This has been covered before on here. IMO there is no such thing as ‘straight on’ at a roundabout. Only a series of right turnings and the ‘left’ signal until passing the last not required right turning is to inform those entering from the right that you are not turning there and also to stop people overtaking on the roundabout which is a dangerous practice.
All HGV drivers in France are taught this method and I personally have used it wherever I have been in the world and so was pleased when I had to take my FCOS course here, a refresher which every experienced HGV driver must do every 7 years, to hear the instructor insist on this practice.
He also said that in France pedestrians have priority on zebra crossings.
I’ve frequently created scenes of bewilderment amongst Parisian pedestrians by stopping to allow them priority at crossings. They just stay on the pavement and stare at me open-mouthed.
Yes that’s quite correct @Stella and of course we have seen it before and my only reservation is the lanes on the roundabout which encourage overtaking. HGVs (which are supposed to keep to the outer edge) are often forced to drag the end of the trailer into that lane, but even with cars it is dodgy because as they approach their intended exit they must cut across the outer lane which may have traffic in it. Which is why I heartily disapprove of lanes, and thus overtaking, on roundabouts.
Has @Stella’s diagram, to which I have just responded, disappeared for some reason?
It’s back again, just as I arrived to delete my post, what on earth is going on? Not the first glitch I’ve had on the site today. Is it the site or my computer?
I 100% agree with all that. It is the correct way to treat roundabouts.
Full disclosure; Like David, I also hold a licence for “poids lourds” & had this drummed into me (however, it’s not how is was taught for car licences back in the 70s…).
Didn’t need to as I recognised what it would be from the description, I only commented in case some were understanding it for the first time.
@Badger I’m not sure it is even the policy in the UK for heavies either, don’t know about the test as I got my HGV under Grandfather rules and thus never had to take the test. My policy on roundabouts is all my own work after thinking how they could be made safer many years ago.
I’ve found this is now changing since the law changed, went up to Paris just before christmas and saw both cars stopping and pedestrians just marching across and expecting cars to stop for them
That’s good. As a former biker from the 70s and 80s, volvos were a major hazard of legendary status for the lack of attention drivers would pay to the world outside their cockpit. They frequently appeared on ‘Ogri’ cartoons.
There is a perception that if a person has thier licence suspended they can still drive a vehicle sans permis. The rule is that while under suspension you cannot drive anything that requires a permis. It is one permit with endorsements. Therefore, as anyone born after 1987 requires an AM permis to drive a small quad bike, moped etc they cannot drive a VSP either. Be interested in you thoughts.
I found this article interesting… I always thought the people you usually see driving VSPs here in the Medoc had lost their licences due to drink driving, but it seems you’re not entitled to a “permis blanc” if you lost your licence for that reason.
Most of the VSP drivers I see out and about look as if they were born well before 1987. (Including the 2 huge men I used to see in the supermarket in Sauveterre de Guyenne buying vast quantities of alcohol and nothing else).
Standard issue to Breton drunks if found guilty of drink driving. Every other car on the road was a VSP and the majority of drivers were well seasoned middle age and over. Weekend, you would usually come across one in the ditch or wrapped round a telephone pole and those people who drove them in many cases that I know of were still under the influence as well so never felt any injuries.
This is an interesting thread for me, clutching at straws as I am with my licenceless son (due to his permis being stolen in Paris) and his 2 teenagers holidaying in the village, causing me to be a superannuated taxi driver, does anyone know of anywhere that has VSPs for hire?
I am losing the will to live, if he goes near a supermarket it is nearly an hour before he emerges with an overflowing chariot, while I have lots to do in the meantime. He and his 17 year old son are at one with each other nattering away at every little thing on the shelves. They wanted tomato soup, so I pointed them to the place, natter natter, walk away, where is the French soup, duly indicated, natter natter walk away nothing loaded to go back to the tomato. It is endless.
It is lovely to see them all after so long but not sure I am going to survive the next 6 days. See, I am counting them already and then I am going to have to drive them all the way to Angouleme or Limoges because they can’t decide if they are leaving by train or plane.
