My friend’s car was a write off…the accident was caused by some old duffer leaving the forecourt of a garage and driving straight onto the main road without stopping or even looking in either direction.
My friend’s car was pushed into the path of a car that contained a lady driver and her baby (strapped in and luckily in the good position). After making sure that she and her baby were unharmed, they were but she was very shaken, he went to the old duffer’s car. The OD said that he didn’t see any cars because he couldn’t turn his head in either direction ! !
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Is it ‘doofer’ or ‘duffer’ - I never know 
I think either will do Simon …
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If she drives she will have taken a test - the permis de conduire was made compulsory in 1922, you had to be 18. My great-grandmother (born 1904) got her licence aged 18.
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I used to see it in Gloucestershire, they always went straight down the middle of the road in a nice solid Volvo.
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My partner’s nephew up in Metz was caught driving without a licence and was sentenced to 12 months in the nick. He served three months and was released through overcrowding and told he would carry out the remaining sentence when the situation ‘eased’ in the prison service. 18 months later he was told he wouldn’t face another prison term and ended up electronically ‘tagged’ for the remaining months of his sentence.
All the better to write of other people’s cars with but stay safe themselves!
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Vero - guess what - some people drive and have never taken a test, never had insurance, never had their eyes tested, drink, take drugs etc - and sometimes it can be the same person!
Too true Simon. A good friend in the UK was brought up in a small town in Kentucky. When he was 16 (if I recall) he was allowed to drive. His ‘test’ consisted of him accompanyin the mayor of the town around the block which took about 45 seconds. His family moved to the UK (his dad was in the USAF) and simply converted his Kentucky licence for a UK version.
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Oh, criminals, of course.
I hadn’t been thinking of them, just of normal law-abiding types!
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It always amazes me (in the Uk ) how many people disqualified from driving continue to do so
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Same in France Nellie - around 25% in some areas!!! With the added outrage of being able to drive a Sans Permis vehicle after disqualification- work that one out. Not only do you lose your licence (if you had one) - you then get to legally drive a vehicle that doesn’t even require one - and yet shares the road with other vehicles. Barking.
Mind you - some of my neighbours drive their sit-on mowers up and down the road!!
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One common scam when internet etc insurance started to become available was to apply and get a certificate make a couple of payments then cancel the monthly payment and still have an insurance certificate in your possession. Fortunately advances in data bases, ANPR etc have spoiled that one
I wouldn’t call him a ‘criminal’ exactly, he’s a really nice guy who made a silly mistake. He supports his family and holds down a respectable job. Sometimes people resort to law-breaking to keep the family afloat. I have a few parking tickets and a couple of speding offences to my name so I suppose i’m a ‘criminal’ too.
There are many types of accident but I wouldn’t think the old people are at fault for most.
I had my first accident a month ago I was stopped in a row of traffic at a roundabout and someone ran into the back of me,
Speed and bad habits are the main cause in France, driving in the middle of the road, tailgating, overtaking on corners, crests of hills and Road rage with the frenches hot headedness.
In fact I believe the roundabout concept was invented by a Frenchman, Eugène Hénard, who developed the system of ‘one way’ circular junctions. I believe the first laid out in France was that around the Arc de Triomphe in 1907.
IMHO there are many more roundabouts here than in the UK and used properly they certainly assist traffic flow. I dread to think how many hours of my earlier life I wasted sitting at a bloody traffic light in the UK. Fortunately they are rarely seen here outside of the bigger cities.
Oh yes, and what are the causes of accidents in the UK? No hotheads there, obviously.
Speaking purely personally, I have seen far more roadrage in the UK than in France (over about half a century).
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I rarely defend the UK, but the annual death toll on UK roads is about half what it it is in France, even though the speed limit on national and departmental roads is slightly lower . Mind you France’s annual road death toll is far less than that of S Africa, which is a much larger country, with far fewer vehicles. December’s the worst, when the month’s SA road death toll usually exceeds the annual one of the UK.
One of main faults that I notice here is hesitant overtaking ie. dithering about whether or not to overtake while the whole time the safe space in which to do so is decreasing.
Grrrr, one could go off people quite quickly. 
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I assume three working brake lights are an optional extra on modern French cars…