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Driving and roads


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At the risk of stating the blatantly obvious, it's always going to be busier on the roads in the UK.

The UK has fewer vehicles per 1000 people on the roads than in France ( 519 vs 578)

However, it has a smaller road network (394,426 Km vs 1,028,446 Km overall, and 3,519km of motorway vs 11,882 Km)

And, crucially, we are fitting all that into just 94,058 square miles, whereas France can spread it out over 248,573 square miles.

And, of course, our population is crammed into all that as well. So before the actual infrastructure considerations, you've got roughly the same number of people in just under a third of the space.

In other words, there are more cars on the roads in France, but they've got a lot more road to be on. And the only time you really notice is that weekend in July when they all go on holiday on the same day.
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No that is not strictly true Betty.

France is a transit country so there is much much more cars and lorries on the roads in France than the UK.

Your point about the road network is wrong again so far as the majority of roads in France are empty whereas the main ones (cities autoroutes ect) which are the ones that people use on a daily basis are as congested as the UK in peak periods.Especially when you take into account that 20 % of the French population live in Ile de France.

There is an obsession amongst the British that French driving is bad but believe me UK drivers are worse in the UK. That comes from someone that only drive about 6 days a year in the UK. It scares the hell out of me.

Furthermore, as a keen cyclist, I would not go anywhere on British roads by bike.
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Actually, none of my figures are wrong. But thank you for your input. Please try readng again what I wrote before your knee jerks again.

My son and husband are both keen cyclists. Son does at least 200km a week. He lives in Peckham. Out here in the boonies of Surrey, a mere 20 minute train ride from the Metropolis, you can't move for bloomin' cyclists. You must be a bit of a softie!

Apples with apples:

Ile de France, pop. 12 million, (18.2% of French Population)size 4638 square miles

Greater London, pop. 8.2 million (12.5%of UK population) size 637 square miles.

The U.K. is a destination country (I.e. It's where a lot of those lorries on French roads are heading to or from) and in you six days a year, I don't expect you're spending all of them on the M25, which I visit on an almost daily basis, along with the M4 and M3. So you won't necessarily appreciate the number of foreign lorries that are on it, daily.

However, none of this negates my point. You see, if we remove the respective metropolitan areas from the equation, it doesn't make the French road system any bigger or smaller overall, and neither does it alter the UK road system. Nor the figures for car ownership.

Bottom line, the U.K. has less space overall to accommodate road traffic. If you're driving in Bled/s/Oued, you're probably going to be the only car on the road, whereas in the UK you're likely to run into a traffic jam in the depths of the countryside.
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Betty said 'You must be a bit of a softie!'

I go cycling everyday in Paris and I am still here to tell the story. I luv it. Such respect.

Anyone asking, Paris is the capital of France and according to to British expats is a hell hole for French driving....not. (Insert rolling eyes yellow thing)

Stand by what I say. M20-M25- M1 (an example) is a disaster when it comes to driving standards in the UK. Stupid cars with stupid number plates going well toooooo fast.

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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]Most of the stupid number plates are foreign.....?[/quote]

They certainly are. We spend most of our time trying to work out what they are trying to spell/mean.

Personalised index plates are not only sad but dangerous.

Why do grown ups in the UK waste money on such pointless things ?
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Crikey, you see more of life in the UK to be able to pontificate on in your six days a year than I do in my 300 days a year!

In 'the real' UK (is that your standard phrase? I've forgotten) I see about one personalised number plate a month, if that. And I live in the land of the vanity plate.

Actually the best one ever, which was a photo taken by a friend who runs a language school in the UK, but he saw the car in Beittany. Not even a vanity plate, but it must've caused a few French people to veer into the ditch..

GR 05 CON.
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As I said it has been strange that 98% of the motorists are tootling. Until this visit I would say that driving was always safer and easier in England, now I am not so sure if there is much difference. That is fine.

I don't understand why uk roads are frightening . At least folks know how to use roundabouts and indicate.

We don't need to use the Autoroute's whilst we are here.

I have done here to Calais when we first arrived in France when there were hardly any Autoroute's, and that near 1000kms took for ever....epuisante! I am too old for such messing around. Also this time, we ended up missing a bit of the Autoroute des anglais and the roads were not great and servere speed limits on stretches. Too long and too slow. So we will pay the 70odd Euros fr the return journey and also pay for a hotel, because we have to.
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Indun wrote "I don't understand why uk roads are frightening . At least folks know how to use roundabouts and indicate"

There are a number reasons why I see roads more dangerous in the UK than France. Firstly, the state of the roads. They are just plain dangerous with potholes and badly fixed roads. Secondly, the Police don't petrol them anymore so I find myself with others driving faster on the Motorways but yet seem to be the slowest ??? People also just stick themselves in the middle lane at that is it until get to where they are going. Lastly, there is a more materialist attitude towards cars and people buy cars either far to big for them, or too fast or a combination of the two. The whole driving environment just feels uncomfortable and stressful with a miss match of driving skills on roads that are falling apart. There is no pleasure in driving in the UK.

I do appreciate though that some parts of France there is a different attitude towards driving. We were in the Dordogne a couple of weeks ago and certainly the driving there was more aggressive. Happy to leave and get back to Paris. But by far the worst is the Grenoble/Rhone alpes area.

I still don't understand why the British avoid Paris when driving to the SW. They tend to circumnavigate around the whole France just to avoid it whereas it is much safer than the M25.
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[quote user="alittlebitfrench"] We were in the Dordogne a couple of weeks ago and certainly the driving there was more aggressive.[/quote]

Thank you for confirming my suspicion that the driving in the Dordogne is "more aggresive".  I was beginning to think I'd grown a lot more timid or getting more paranoic![:D]

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I lived in France for a very long time. I have just driven 1000+ in France and have seen the roads in several regions. Autoroute's good! The rest, well the speed bumps are huge as are the ramps, and then there are roads in poor condition, which are no better or worse than where I live in the ne of the uk. Would that they were all in good condition, but they are not.

Also, I know few people obsedee by cars, a few in the uk and a few in France. Never matters whether they are good drivers or not, that is their thing!

I have never had any idea why anyone would have feelings for cars, or houses etc etc where ever they live, but I have things I like, that others probably do not understand either.
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Sorry Idun but I disagree. The roads in the UK are in a shocking state. You can't say that about France. The problem is that the black range rover sport types sit in the middle of country roads because they don't want to fall into a pothole or get their precious idiot car dirty. You are then squeezed into a hedge yourself when passing them. It seems the more expensive your car is the more right of way you have. Too many big cars on small roads in the UK.

You have to admit the French do build roads well the first time around and repair them quickly when they deteriorate.

Personalised number plates are dangerous to other road users because when you get passed by one you spend your time trying work out what they are trying to say rather concentrating on the road. It is worse when it is a caravan.
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alittlebitfrench posted;

Personalised number plates are dangerous to other road users because when you get passed by one you spend your time trying work out what they are trying to say rather concentrating on the road. It is worse when it is a caravan.

In my humour mode here.

Surely you are never overtaken by a caravan! Jeremy Clarkson would have a field day.

Personalised plates. I would rather someone were admiring my Bentley instead of looking at the reg'. Still, not everyone is a petrol head.
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Vette wrote "Personalised plates. I would rather someone were admiring my Bentley instead of looking at the reg' "

I have no problem with expensive cars (except black range rovers or range rover discoverys) as long as the reg does not read 'Davey' or spread out letters like DC II or whatever. I kinda devalues the car and makes you look like an idiot.

A Bentley with a normal plate looks better than one that has a plate that makes you look like a premiership football player. No class.

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I did occasionally book the odd person for miss-spaced plates when I was a traffic cop in Manchester.

For anyone wanting to see lots of personal plates being discussed, try here; http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1534373

Pleased to say, mines not one of them.
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[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]" I have no problem with expensive cars (except black range rovers or range rover discoverys) [/quote]

 

You can add white ones to that!

 

Do they actually manage to sell any new ones in other colours?

 

Undiscerning wanabee "lookatme"s being influenced by celebs, WAGs etc.

 

You said earlier about people buying cars larger than they can control, in general the drivers of the above fall into that category, I bet fewer than one percent of them are capable of changing a flat tyre on their lookatme vehicle, something I believe should be a pre-requisite to gaining a drivers license.

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I'd question the driving of anyone who was more interested in trying to work out the meaning of a number plate then concentrating on where they were going. Frankly, if you have such disdain for them, you seem prepared to waste an awful lot of time and energy on them.

Chancer, I could change a wheel in my car....if only it had a spare wheel....
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No, no tints on mine other than how it came from Crewe.

Betty. My Aston didn't have a spare. Just a canister of inflating sealant. Actually, not a bad idea in an emergency.

I have just bought a couple of small ones for the push bikes that we lend to guests. The same canister also fits the ride on mower, etc.
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[quote user="vette"]No, no tints on mine other than how it came from Crewe.

Betty. My Aston didn't have a spare. Just a canister of inflating sealant. Actually, not a bad idea in an emergency.

I have just bought a couple of small ones for the push bikes that we lend to guests. The same canister also fits the ride on mower, etc.[/quote]

I must admit to not noticing many personalised number plates in this part of southern England  although I have noticed some plates which are clearly indicating an earlier year than the car model.

My car does have a spare wheel albeit of the space saver variety and can and have changed it as required. I would not be happy to only have a canister as I would doubt their effectiveness if there was a cut in the tyre wall.

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[quote user="alittlebitfrench"] The problem is that the black range rover sport types sit in the middle of country roads because they don't want to fall into a pothole [/quote]

I thought they didn't venture further than the highways of Chelsea and South Kensington?

regards

cajal

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