If you are planning to take your car to France you make wish to make note the following rules of the French roads! Recent times have seen a clampdown on speeding in France and in a bid to reduce accident statistics, there are speed cameras all over the place. There is no longer a margin for speed tolerance, so beware - speed and expect to be caught! Minor offences are subject to on-the-spot fines and if a more serious offence has been committed, you are likely to be asked for a deposit immediately. If you cannot make the payment your car will be towed away. Speed limits for built up areas are 50km/h (30mph) - but there are many areas (zones) which have lower limits. In non-built up areas, the limit is 90km/h (55mph); on urban motorways it is 110km/h (68mph) and on motorways it is 130km/h (80mph). You should also be aware that speed limits are always reduced in bad weather.

There are very strict rules about drinking and driving. The legal limit in France is 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. refusal to take a breath test is treated as seriously as driving under the influence of alcohol.

So what about mobile phones? - It is illegal to use hand-held mobile phones whilst driving in France and all occupants of the vehicle must wear a seat belt, front and back.

Children under the age of 10 years must travel in the rear of the car unless the child is travelling in a rear-facing baby carrier.

You do not have to carry a fire extinguisher although you would be strobgly advised to do so.

Finally, don’t be put off by what seems to be a long list of rules and regulations. If you apply common-sense, a self-drive holiday can offer the freedom to stop and go as you please. In addition, booking yourself a private holiday home can result in a tailor made holiday to suit your individual requirements as well as a saving in money! Bon voyage!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Travel Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.