It is clearly stated - wheels must not touch the solid white line, nor cross the solid white line - no matter if there is a slow moving vehicle or tractor or whatever in front… (just be patient everyone)
Only in a Town, with a two-way road limited to 50km, is touching the white line acceptable, while overtaking a cyclist - and then, only if the view is clear. Crossing the white line is NOT acceptable though.
phew - wait 'til I enlighten OH - the air will be blue when we next find ourselves behind a slow-moving tractor or whatever…
Obviously, there’s more detail about falling rocks etc… but the above is the main gist - the gendarmes will take no prisoners.
(if I’ve misunderstood something, please do comment - politely )
Such a shame that more tractor drivers don’t have the decency to pull over when there is a long queue of vehicles behind them, and that more care is not taken about where solid white centre lines are painted.
It’s totally logical! Everyone knows you should drive down the centre to minimise potential dangers. And speed up where the road narrows, especially on a bend, so that the time of exposure to danger is short. A local driving instructor once told us that the problem of many French drivers is that they have no imagination. They certainly seem to discount completely the possibility of any oncoming traffic. Or any likelihood of being caught going over that centre line.
A friend (non-French) collected me in his glorious Ferrari. As we raced down the little lanes between my village and the Route Nationale - I cowered back in my seat, appalled at the speeds he was doing.
Watch out for the bends … (I wimpered) … Rubbish Stella, I’ve got GPS …
Yes, but GPS will not show the tractors et al which drive in the middle of these narrow roads.
Straight from the armchair to the car seat, taking their nonchalant attitude with them.
No one seems to have told the French that changing lanes on the motorway is the most dangerous manoeuvre that you can make.
They are in and out like birds in a nest box.
When my eldest daughters were tiny we lived in Cheshire and they went to a prep school where football players sent their children, it had a longish circular drive at the front punctuated by speed bumps. One of these footballers turned up in his British Racing Green Ferrari one day and got it stuck on a speed bump, it needed a crane to lift it off, very inconvenient for everyone and probably not very good for the poor car.
I’m also getting fed up with “the French” being followed by something derogative on here. Just because a few of them are poor drivers/rude/surly etc etc. These people exist in all countries.
The majority of French people I know are polite, friendly, helpful, good drivers etc and I wish I were back amongst them.
The ‘‘them’’ attitude normally stems from an inbred superiority complex. My maternal Grandmother used to do it all the time, never having been the same since the Brits pulled out of India…
Naturally, I’m from a couple of generations later than her, and others…