I want to carry our cycles inside the car in bags or boxes. I’m told that in Spain any such items must be tethered. Is there any such requirement in France? Bikes would probably have to be placed on folded seats.
Any other tips on cycling in France useful - need for reflectors for instance.
Legality aside it’s common sense to ensure that any items in a vehicle are restrained so as to avoid them decapitating you or a front seat passenger in the event of a collision. For the same reason that also applies to dogs or other pets (& is the law in France).
Again, even if reflectors are not legally required I would urge anyone to make sure that they have them, & decent lights too.
Continuing this theme; I never cycle without wearing some form of proper hi-viz clothing. I despair at the number of cyclists who don’t seem to realise how invisible they are, even in broad daylight. You need all the help you can get.
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I’ve found most French drivers have a much more tolerant attitude to cyclists than British drivers (again, in general) do. The most intolerant drivers seem to be those on foreign number plates (GB, NL, DE).
I’ve cycled only in northern France though. Always high-vis, though I don’t use lights in the daytime.
Conversations with French friends illustrate that awareness of (and proper behaviour towards) cyclists is taught in driving lessons.
Also, in France, collisions involving a car and a cycle are assumed to be the fault of the car driver, unless they can present compelling evidence to the contrary.
Agreed.
Nor I.
I have often come across cyclists on unlit country roads, after dark, dressed in dark colours, & with no lights…!
Don’t start me on pedestrians who do similar things 
I used to car share and we would see a cyclist most days a few miles from Hereford. We would remark upon his near invisibility. One day he was in the newspaper - killed on the same road in an accident. It seemed almost inevitable.
Changes to the highway code in the UK have deliberately made the situation with cyclists and cars much more confrontational. Ostensibly it’s about making drivers more aware, but it also indicative of extremely poor planning & maintenance, and trying to manage overcrowding.
In cities cyclists are often their own worst enemies - speaking as someone who grew up cycling in London. It’s by no means a uniquely British problem, and I’ve seen extremely bad behaviour in Copenhagen too.
I wonder how many people actually realise the code has changed. Drivers are supposed to give way to pedestrians crossing side roads. Either drivers do not know this or choose to ignore it.
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Totally agree, (echoed as a daily cyclist).
…including using your ears. I’ve long thought that the value of being able to hear an oncoming vehicle, sometimes long before you see it coming, is hugely underappreciated by cyclists…I despair at the number of cyclists, particularly in towns, who have earphones plugged in, and are presumably listening to something, which can hardly help them hear the approach of a vehicle.
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Indeed. I almost ran someone over in January. Very similar circumstance except he was standing stationary in the middle of a country road, side on, talking to someone in a car which was parked just off the road with no lights on. I had to swerve around him. He’s lucky there was no car coming in the other direction.
Deaf people ride bikes
I’m sure some do, but I bet they take extra precautions!
They are in general more observant.
Tell me what happens to hearing people with electric cars?