Sunday, May 1, 2011

Documents Needed While Driving in France

By Pierre Fontaine


If you're thinking about a self drive holiday to France never forget to take the mandatory documents along with you in case you get blocked by the French police. It is not unusual for police in France to set up random road checks to make sure people are driving lawfully.

If you are asked by a policeman in France for your documents while you are driving you must show four different credentials; an official identity card, driving license, car ownership proofs and insurance documents. The reason why police seem so strict concerning the producing papers is that car crime in France is a major problem.

The identity card must be a national ID card or a passport. Most foreign driving licenses are acceptable in France for up to one year of your arrival in the country. Card ownership proofs are called cart gris in French which means grey car, while insurance papers are known as cart vert, or green card.

In case of your ownership of used cars be careful in producing the related proofs which you should have procured prior to your arrival in France if asked by the police. You may be charged fine in case you do not present them on enquiry.

Keep Photocopies of these car related papers and do not ever place them anywhere in the car because they could be found by others. This is due to the fact that the thefts related to car are ever increasing in France and take care not to fall a prey to these thefts. Moreover you should not be caught by the police in France.

While driving in France, remember that you are outside your own country and the rules certainly are different. For example it is a traffic error in France if you turn right at red light, though it is legal in the US. Otherwise it should be a pleasant experience for the drivers on the roads of France.

While driving in France be particularly conscious of the fact that all drivers coming from the right have priority. This is regardless of the sizes of the two roads and even applies on T junctions. French drivers are familiar with 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.

50km p/h is the speed limit permitted in the built up roads of France. Never exceed this limit and slow down further when you are going through busy roads. A white sign with red borders showing the name of the place in black indicates that you are entering a built up area. Similarly you can increase the speed once you leave the built up area indicated by the same sign with a red diagonal line.

130 km p/h is the speed allowed on auto routes in France which are the biggest motorways. The speed allowed on dual carriageways is of course 110km p/h where the limit is 90km p/h while driving on smaller district highways. These speed limits are not to be displayed on the roads and this is a disadvantage and hence you are supposed to be conscious of these rules.




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