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Yet French drivers tailgate everywhere regardless of the speed. I could be driving in the Alps near Chamonix and some driver will be right on my bumper. People

Yet French drivers tailgate everywhere regardless of the speed. I could be driving in the Alps near Chamonix and some driver will be right on my bumper. People will park on sidewalks, drive on sidewalks, park the wrong way on streets, and smashing into a car to get into a parking space is common. Other than well known, automatic speed cameras, traffic enforcement is almost nil. That claim that they want drivers to be good is really a myth, it’s a racket with driving schools doing everything they can to complicate the licensing process because it’s a significant industry. A sport pilot’s license in the US requires the same number of hours of instruction as a drivers license in France. Road fatalities are less in France than the US, but that is unrelated to drivers education — it’s mostly because of drunk driving in the US as well as the longer distances traveled and higher average speeds. It isn’t because French drivers are better. Most cars in France and dented up because of minor accidents — if their skill was so much better, why are most cars dented up? French drivers might have, on paper, better training, but once they are released onto the roads, they seem to instantly forget everything. Regarding 50-60 hours of instruction, that’s enough for a private pilots license and airplanes are vastly more complicated than driving.

Scoundreller 7y ago
Agreed with everything you say. Despite the nil enforcement, they strictly follow red lights. I'm surprised it's not more lawless. In N. America I ask people "What do the police do?" and locals answer "speeding tickets". In France, I never get a clear answer. While "It isn’t because French drivers are better." may be true for safety, I do find their drivers far more predictable than N. American drivers on highways. They'll stay in the right on the highway, unless passing. And when they finish passing, they'll go back to the right. With signals. At least in S. Ontario, drivers pick a lane randomly, and stick to it for ??? reasons. Signalling after its clear what their intentions are (ie: not a "signal" at all). Not uncommon to see drivers on an merge onto an open highway, and immediately start multiple lane shifts with nothing to pass for miles ahead. It took a while for my French handlers to get me to stop angling my wheel while parked because of the bumper cars you mentioned.
- refurb 7y ago
  It's interesting seeing the differences in following traffic laws between countries. One thing I've noticed about the US is pulling over for emergency vehicles. Cars will pull over quickly and stay over. In Canada people will barely pull over, take their time, coast a bit.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    And the French system confuses me. I think you can ignore flashing lights, but need to move for sirens?

Scoundreller 7y ago

Agreed with everything you say. Despite the nil enforcement, they strictly follow red lights. I'm surprised it's not more lawless. In N. America I ask people "What do the police do?" and locals answer "speeding tickets". In France, I never get a clear answer. While "It isn’t because French drivers are better." may be true for safety, I do find their drivers far more predictable than N. American drivers on highways. They'll stay in the right on the highway, unless passing. And when they finish passing, they'll go back to the right. With signals. At least in S. Ontario, drivers pick a lane randomly, and stick to it for ??? reasons. Signalling after its clear what their intentions are (ie: not a "signal" at all). Not uncommon to see drivers on an merge onto an open highway, and immediately start multiple lane shifts with nothing to pass for miles ahead. It took a while for my French handlers to get me to stop angling my wheel while parked because of the bumper cars you mentioned.

refurb 7y ago
It's interesting seeing the differences in following traffic laws between countries. One thing I've noticed about the US is pulling over for emergency vehicles. Cars will pull over quickly and stay over. In Canada people will barely pull over, take their time, coast a bit.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  And the French system confuses me. I think you can ignore flashing lights, but need to move for sirens?