France Car Rental – All You Need To Know
Taking a driving holiday in France? There is lots that you need to know before you drive in a foreign country. Not only do you drive on the right hand side of the road, but also there are other rules and regulations that you have to take into consideration before you hit the roads of La France.
So, check out our guide to the facts you need to take into account before you head on your French driving holiday'
· Drive on the right hand side on the road in France. Coming from the UK and Ireland this will take a bit of getting used to!
· Never Drink and Drive ' the blood to alcohol levels are stricter than in the UK - 0.5 mg/ml compared than 0.8 mg/ml. The best option as always is not to drink and drive on French roads!
· The Minimum Age for drivers on French roads is 18 years of age. Learner drivers are not permitted.
· Always, always, always wear your seatbelt! The French Police are very strict on enforcing this law, and heavy fines are imposed for any infringement of the French Driving rules.
· Children must be at least 10 years old before they can travel in the front passenger seat. Child seats and boosters must be provided and used for children under 10 years old.
· Carry your Full drivers licence with you at all times.
· Carry your proof of insurance with you in the vehicle, and car rental documents.
· In the unfortunate circumstance of an accident or a breakdown, a warning triangle must be used on the road. Use also the orange SOS phones that are located along the roadway, and you must also inform the Police. Carry a yellow florescent jacket within the car to wear in the event of an accident.
· In the event of poor visibility always use your dipped headlights or foglights.
· Some useful telephone numbers to be aware of are: 15 for Ambulance, 17 for Police, 18 for the Fire brigade, 112 for all three services (similar to 999 in the UK).
· If you want to phone home to the UK, remember to precede the number with 0044 and drop the first zero from the UK number.
· Carry with you a good French road map. Even if the car is supplied with GPS!
· Overall, France has more than 8,000 km of motorways. These are known as 'Autoroutes' or A Roads. The vast majority of these are toll way roads (known as Les Péages), which are operated by private sector companies. Trunk roads are marked with the 'N' symbol.
· Speed limits are strictly enforced ' so be careful. Radar speed traps are commonplace in France. 50kmh is the speed limit in towns/urban areas. Other trunk or rural roads are 90kmh. Dual carriageways are 110kmh, and motorways are 130km/h.
· Petrol is usually sold as Super/Super 97 ' diesel is known as gas-oil. The larger supermarkets provide the cheapest fuel. It is important to remember that very few of the rural petrol stations stay open for 24 hours a day and they may well be closed on Sundays and Bank Holidays too. If your driving route in France takes on the rural route, remember that you might travel for miles without coming across a petrol pump, so don't let the petrol tank run down to nothing!
· Daunted by the French road signs ' don't be! Once you get used to them you will be fine. A common sign you will come across is 'Toutes Directions' which means All Directions. Unless you want to visit a particular town or village this is a good way of bypassing a place. Such signs always appear together with another one called 'Autres Directions' meaning Other Directions. So if you see a sign for 'Lyon plus Autres Directions', unless you want to go to Lyon, then go the other way, and you will find signs to where you are going to.
· Except for main highways, road priority is always given to traffic that joins a road from the right, so watch out for the sign which states Priorité Á Droite.
· Confused by the language? Learn more about French road language in our French driving language guide.
Checking out whether to head for France in the coming months and tour the country by car? Remember that the best way to explore this vast and majestic country is to secure a top quality car rental. Reserve a great value for money hire car at our cheap car rental France page.
About the Author:
John writes for Novacarhire.com - an independent car hire reservation website where you can book low cost car hire at over 5,000 locations worldwide.
