. And you're going to have the shock of your life when a motorcyle passes you on the expressway-- between two lanes of traffic!

As for pedestrian crosswalks, pedestrians have the right of way here, and they exercise it! As in Texas, at an intersection controlled by a traffic light, the traffic light rules. However there are many other places where there is a pedestrian walkway across the road, indicated by parallel white stripes. Cars are supposed to and do stop for pedestrians in these crosswalks. Be aware that elderly people and teen-agers glued to a cell phone often don't check whether you're stopping!

You get around by driving from town to town, not by following route numbers. When you're visiting an area in a car, you'll discover that signs are by town, not by route number. The road signs point out which way to go to get to the nearby towns and occasionally a large town that's further away. (Once you're on the route, you may notice a little route number sign.) The one exception is the autoroutes. On traffic signs the numbers of the autoroutes always appear with the name of the city you'll get to by taking the autoroute. So plan your trips by the towns you 're going to pass through. What makes it challenging is that occasionally you come to an intersection without signs. So be prepared emotionally to occasionally get lost. That's part of the adventure. A good road map and a good navigator help. (Normally Danièle drives and I navigate, as she drives better and I'm better with a map.)

You'll also discover two very strange signs when you're in towns. One says 'Toutes Directions', the other says 'Autres Directions'. The first translates as 'All Directions', the other 'Other Directions'. (You don't normally see both of them together! ) It is really strange to be driving along and see 'Other Directions'. I mean, are you interested in knowing how to go in the other directions? Fortunately these do make sense. 'Toutes Directions' tells you which way to go to get out of town, no matter where you're going. 'Autres Directions' normally accompanies one or more signs that point the way to certain destinations; it refers to all other possible destinations.

Unless posted otherwise, the speed limits are: 130kph/80mph (110kph/70mph when it's raining) on the autoroutes (the big expressways, mostly toll, that tie France together), 90kph/55kph on the open road on ordinary highways, 50kph/30mph in town. Other speed limits are posted. However changes back to the standard speed limits are not always posted. For example you normally see signs telling you of changes in speed limit when entering and leaving towns, but not always. So slow down when you enter a town or village and don't hesitate to speed up when you're out of town, marked by a sign with the town name crossed in red.

Another adjustment that takes some getting used to is the placement of traffic lights. In France you stop at the traffic light, not at the intersection. The traffic lights here are always on the right before the intersection. They have two sets of lights on the pole, one down low that can be seen by the car sitting at the traffic light, the other higher up for the cars further back. Since there is not a traffic light hanging over the intersection or on a pole on the other side of the intersection pointed at you, you must stop at the traffic light on your side of the intersection, so you can see when it truns green. Be warned that the light may be at the corner or quite a ways before the intersection. (That leaves room for turning traffic on narrow streets.) Normally there'll be white stripes across the road level with the traffic light, but not always.

There's no right turn on red. However a flashing orange light means that a lane can go, often a right turn. However if the flashing light reads 'BUS', then obviously it only applies to buses.

You might come across a section of road being worked on with a sign that says 'Trafic Alterné' (pronounced traff-eek ahl-ter-nay). This means that only one direction of traffic can go at a time, i.e., one side waits while the cars going the other direction drive through. To control which side goes, you'll find workers or temporary traffic lights at each end of the work. Normally you'll see a sign warning you before you reach the section where 'Trafic Alterné' is in effect. Try to avoid such sections since you can spend inordinate amounts of time waiting to get past. A frantic search for an alternate route around a 'Trafic Alterné' site can pay off.