John -
Chances are a line of traffic behind a tractor&trailer - caught the eye of the Gendarmes - who subsequently noted something “not quite right” with the agricultural set-up
There is nothing in the Code de la Route which says that an agricultural set-up should stop to ease tailback. It was considered a “polite/helpful” thing to do in UK, if there was a safe-place in which an agricultural vehicle could stop. Here in France they have to follow the same “Highway Code” as cars etc.
and, if the agricultural-vehicle does stop in an unauthorised stopping place - and something adverse occurs - whoops - his/her fault for stopping.
A bit like folk waving someone to overtake. That was seen as helpful until an accident occurred and the whole thing was called into question, with each side holding the other responsible.
Nowadays, even waving-on should be ignored and whatever the situation, overtaking is done at the overtaking-driver’s risk.
Agricultural set-ups are much like the enormous lorries we see - both can and do cause tailbacks. Such is life.
Unfortunately, the standard of driving in the Tarn can be, & often is very low…even amongst non-native drivers. However, the local carrosserie has a more than spectacular display of wrecks most weeks; often warranting the question “how the fuck did that happen, & were there any survivors ?”
It has been remarked upon that the standard of driver training has improved considerably over the last decade, but that would mean that there’s an awful lot of 30 somethings that can’t drive for shit.
Better roads with a lot more people on them and cars which can go much faster. I don’t think you need to look for a much more complicated reason than that. The smashed-up car I saw down in the vines near chez moi this morning onthe N 21 had obviously come off the bend at speed, that bit of road is lovely newly-laid tarmac, like driving on velvet.
If you have a road made of castine with enormous potholes in it you aren’t going to go very fast so you are unlikely to have a crash with someone else.
Sicily. Seriously scary. Most of the dual carriageways seemed to be under repair when my daughter & I visited a couple of years ago and even when they weren’t motorists would straddle lanes including the hard shoulder. I discovered why. When they overtake they pass so close they almost take the paint off your car.
Towns were a nightmare with everyone doing racing starts from traffic lights and junctions, bikes and motorcycles weaving perilously in and out and everyone in such a hurry . The cacophony of horns and driving standards were on a par with or perhaps even worse than India. Definitely needed a chill pill or nerves of steel to get anywhere.
I always wondered if they displayed them like that to warn others what happens when they drive like idiots. Interesting that the carrosserie is next to the funeral place!!
The standard of driving in the Tarn can be particularly bad from what I’ve witnessed. Do you remember a few years ago the terrible accident on that short stretch of road just before where they sell the cepes? A heavily pregnant woman, who was not wearing a seat belt, overtook another car and had a head-on smash killing herself and her unborn child and leaving 2 young children without a mother. That stretch now has a solid white line as a result.
I’ve seen cars on their roofs on that road and in ditches and in bushes. I’ve also had many near misses with cars overtaking on blind corners etc.
I’d say I record some kind of madness on my dashcam every time I use the car. Maybe one day the evidence recorded by it may help me or those filmed on it.
Tne scariest road I have been on traffic-wise was the Grand Trunk Road between Rawalpindi and Peshawar, complete disregard for rules, mad buses, blokes on pushbikes with baskets of parrots on their heads, armoured vehicles, contraflow camels, the lot.
Nothing beats that part of the world in terms of scary driving.
The roads in Delhi were unbelievable. Right of way was determined according to size of vehicle starting with lorries then buses, vans, cars, tuk-tuks, motorbikes, bicycles, cows and lastly pedestrians. Oh and also how loud your horn was. The noise of horns blasting was constant. It was total chaos.
This was 1998 so I imagine things have improved since then!!
Cairo completely terrifying esp as your taxidriver explains he has 3 jobs and hasn’t slept for 36 hours or so and keeps veering off the road, the taxi is held together by string and tape and every time you stop another huge fat upper Egyptian in a washing-powder-advertisement thawb hops in… meanwhile you just say inshâ’ullâh and ma’aleesh a lot
Naples was the scariest that I have tackled - worse, I suspect, than most places in France (maybe Paris but I’ve never driven in the centre - always outside the périphérique) but probably not a patch on Cairo or Delhi
I sat outside Gambrinus in Naples on the Piazza del Plebiscito drinking my coffee, watching a traffic jam, someone v clever put food colouring and detergent in the fountain and a pink fluffy blanket spread over the stuck hooting cars and their shouting and gesticulating owners, meanwhile a cyclist got off his bike, picked up and walked over the cars. Surreal. Maybe they were making a film, it was about 35 years ago if anyone recognises the scene.
Sounds like a Michael Caine film - though I think that one just featured a sabotaged traffic light system and Benny Hill getting into trouble for groping ladies’ behinds - not pink foam.
I wonder when a solid white line (as defined) is actually a solid white line ?
Is it still a solid white line when it has been worn so as to be barely visible ?
Is it still a solid white line when there are gaps in it for road junctions and entrances to properties ?
Is the solid white line a ‘Traffic Sign’ in itself, or does it need to be backed up with the French equivalent of a UK Road Traffic Regulation Order ?
If it is a ‘Traffic Sign’, then is it still valid if the arrows indicating the need to regain one’s own side side of the road preceeding it are missing ?
I must admit that I prefer the UK system where one can cross the solid white line to pass a slow moving vehicle IF it is safe to do so. I just think that it is more sensible in the circumstances to permit this, but never the less I accept that the French Code de la Route is different.
Mine, if my dash-cam were working.
