French Roundabouts

[davidmash]

I was watching Grand Tour and they were doing slash job on French cars and pretty much everything French, except the food. The French can do food. They said the kids in school could not have ketchup but they could have some wine with lunch. Cool.

They were talking about roundabouts. The French screwed them up....badly. Everywhere else (that I know of) the people on the roundabout have the right away and the folks looking to get on have to yield. In France, its the other way around. The people on the roundabout have to yield to the folks entering....how the hell does that make any sense?

https://www.frenchentree.com/living-in-france/driving/right-of-way-driving-on-french-roads/

Its a very funny episode by the way ..... except if you are French, then it will suck hot, sweaty monkey balls.

[Tony H]

I have driven the traffic circle around The Arc de Triomphe in Paris and it was one of my more terrified moments. You can get in but you can't get out.
https://parisjourney.com/driving-the-dangerous-arc-de-triomphe-roundabout-in-paris
Watch the video

[davidmash]

Drive all over Europe. Scariest for me was Poland and Czech republic. Never again.

[Air&Road]

Originally Posted by Tony H

I have driven the traffic circle around The Arc de Triomphe in Paris and it was one of my more terrified moments. You can get in but you can't get out.
https://parisjourney.com/driving-the-dangerous-arc-de-triomphe-roundabout-in-paris
Watch the video

That was exactly what I thought about. Not only the mixing of the traffic and right of way, but no one pays attention to the lane markings around the arc.

In my experience though, I would rather drive in France than in Italy by about five to one.

[Zulfiqar]

Originally Posted by davidmash

I was watching Grand Tour and they were doing slash job on French cars and pretty much everything French, except the food. The French can do food. They said the kids in school could not have ketchup but they could have some wine with lunch. Cool.

They were talking about roundabouts. The French screwed them up....badly. Everywhere else (that I know of) the people on the roundabout have the right away and the folks looking to get on have to yield. In France, its the other way around. The people on the roundabout have to yield to the folks entering....how the hell does that make any sense?

https://www.frenchentree.com/living-in-france/driving/right-of-way-driving-on-french-roads/

Its a very funny episode by the way ..... except if you are French, then it will suck hot, sweaty monkey balls.

we have roundabouts in Houston with the exact same rules. The cars in the round have to stop to give way to the cars joining in.

[davidmash]

Originally Posted by Zulfiqar

we have roundabouts in Houston with the exact same rules. The cars in the round have to stop to give way to the cars joining in.

I would think that would cause a crap ton of accidents due to outsiders like me thinking a roundabout is a roundabout band you go in when there are no cars coming. Amazing how people can take something so some and so practical and just screw it up.

[martureo]

Its the same in Holland.

Getting driven around Belgium I got a bit impatient for the drivers when they were behind traffic or something in the road. I kinda felt like the jerk as being a bit polite was their norm. It got even worse when I went to Holland to visit some friends and we drove behind a bicycle for about five minutes. I would've gone around him long before that.

But when they got to a roundabout and stopped to let someone INTO it, I about lost my freaking mind.

[Capt. Mike]

Driving in Germany and Austria is fine. Elsewhere, not so much.

[davidmash]

The UK is okay once you get past the fact that they drive into the wrong side.

[INSIDIOUS]

Originally Posted by davidmash

Drive all over Europe. Scariest for me was Poland and Czech republic. Never again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McZ2H_Iqx4g

[INSIDIOUS]

When piloting a DOT CDL truck 40 foot or better in a rounder you OWN the rounder to the exclusion of all others. Use any/all the lanes anyway you want. Everybody must yield.

[INSIDIOUS]

Originally Posted by Zulfiqar

we have roundabouts in Houston with the exact same rules. The cars in the round have to stop to give way to the cars joining in.

Large old traffic circles are not modern roundabouts

[Air&Road]

Originally Posted by Capt. Mike

Driving in Germany and Austria is fine. Elsewhere, not so much.

There is a reason for that. At least in Germany that I know of.

In Germany, at least when I lived there 50 years ago, a German had to have more hours of instruction to get a drivers license than an American does for a pilots license. Much of the training has to do with FOCUS. You won’t see a child in the front seat or a German drinking coffee, soda or ANYTHING while driving. The focus is the reason that the Germans have fewer accidents per mile traveled than any country in the world.

[Air&Road]

Originally Posted by INSIDIOUS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McZ2H_Iqx4g

Never been to Poland, but Czeckoslavakia seemed to be kind of on the middle scale. I’ve driven in most of Western Europe and Italy seemed to have all the other countries that I have been to beat.

[Capt. Mike]

Originally Posted by Air&Road

There is a reason for that. At least in Germany that I know of.

In Germany, at least when I lived there 50 years ago, a German had to have more hours of instruction to get a drivers license than an American does for a pilots license. Much of the training has to do with FOCUS. You won’t see a child in the front seat or a German drinking coffee, soda or ANYTHING while driving. The focus is the reason that the Germans have fewer accidents per mile traveled than any country in the world.

You really need to keep your SA up, and all the drivers do. At least when I drove there.