Priorite a Droite - Give way to the right

Status
Not open for further replies.
Garry H

Garry H

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
May 16, 2002
Messages
1,294
Reaction score
50
Location
Midlands
Well my take on this (air pollution stickers) is
The French must be one of the worst offenders for pollution due to there crazy roads

There are more speed humps in France than most places forcing traffic to brake then accelerate...
This is going to have a massive effect on emissions

Then to top it off you now have a random ( fucking dangerous IMHO ) give way to minor roads joining main roads system causing even more stop starting

Having seen 40 tonne trucks hauling the brakes on then accelerating flat out back up to speed on a main road to give way to a minor road is madness

The French may like to do things differently...But :bow
 
Garry H said:
Then to top it off you now have a random ( fucking dangerous IMHO ) give way to minor roads joining main roads system causing even more stop starting

Having seen 40 tonne trucks hauling the brakes on then accelerating flat out back up to speed on a main road to give way to a minor road is madness

The French may like to do things differently...But :bow
Click to expand...

Never seen this, the priority to the right rule has been removed on the majority of roads and is only really applicable in some towns and villages from what I understand and have seen.

Not noticed an excess of speed humps either - certainly more of them where I live in the UK.

Take into account the lack of traffic on French roads I would say they are way ahead of us, the M25 is probably responsible for more pollution than Chinese coal fired power stations.
 
Rasher said:
Never seen this, the priority to the right rule has been removed on the majority of roads and is only really applicable in some towns and villages from what I understand and have seen.

Not noticed an excess of speed humps either - certainly more of them where I live in the UK.

Take into account the lack of traffic on French roads I would say they are way ahead of us, the M25 is probably responsible for more pollution than Chinese coal fired power stations.
Click to expand...

+1 what he said
 
Rasher said:
Never seen this, the priority to the right rule has been removed on the majority of roads and is only really applicable in some towns and villages from what I understand and have seen.

Not noticed an excess of speed humps either - certainly more of them where I live in the UK.

Take into account the lack of traffic on French roads I would say they are way ahead of us, the M25 is probably responsible for more pollution than Chinese coal fired power stations.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.

Some villages and towns have 30kmph limit on approach to speed humps. For both of which you are informed off well in advance.

The priority thing is simple and is well sign posted. It up to the rider/driver to keep good observation.

On my recent trip to France for 9 days, I came across only 3 gendarme cars and two (at the speed trap) police cars, NAV VI saved my bacon on this occasion as I was due to turn right at the RA and had to slow down for a tractor heading in same direction. Only on a seriously busy "D" roads that I have encountered traffic ( the sort you'd find on our "A" roads at 9-10pm on a week day. French are very motorcycle aware and will often let you pass by pulling slightly to one side. Sticking your leg out as you pass is a common curtesy. Apart from 80kmph speed limit on most non motorway roads, I have no complaints. Road surface is generally very very good and lay-by places are very common, populated with picnic benches, toilet facilities and generally are well looked after.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Rasher said:
Never seen this, the priority to the right rule has been removed on the majority of roads and is only really applicable in some towns and villages from what I understand and have seen.
Click to expand...
What size boots do you have?

This is a frankly dangerous thing to post in a motorcycle forum, particularly when so many tossers are heading for La belle.

You may not have been aware that you were driving in a priorite a droite zone, but, unless you know for sure, then you probably were.

All roads in France are priorite a droite, unless marked otherwise. Don't rely on signs to tell you the main road doesn't have priority, they are frequently not marked. I could take you to a dozen barely indicated priorite a droites within a couple of km from my place. Take a look at this video.

Priorite a droite is being frequently introduced for traffic calming, especially in urban areas.
 
Does France use the yellow diamond roadsign to indicate priority? (I just can't remember).

I thought I'd got used to the rule when I lived in Holland until a guy already on a roundabout in Belgium stopped to let me on!

So ain't just in France that this situation occurs and it's interpreted differently in different countries.
 
ShakeyBMW said:
Does France use the yellow diamond roadsign to indicate priority? (I just can't remember).
Click to expand...
Yes, but don't bet your life on it.
I thought I'd got used to the rule when I lived in Holland until a guy already on a roundabout in Belgium stopped to let me on!
Click to expand...
The difference being that, although priorite a droite subsists in Holland unless otherwise marked, the use of road paint to indicate priority is more widespread.
So ain't just in France that this situation occurs and it's interpreted differently in different countries.
Click to expand...
True enough, priorite a droite seems to be the general rule europe-wide (excluding UK), but the use of signage and road paint is different in some countries.
 
ShakeyBMW said:
Does France use the yellow diamond roadsign to indicate priority? .
Click to expand...

Indeed they do

It's fairly rare these days

But one of the problems is even when there is priority a droit, the old codgers will pull out where younger folks who are less used to it will not pull out, so you never really know and it gets a bit random :blast
 
leadfarmer said:
Indeed they do

It's fairly rare these days

But one of the problems is even when there is priority a droit, the old codgers will pull out where younger folks who are less used to it will not pull out, so you never really know and it gets a bit random :blast
Click to expand...
Do you mean the sign or priorite a droite?
 
Good luck with that!

Round here there's a priorite a droite every couple of kms. In villages virtually every street is a priorite a droite. Many new ones on main roads, urban areas and villages (traffic calming). Some marked, many not. unmarked.

I've twice been tangentially involved in accidents where the priority was not respected. One (French) friend wrote her car off, got fined and points. In the other, a couple of years ago, a UK motorcyclist had life-changing injuries and his partner was killed.

I'm very aware of it, but still miss at least one every time I go out.
 
stolzy said:
Good luck with that!

Round here there's a priorite a droite every couple of kms. In villages virtually every street is a priorite a droite. Many new ones on main roads, urban areas and villages (traffic calming). Some marked, many not. unmarked.

I've twice been tangentially involved in accidents where the priority was not respected. One (French) friend wrote her car off, got fined and points. In the other, a couple of years ago, a UK motorcyclist had life-changing injuries and his partner was killed.

I'm very aware of it, but still miss at least one every time I go out.
Click to expand...

Don't know where you are

I'm just outside Le Puy en Velay so ride mainly in the southern half of the country
 
I hope no-one is reading this thread looking for an authoritative answer! Even the long-term inmates are touting different lines.

I've been living in Brittany for 9 months now (and have visited France by bike and car often over the last 40 years). Here in Brittany there is plenty of priorite a droite (p-a-d) and I'm pretty much with Stolzy on how to handle it - be careful :confused: It's very prevalent in towns and villages and there are still lots out there on the rural roads, and not all signposted clearly as Stolzy has pointed out earlier. I've also found a generational aspect of how this is treated by French drivers, many older drivers will be a significant hazard if you don't keep your wits about you and expect the unexpected. I know there are many who visit France and know nothing about how p-a-d works but it's more by luck than good judgement that most survive without anything too untoward happening - they probably just put it down to "bloody French drivers just pull out in front of you!"

Ignorance is only bliss until you get hurt! :rob
 
The general rules in the southern half of france are

The driver who is most pissed normally has priority, the exception is when 2 cars meet in a single lane, then naturally the driver the least pissed should reverse

Common sense really
 
Someone on here mentioned that as a rule of thumb in villages and small towns is, that if junctions on the right have a line painted then they "generally" stop, no white line could be a PaD. :nenau
 
See I told you I thought it was a dangerous way of traffic calming
It is random from my experience and even more random if people are going to ignore it some times
You can see the confusion going on in places and these are French drivers !!
There is a lot more of it in northern France than the south

It is in my opinion a very dangerous way of traffic calming so be very careful in France you could very easily get injured :rob
 
Almost every village in this part of France is designated as a PaD zone but there are virtually no junctions in these zones that don't have either give way or stop lines.

The generation that assumed everything was PaD and gave way to traffic coming onto roundabouts is almost extinct now so it very rare to get cut up by a half blind, beret wearing, short man in a 2cv with trafficators.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
Status
Not open for further replies.


Back
Top Bottom