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Priorité à droite


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For those who have not yet learned the Code de la Route and the associated signs for priorité à droite, the following road markings indicate that you are approaching a junction where you have to give way to the right:

[IMG]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i26/cassiscassis/skid_marks.jpg[/IMG]

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[quote user="Bugbear"]

[IMG]http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p211/Bugbear2/Priorityfromtheright.jpg[/IMG]

Learn this one by heart, it could save your life one day.

[/quote]Good tip BB.

I don't know if this is consistent around the country but around my way in Lot at least there are usually white and red posts at the mouth of roads joining from the right so at least you have a chance of spotting them. There are exceptions of course, just in case you started to get confident.

Anybody know just where and when this nutty and dangerous piece of nonsense originated [:-))] [8-)]

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[quote user="ErnieY"].

Anybody know just where and when this nutty and dangerous piece of nonsense originated [:-))] [8-)]

[/quote]

My understanding is that it goes back to coaching days. The driver entering from the right would have a team of horses in front of him so would be unaware if there was a coach already on the road he was joining. Therefore, the driver on the road that is being joined would see the horses coming from the right and give way to them as their driver was blind as to what traffic there was.

Paul

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None AFAIK, and if you are going the other way they are on the left anyway.[:D]

They are useful in spotting side roads, when looking for one and the continuation of the main "track" at forks on some minor roads but these posts are not usually found where Priorité à droite applies are they?.

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As ErnieY said, in my part (62) most of the side roads are marked but unfortunately not all, maybe they were once but the post lost or uprooted in an accident.  The upshot is that this is worse than useless because you expect a maker then suddenly there's a road without one........
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Paul:

That sounds palausible.

The UK would have a similar issue would it not yet I have never heard of any "Priorité à Gauché" ever existing there. Anyone else ?

Re the white and red posts, if SD is asking what they signify then presumably there is nothing in the Code de la Route about them which means that they probably have no legal standing at all (no pun intended).

I agree with Ron and P ZFP that they are useful for drawing attention to side roads but that uesfulness is somewhat diluted by the inconsitency of their deployment.

I haven't made a study of them so wouldn't say that they are used exclusively in Priorité à droite areas, but I get the impression that they are perhaps more prevalent.

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[quote user="ErnieY"]

Paul:

That sounds palausible.

The UK would have a similar issue would it not yet I have never heard of any "Priorité à Gauché" ever existing there. Anyone else ?

Re the white and red posts, if SD is asking what they signify then presumably there is nothing in the Code de la Route about them which means that they probably have no legal standing at all (no pun intended).

I agree with Ron and P ZFP that they are useful for drawing attention to side roads but that uesfulness is somewhat diluted by the inconsitency of their deployment.

I haven't made a study of them so wouldn't say that they are used exclusively in Priorité à droite areas, but I get the impression that they are perhaps more prevalent.

[/quote]

The white posts with a red band do not indicate priorité à droite, they simply indicate there is an intersection there.

As an FYI, the white-only posts indicate a curve ahead, and the white posts with a red top are indicators for the areas that get a lot of snow, to help you stay on the road and not end up in the ditch.

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These signs are also relevant - surprised nobody has mentioned them yet.

[IMG]http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/vienormande/signs_signals_france_en-2.jpg[/IMG]

But perhaps it's not surprising, In a survey by insurance group AXA (http://www.francereview.com/articles/motoring/art1.php) 86% of British drivers in France did not know what they meant. There are some other good statistics there too, like only 17% knew the autoroute speed limits.

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Oh, and recently some sadist told a rather gullible relation of mine, before he came to France, that the white posts with red bands beside French roads were speed cameras. The poor chap drove around very slowly last time he was in France.
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[quote user="Will"]

[IMG]http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/vienormande/signs_signals_france_en-2.jpg[/IMG]

But perhaps it's not surprising, In a survey by insurance group AXA (http://www.francereview.com/articles/motoring/art1.php) 86% of British drivers in France did not know what they meant. There are some other good statistics there too, like only 17% knew the autoroute speed limits.

[/quote]

I'm more terrified by the fact that most I meet seem completely unaware of the existence PaD rule in France and that they don't know the triangle and cross sign  - it may be different elsewhere, but the latter is common around here; there are dozens of them within a few km of us.  I can only put the lack of accidents involving visitors to our esteemed establishment down to the lack of other traffic on the roads. 

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The white and red balise posts mark the position of road intersections.  They do not mark the position of entries/exits to private property, chemins de terre or aires de stationnement, to which the priorité a droite rule does not apply ( Art R 415-9).

So, outside a built up area, a side junction with no balise is not classed as a 'road' so it will not have PaD.  A side junction with a balise is classed as a 'road' and if it has no give way sign/line, then it has PaD. 

 

 

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I find - though thousands will probably disagree - that up here in the north people tend to drive carefully near PaD junctions, particularly when emerging onto a busier road. In the south though, you are highly likely to find traffic appearing suddenly and rapidly from the right. The rule that no French anywhere seem to be able to come to terms with, though, is priority on roundabouts.

It isn't just France. The same rule applies in Finland. Priority to the right on ice is really scary....

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[quote user="Will"]...86% of British drivers in France did not know what they meant. There are some other good statistics there too, like only 17% knew the autoroute speed limits.[/quote]Frighteningly I believe that a significant number of British drivers don't know some of this stuff in UK never mind in France, and when you start asking about the meaning of road signs it gets worse.......[:-))]
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[quote user="ErnieY"][quote user="Will"]...86% of British drivers in France did not know what they meant. There are some other good statistics there too, like only 17% knew the autoroute speed limits.[/quote]Frighteningly I believe that a significant number of British drivers don't know some of this stuff in UK never mind in France, and when you start asking about the meaning of road signs it gets worse.......[:-))][/quote]Even when you tell them they don't believe you.  As in: "You should have given way at that junction, that's what that X means.."  "Oh, no surely not - it was just a side road." 
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