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"Priorite a droit" again!


mogs
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I know this issue has arisen in the past but basically if on the main road and there is no red triangle with "priorite a droit" sign, who does have priority?

Today a dodderer pulled out right in front of me, I was on the main road he was pulling out of a little side lane. There were no signs saying he had the right of way but equally on his road there were no stop signs.

After suffering a bit of road rage (on my part) I do think he was actually right and I was wrong.
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Hmmm

It is very difficult isn't it. I doubt very much if he knew as much as you did who had priority. It is worse in towns and cities....you just guess.

Why not, go onto google maps (street view) and find the exact road and precise location where this took place. Copy and share the link on this thread.

It would be interesting to see peoples views and educate others about the most stupid road regulation in the entire world.

Please, post the link.

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Were it in town and his road had no stop sign; cédez le passage sign and most importantly no solid or boken white line (this is what you should look out for when driving) then I would be sure that he has priorité over you.

 

Outside of town on main roads there are normally warning signs but the absence of them, one being knocked over for instance does not give you priorité there is however I believe a sign that I dont know what it looks like to say that the road is now free of PAD until you arrive at the opposite sign, not much help I'm afraid as I have never seen one around here to my knowledge but as I dont really know what it looks like maybe there are.

 

I like PàD, it works well for me being blind on the left side, having the steering Wheel on the right, when I approach join a road at an acute angle it is impossible for me to see what is coming without climbing out the seat and turning my whole body around, with the PàD's I just say inshallah and carry on at V-MAX, that is actually quite important, you must look like you have not seen the approaching vehicle and are going too fast to stop because people round here have little respect for rules.

 

One other thing, in a zone 30 its automatically PàD unless there are stop signs to the contrary, its also a pedestrian priorité zone so in theory the cab step out wherever they want without looking, definitely not conseillé where I live, a T junction just up from my house that I cross maybe 7 times a week used to be a stop for me joining the main road, now I have priorité because its a zone 30, there are no signs other than the zone 30kph ones and people have been driving through on the main road without stopping for décades, I have had a few angry scènes there from people who should know the road laws better than I.

 

Eventually I will get T-boned.

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The sign that Chancer mentions is a yellow diamond which means that you do NOT have to give way. This is later shown with a diagonal bar through it when you enter an area where you must give way. Near to us the side road from the Mairie enters the obvious main road but a couple of years ago paint was applied to give the maires road priority the artics coming down end up juddering to a halt (most times) but I put my nose out very carefully!
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Judging by the last two post I think the British know the rules better than the French. My OH would have never known what the last two posters have said in terms of rules.

Take you pick. Learn rules and have an accident or not care and don't have an accident.

I have to admit I have no idea of the rules. But then again I have never had and accident either.

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I tried the google street maps, unfortunately all it shows is a dotted line which I assume is the main road. We are so remote it probably isn't there.

However, having spoken to my daughter who did her driving and test in France she confirms I was in the wrong and he had priority.

Blimey Chancer, it wasn't you was it lol?
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ALBF wrote:

'Why not, go onto google maps (street view) and find the exact road and

precise location where this took place. Copy and share the link on this

thread.'

There are so many of these, you would never be finished. eg One route I take most days has 2 within  about 400m. A huge lorry drifted out of one, turned left in front of me, never noticed me.

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Here they all are, as a refresher:

https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panneau_de_signalisation_routière_de_priorité_en_France

AB1 is the one to be wary of, indicating priorité à droite coming up - just once, or it might mean throughout the whole town or village you are entering.

AB2 means YOU have priority at the next junction.

And the yellow lozenge in the second row indicates your road has priority until you reach a yellow lozenge with the black bar through it.

Bonne route

Angela

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Just because there are rules and signs does not mean people are going follow them.

You have to predict what people are going to do and not at any stage assume. Whether the car is behind you, in front or any other angle. After a while you just know what they are going to do.

It is a sixth sense.

You can always tell for example when a car on an autoroute is going to undertake you. If you react quick enough you can accelerate and match their speed. They then end up stuck behind a lorry or another car. You then allow other traffic to catch up and they have to stay there to reflect on their stupidity.
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I find PàD is most misunderstood / misused on roundabouts ... where PàD is stated as not in play ... rules being as we would understand in the UK, vehicles on roundabouts having priority ... so instead the French just won't enter a roundabout if there is anything on it at all!.

Otherwise, I just drive at a speed sufficient to be aware and give way as needed ... though most villages around here are too small to want to pass through quickly anyhow.

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There are many roundabouts in my local town that are PàD, when they were 4 way stops it was obvious but then some muppet decided that it would be cool to put a mini-roundabout in the middle.

 

Secondly PàD is in effect once on a roundabout, all roundabouts in terms of the outer lane having priorité to cut across the inner one if they so desire, it is why most French in our eyes "dont get roundabouts" and will trundle all the way around in the outer lane when taking the last exit to the left, any accident caused by such will be 100% the fault of the person taking what is to me the correct line of using the Inside lane and then moving across to take the exit.

 

Beware that you may have ALBF on your right matching your speed because if you have a RHD car with a 37 plaque he will drive around it all day matching your speed!

 

What is the name of that big famous roundabout in Paris? - that is a PàD!

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OK chaps, what I mean is those roundabouts which say "you do not have priority", as you get to the roundabout which I see on most occasions, in different parts of the country ....

Yes, those larger ones, such at those silly ones at Denham, High Wycombe and indeed the Arc de Triomphe ... have such bizarre rules, that no-one knows what to do, hence their success ... as everyone gives way to everyone else!  No wonder they never move. 

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Slightly changing the subject, but still about poor driving ...

I have just walked (very slowly due to the hip degenerating fast now) up to our village / town centre, which has several pedestrian crossings across the main town roads ... OK it was mid - late afternoon, not that many people around... but the first crossing I try to cross is blocked by a female driver whose car stopped right across the junction (which has a pedestrian crossing - of course!), so I stop in the middle of the road (walking any further than I need now is a no-no), and she looked at me as though she could not understand why I was standing there in the middle ... as I had started to cross before I stopped because she didn't.

Move to next crossing (actually at right angles to the latter) crossing the other main road ... road clear, set off, taking two - three steps into it, when a small white van (male driver) arrives down the main street from a roundabout about 100 yds away, so not possible to be going that quickly, at such a rate of knots that it appears that he has no intention of stopping at the crossing, though I am already on it ... I stopped and glared straight at him, and he stopped short ...

So I approach the bank, next to visit, which has a small area in front, actually the pavement, where cars usually park ... a driver screeched to a halt just as I climbed the 3 stairs slowly, and before I had got to the top of the stairs, rushed past me and into the bank, got in the way of someone else, but didn't hold me up, I wanted a different guichet, she dashed out again, I took my time, left, the car was still there ... but as I descended the ramp by the side of the car, she rev'ed up, reversed (badly) into the road I was about to enter on foot and rev'ed up again, and screeched away with screaming tyres .. this in a sleepy little town of 2000 souls, most of whom were nowhere to be seen.

Guess what, she was in a Belgian car!

Well. they say things come in 3's.  But I still don't understand what they were all rushing for ... this is the sleepy south, the town only gets buys on market day, and this is was not. 

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[quote user="Patf"]Reminds me of when I was driving in central London, ages ago. Came to Marble Arch - there didn't seem to be any opening, so finally just took our lives in my hands and went for it (as they say now.)

[/quote]

Know that one too, used to live further up Oxford Street, and yes, such mayhem that often it is solid as no-one can move ... the buses pulling in and out also don't help -;)

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Someone will have to correct me if I am wrong because I am not alittlebitsure.

Originally in France, traffic had priority going into a roundabout and then the traffic in the roundabout would have to give way ('PàD) to traffic entering the roundabout from each intersection.

There are many roundabouts in Paris like that, the most famous being the Arc de T.

The sign 'vous n'avez pas la priorité'' you see approaching (what we called normal roundabout) basically tells this old rule does not apply.

Is that clear ?

Do you understand now why there are so many road deaths in France and how nobody has a clue what they are doing ?
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Stupid rule, pointless discussion.

The best explanation I ever got about priority on the road was from a fat greasy Saudi, in Riyadh, who cut across me from the right as we left a traffic light, causing me to brake to a halt to avoid hitting him.

I had the temerity to blow my horn, whereupon he braked to stop diagonally across my bonnet, got out, walked back (amazing he had enough energy) and told me I didn't belong in his country, that he was an army officer, and that he could damnwell do anything he wanted in his own country.

So much for his observance of the famous Arab courtesy towards visitors[:P]

EDIT. P.S. He also told me he could put me in gaol if he wished.

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When I moved to France, as far as I knew at the time and was told this by french people, there was only one roundabout in the area and not too far from where we lived.

When I was approaching it for the first time, I started reducing speed, to be told off by my passenger and told to accelerate onto the roundabout and then brake like hell if anyone was coming on, as they would do the same and just drive on....... and that was actually my introduction to PaD.

Years later, when the law changed, I came up to this roundabout and it was not mid winter, and the gutters were full of what looked like ice, glistening. Windscreen glass apparently.

We had a mini roundabout, in a little town near where I next lived and that did not go to normal driving until 2007, so well after all other roundabouts had PaG. It was clearly marked that it was no longer PaD, but one day someone took the priority anyway as I was going round it....... how we did not have an accident I have no idea......

Last visit earlier this year and the PaD's have been brought in on a lot of roads between my son's appt and my old village. Bloody nightmare now as it never was as bad as it now is.

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When our daughter did her driving, which if the system like she did where she is allowed to drive as long as someone experienced is with her, she had to drive around 4000 kms to gain experience as well as having driving lessons and a course held by local gendarmes.

She was told one of the main reasons for so many accidents is people driving on the wrong side of the road! Have edited this because he wasn't talking about the English drivers.

I don't understand why the driving is so bad here, as there is considerable experience, studying and lessons for a good 2 years before even taking the test.
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[quote user="Loiseau"]Here they all are, as a refresher:

https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panneau_de_signalisation_routière_de_priorité_en_France <snip>[/quote]

And don't forget:

"La priorité à droite est le régime qui s’applique en l’absence de

signalisation. On ne signale donc que les intersections qui offrent un

caractère dangereux, soit par l'importance ou par la nature de la

circulation qui les fréquente, soit par la disposition des lieux".

Drive defensively out there.  This is France, remember  ... [;-)]

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And I believe it is up the mayor of each town to decide if he wishes to implement the PaD scheme.

Taken from their web site

Comme sur toutes les routes de France, le code de la Route s’applique à Marsilly.

Que se passe-t-il à partir du 1er novembre ?

Dans la 1ère quinzaine de novembre la quasi-totalité des carrefours sur l’agglomération de la commune vont passer en régime de priorité à droite.

But he has not changed it for ronds-points!

So just because the system was not their last time you visited rural France, does not mean its not there now.

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