Priority a droite

[Sunday Driver]

[quote user="allanb"]
The first sentence says that if you are emerging from an unsurfaced track, not open to public traffic, you must give way to all traffic on the road you are joining. So a track of that kind never has priority.  Fair enough.

But the next sentence says that if a track is open to public traffic, even if it's unsurfaced, the normal rule applies (i.e. PàD, presumably).  So anyone emerging from it has priority.

So in order to know who has priority, you have to look at the track to see whether it's unsurfaced, and if it is, you have then to find out whether it's open to public traffic.

* Les usagers sortant d'un chemin de terre, non ouvert à la circulation publique, doivent céder le passage à tous les usagers de la route abordée.  Dès lors qu'un chemin est ouvert à la circulation publique même s'il n'est pas goudronnée, les règles de priorité habituelles s'appliquent.
[/quote]

PaD only applies to drivers meeting on 'routes', ie on the public highway.  The bit in the code de la route that deals with dirt tracks is R415-9:

I. - Tout conducteur débouchant sur une route à partir d'un accès non ouvert à la circulation publique, d'un chemin de terre ou d'une aire de stationnement en bordure de la route ne doit s'engager sur celle-ci qu'après s'être assuré qu'il peut le faire sans danger et à une vitesse suffisamment réduite pour permettre un arrêt sur place.
II. - Il doit céder le passage à tout autre véhicule.

That's three quite specific 'non-routes' where PaD doesn't apply - 1) from an access not open to public traffic, 2) from a dirt track, or 3) from a layby.  Despite what it says in your handbook, there is no qualification in the actual code which classifies a dirt track as a 'route' if it allows public access - and therefore subject to PaD.

 

[allanb]

Thank you.  That looks like a clear error in the handbook, then.

It's not an official handbook - it's published by Michelin in Éditions des Voyages.  But I would imagine that quite a lot of people rely on it. 

[pouyade]

Question. Does the priority remain for a LEFT turn by the vehicle (assuming the road is clear on the opposite diection!) or only a 'merging' via a right turn? On  narrow (1.25 vehicle width) roads local to us, this could prove an interesting manoeuvre..............

Pouyade

[NickP]

[quote user="pouyade"]

Question. Does the priority remain for a LEFT turn by the vehicle (assuming the road is clear on the opposite diection!) or only a 'merging' via a right turn? On  narrow (1.25 vehicle width) roads local to us, this could prove an interesting manoeuvre..............

Pouyade

[/quote]

 In Vendome we cross the river by bridge and come to a T junction, traffic on our left has to give way to us, we have to give way to traffic on our right, we wait to turn left and as the traffic on our left has to stop for us, traffic from our right turning left, (are you keeping up with this) sweeps round and appears to have the priority( I think). After attempting this manouver a few times I was so stressed, I found another route to get to Leclerc. I do understand it works in small towns, but in the bigger towns with more traffic, it is a nightmare.  [8-)]

[Les]

[quote user="pouyade"]

Question. Does the priority remain for a LEFT turn by the vehicle (assuming the road is clear on the opposite diection!) or only a 'merging' via a right turn? On  narrow (1.25 vehicle width) roads local to us, this could prove an interesting manoeuvre..............

Pouyade

[/quote]

Yes, the vehicle can turn left or right.

[nounours]

[quote user="derf"][quote user="pouyade"]

Question. Does the priority remain for a LEFT turn by the vehicle (assuming the road is clear on the opposite diection!) or only a 'merging' via a right turn? On  narrow (1.25 vehicle width) roads local to us, this could prove an interesting manoeuvre..............

Pouyade

[/quote]
Yes, the vehicle can turn left or right.
[/quote]

I don't think that is correct.  In our nearest large town you have to give way from the right when turning left from a P A d road, the P a D is one directional.

[Tancrède]

[quote user="derf"]Yes, the vehicle can turn left or right.

[/quote]

Quite.  Or perform any licit manœuvre which the junction allows.

Not that it makes the blindest bit of difference in practice to the party who is required to give way, because what self-respecting Frenchman entering a PàD junction from the right would remotely dream of using his indicators to give other drivers a clue as to which direction he was intending to travel in?

[BJSLIV]

 In our nearest large town you have to give way from the right when turning left from a P A d road, the P a D is one directional.

You have priority over a car coming from the left whichever way you want to turn. However if a car is coming from your right then that one has priority over you.

 

[nounours]

[quote user="BJSLIV"]

 In our nearest large town you have to give way from the right when turning left from a P A d road, the P a D is one directional.

You have priority over a car coming from the left whichever way you want to turn. However if a car is coming from your right then that one has priority over you.

[/quote]  Yes that is what I said or at least meant[:D]  Turning right is no problem, you can just pull out, but turning left you have to give way to the traffic from the right.  The most well know P a D system is the The Arc de Triomphe roundabout in Paris which as is common on roundabouts in many large cities uses a P a D system, rather than the give way to the left, found in the sticks, which is why most roundabouts without P a D have a notice to that effect.