Well, obviously there are a few (!) but the one that I'm interested in is that If anything strikes sharply the windscreen of a car when a French person is driving, they immediately press on the inside of the windscreen with their thumb or finger for a couple of seconds (this is when there is no visible damage by the way). I've been told that this is to keep the windscreen intact, but can it possibly serve any purpose? Do any other nationalities do this?
Incidentally, I lived in France for a while and the vast majority of drivers did this, young and old (and front seat passengers), so it's not based on the habits of one or two people. I've never seen a Brit do it.
Can anyone enlighten me?
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Rebecca
Wierd! Beats me why they do this. Maybe the average Frenchman doesn't study mechanics. Pressing on the inside is going to put the outside of the screen in tension and thus make it more likely any chip will spread into a crack.
Vive la difference!
regards
john
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Having discussed this on the Paris hot line the translation seems to boil down to not much more than, "My Dad did it in the Traction Avant, and it looked to a small boy as this was a really important function of being a driver, so it carries on"
Actually the reason he gave was that it was when windscreens were toughened glass the finger pressure was to absorb the shock waves and thus prevent the starring of the glass. But does not do it today on laminated as it makes the star worse due the reasons John quite rightly gave above. It takes all sorts.
(Sod it, realised its gone to Citroëns in three!)
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But surely all the damage has been done by the time you can react to the sound of the stone, look for the area that has been hit, gets your arm inside the car, take the cigarette out of your mouth and press your finger against the windscreen without taking your eyes off the road?
Is it the custom same as all passengers taking their shoes off and sticking them out of the passenger window?
Jonathan (a francophile)
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To my knowledge, no French driver has ever been concerned about taking their eyes of the road.....
(and by the way they don't worry about pressing the same spot the windscreen was hit. Anywhere will do)
Rebecca (married to a Frenchman)
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Rebecca,
You don't need to ask us if you're married to one. Hope you have Citroens???
David
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Rebecca
As you're married to a Frenchman, perhaps you could find the answer the question raised a while back. Why are French drivers such lunatic tailgaters?
Regards
John
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I think I can answer this one. Some motorways gave signs that seem to say "1 car-length, danger. 2 car-lengths, safety" "2 car-lengths safety", at 80 m.p.h. plus?
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SB- I ll make sure that I keep clear of you in France. If this is your interpretation of the French motorway signs referring to '1 Traite Danger ' etc you should look carefully at the the white line marking down the side of the carriageway. This is what the written sign refers to and attempts to offer good advice on spacing at even motorway speeds....
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peter wrote:
>
> SB- I ll make sure that I keep clear of you in France.
Er? I Plead Not Guilty your worship.
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Interesting question that one. Do Frenchmen also kick car tyres?
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John
I think that you are getting tyres mixed up with headlights.
Brian
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French, wonderful, infuriating yet strangely pragmatic nation. You can have an incident which involves the most phenomenal avoidance and the local just gives that incredulous injured expression which translates as "Hon! did we have ze accident? non! so what is ze problem?"
Two stories which sum up French attitude to cars for me.
Scene, car park on the Med somewhere vaguely near Marseilles, Fos sur Mer I think. Guy returns to his car, which totally amazing for a Frenchman is parked within a marked bay. He is blocked in front & rear by two other cars at 90 degrees. He starts the engine, waits a bit, gives it a few revs, nobody appears. Thumb on horn button, still nobody appears. Engages gear and tups the car in front, waits a bit, into reverse, tups the car behind. Repeat a number of times till one of the owners appear. Now we'll see some fireworks methinks, but no 2nd guy gets in his dented car and moves it. Presumably he just accepted that he should not have parked it there.
story 2
Years ago candid camera type program found some poor sods 2CV painted in that horrid faded greeny blue and nicked the drivers door, replacing it with one painted pink. No on reflection it was PINK!
Guy returns, "Hon! Zomebody haz stolen my door, must get anozzer" Camera follows him driving round till he found another 2CV in the same horrible green colour, and of course he swaps the doors. Camera now follows car 2 and so on for a fortnight! I forget how many cars this sodding door was on in the end. Marvellous!
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Replies to the above:
On the contrary, I DO need to ask the question here. Unlikely to get an impartial answer from my Husband when he has to put up with me 'tutting' every time he does the windscreen pressing thing.
We had a Citroen, but sold it when Husband changed jobs. Good car, appalling visibility due to windscreen wiper positioning which wasn't altered for RHD. You'll be pleased (?) to hear he now drives a Berlingo (for work). Our other car is a BMW.
On reflection I have seen a fair few French men kick the tyres (but not the lights).
Have seen cars shunted for parking purposes many a time, mostly in coastal towns. Not sure if this reflects the lack of parking, or something in the sea air.
Tailgating? I didn't see the thread you mention, but I would imagine it's to do with the way the lane discipline works on their motorways and dual carriageways. If someone is going faster than you, you move out of the lane to let them pass. If somehow you haven't noticed them, they can flash lights and sound the horn. This doesn't seem to provoke road rage, the slower driver invariably wakes up a bit and moves out of the way. Couple this with an inherent gallic impatience and they tailgate on every other kind of road too.
It's my observation that the motorway thing seems to work (as long as everyone on the road uses the same system). You don't tend to see middle lane driving like we have over here. But bear in mind the motorways there are generally less congested anyway (and I think the accident rates are much higher?!)
Thank you all for your replies.
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Rebecca
Thanks for the reply. The tailgating problem isn't one of using the lights as a warning of approach - I've no problem with that - and I don't mind keeping to the right. It's, for example, the Autoroute problem of the string of cars, travelling at the limit or above, overtaking the lorry on a two lane stretch. What really annoys me is that the chap approaching this from the back, with no chance of overtaking, (but not really being held up - 130/140+ kph) has to drive less than a car length from the car in front, and is flashing his lights before the car in front has even cleared the lorry. Often they are so close the lights can't be seen in the mirror anyway. Now that really is bl**dy stupid, and probably accounts for the higher accident rate in France. You see similar behavior on single carriageway roads - driving incredibly close behind a string of cars when there is clearly no hope of passing.
I quite like driving in France- there's no doubt the roads are much quieter, and traffic jams are rarer but this particular aspect of their driving behavior really drives me wild - and backing off to leave a larger gap in front of me to allow less sudden braking in these circumstances (which will probably save their life too) tends to get misinterpreted. Tough.
Regards
john
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My view (and I spend a lot of time in the south of France) is that the tailgating is not as bad as on the M25.
My view on why the French tailgate is that many of them drive diesels and the performance on older vehicles is so sluggish that they cannot abide the loss of speed and time taken to catch back up. I even found myself with tendency to start to tailgate when I had older 1.9 D Renault on hire. In the UK I am religious about not tailgating.
Since old habits die hard, I suspect that many just carry on tailgating (if they are still alive) as they have not had a problem in the past!
New thread?
I am alone in the observation in that it is impossible to read the likely actions of a french driver on a roundabout! In the UK, Road Positon and front wheel angle allow you to make a reasonable (wary ) assumption of likely intent.
Similarly for a nation that will overtake on blind bends surrounded by HGVs and rows of trees (immovable objects) they will come down to a grenouilles pace on approaching a roundabout where there is an open view in all directions
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Rebecca,
Fabulous comment about French driving. We'll soon have the statisticians proving that the middle lane owners club saves lives.
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Peter
The French are not alone in having trouble with roundabouts. In Sweden thay had to have public teach ins to tell the locals what to do when roundabouts were installed in some towns. Even now you still get the situation where some yokels at an island, and by their expression are thinking, "now what the f*** do we do here?" Just have to grab the initiative and do it exactly the proper way according UK Highway code including all the signals, except going anti-clock of course.
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Ever tried America? Similar problem. The roundabouts there are so rare they are used as navigation points. One place we visited on Cape Cod was noted as being 1 mile from the Bourne Rotary (as they call them). Result - despite signs saying 'Yield', they just drive right on in!
Regards
John
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A recent German visitor that stayed with us remarked on the number of roundabouts in the UK. She told us that in Germany you can go to a driving school especially to get instruction on using roundabouts!
Don't think it would catch on here!
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Never come across these in US, but forewarned is forearmed, thanks John.
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Talking of the US, does anyone else here think that free flow right turns (or left here) are a good idea, at red lights?
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Yes - provided you look first. One other comment of note about driving in the US (well, New England area at least) is that they are far less aggressive than in the Uk, you can get yourself out of navigating blunders much more easily, as people happily let you change lanes in traffic. So, maybe that attitude makes riight turns on red work.
Regards
john
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John Slaughter wrote:
>
> Yes - provided you look first. One other comment of note
> about driving in the US (well, New England area at least) is
> that they are far less aggressive than in the Uk, you can get
> yourself out of navigating blunders much more easily, as
> people happily let you change lanes in traffic. So, maybe
> that attitude makes riight turns on red work.
>
John,
To go back to a thread subject many moons ago "what constitutes a sod you driver" I do agree with you 100% that there does seem to be a more considerate approach in the USofA in many areas. I always thought it was because you thought twice about cutting up the guy in the pickup because he might just have a gun rack in the back of the cab and a semi automatic in the glove box. But it even extends to other parts of life.
I realised rather quickly that the "have a nice day" syndrome is totally shallow and meaningless, but in many ways UK is a far far ruder society than it once was and certainly in comparison to Uncle Sam.
Now I really have gone into old f*rt mode.
regards,
Stuart
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Perhaps they are less aggressive because they are allowed to sensible stuff like turning right on red and overtake on the inside?
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Yes Jonathan, I would go for that and maybe even a right turn on a red if its a one way street into a one way like in San Francisco.
I have mentioned this before but I would also vote for overtaking on the left on motorways. Stop the camel train in lane 3, with an empty lane 1.
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Stuart,
Totally agree with your last post. Bet it would make life exciting if it were introduced.
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I have reservations about this one. White Van Man and Baseball Cap Yoof would take it as a sign of weakness to ever give way when making the left turn. We seem to have a streak of agressiveness that is unique to this country.
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Tom
Yes, my concern exactly.
Regards
John
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For the sake of clarity what I meant was that I think the French accident rates are much higher...not sure if that was very clear. You won't catch me supporting the middle lane owners club (got loads of other drving faults though).
France never had that many roundabouts in the past (Place de la Concorde in Paris being a notable exception) so many drivers were never taught about them and subsequently haven't a clue what to do.
For what it's worth my Husband gets really irritated at his fellow drivers when we're in France. He has seen that there is another way...
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Rebecca
One problem with French roundabouts is the change a number of years ago to giving traffic on the roundabout priority. The old system (priority as you join)was a great way to jam up the roads. I'm not entirely sure that all the drivers have spotted the change......
Regards
john
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John Slaughter wrote:
>
> Rebecca
>
> One problem with French roundabouts is the change a number of
> years ago to giving traffic on the roundabout priority. The
> old system (priority as you join)was a great way to jam up
> the roads. I'm not entirely sure that all the drivers have
> spotted the change......
Hence the give way signs with "Vous n'avez pas de priorite"
(with correct spelling of course) at every roundabout large or small.
/John
Happy memories of French drivers getting scared of an Englishman
driving a car with Italian plates ;)
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I appreciate the concerns of both Tom & John on this one. WVM and BCY failing to give way would be like the french farmer excercising his Priorité a Droite? :-)
My understanding of the rules on the turn right on a red in US, is that it is effectively a STOP sign, and you *must* clearly come to a complete halt. I have certainly seen someone get a pull for not stopping, and they really went very slowly and I thought carefully but still plod gave them a ticket! No points though.
Another one I came across in PA which completely foxed me the first time I saw it was a junction controlled by TL which I had driven through several times before but this time was away from the busy time. The red lights were flashing continuously. Eventually, I managed to work out that this meant Stop and Yield.
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