I’ve lived and driven in rural/agricultural Lower Normandy for five years and have never had any encounters with problem drivers of any kind in that time.
Agricultural vehicles are doing an agricultural job and IMO deserve respect and tolérance from other road users notably commuters or people running household errands.
The idea that French drivers are bad is an urban myth as far as I’m concerned.
That happens to Me every day but what I do is a break check that makes them stop doing it. One guy followed me one time doing in to the aldi parking lot but think he regret it fast because he jumped out of his car at the same time as me and then quickly jumped back in his car to be fair I don’t think he did see what I looked like when I was driving because I’m 2 meters tall 150 kilo I have newer seen a French guy piss himself that much and the funny thing he lives 3 villages away so I bump in to this guy allot and every time he looks down on the ground can’t look at me 
The only thing I don’t like about in France is not having a numbers address especially now when I order more online
so where is that in Brittany? We are on north coast near Lannion, lots of rain but it still grows every month grrrrh
We’re in the Morbihan
Do you drive much? They are terrible! As evidenced by a much higher accident rate than on UK roads.
I agree Peter. Here in Brittany too drivers are excessively polite and considerate.
(By ‘excessively’ I refer to a common experience we often laugh about here: in our village you have to avoid standing anywhere near the pedestrian crossings - because if drivers see you they will stop just in case you might want to cross the road sometime in the next few minutes - then out of embarrassment you have to cross whether you want to or not, and sneak back when they’ve passed!)
My guess is that there are in fact big differences in such behaviours in different places - hence the different perceptions. The fault lies not in people’s perceptions, but in generalising what they happen to see to all of France, or all French people. This is, I believe, the origin of many myths about France and the French - especially from English-speaking visitors to Paris, who assume they have seen something of ‘France’ there - just as visitors to London imagine they’ve been to Britain!
Dear me, that’s a little OTT Peter, read my post again if you would, I never mentioned poor driving standards, just that, the tractor/trailer senario is not the same.
And, I dont care what they do for a living, respect for other road users should include everyone
You get a lot of people in the UK say “I don’t like France/the French “ when you ask them if they have actually ever been to France,it turns out they had a weekend in Paris years ago
I detest tailgating. Not sure how I will handle that. It’s bad enough here in the UK but mainly on the motorway.
I often hear/read myths like this about France. The worst are those books in English purporting to report the differences between the anglophony and France - such as that one called something like ‘60 Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong’. Invariably, I find such books to be comparisons between particular social circles in Paris and London - or Paris and New York - that tell you absolutely nothing about ‘national’ cultures - in either place!
But I also have to add that users of this site are also guilty of this. I’m often amazed by how different people’s accounts are of things they don’t like about France. An example (other than driving) that springs to mind is the paucity of vegetarian restaurants, or even vegetarian/vegan choices in restaurants. I’m sure it’s true in some areas - but there are lots around us, because Brittany is culturally a bit ‘alternative’.
The lesson is: beware generalising what might well be a local cultural peculiarity to all of France, or all of the French.
Apart from the occasional ‘boy’ racer we don’t have too many situations that cause concern, but I do think common sense and road courtesy needs some improvement.
Try it here in the Clunysois, they don’t stay on your tail for miles, they seem to choose the most dangerous stretch of road to overtake.
If people are relating their own experience, it is true to them.
Haven’t noticed any generalising really, most are just just speaking as they find.
Try it with the mustard sauce at Daniel et Denise in Lyon. Has foie gras and sweetbreads in it.
Same here in the Avallonnaise & the rest of Burgundy I’ve driven though.
Do you drive much? They are terrible! As evidenced by a much higher accident rate than on UK roads.
Ah, just about everyone in Europe are better than American drivers. We lived in the Philadelphia, PA area for thirty years. The state of driving there is reflected in the auto insurance rates. The average rate there is $2,647 per year (roughly £ 2030
or €2240).
Even down here in Provence the drivers (who are apparently the worst in France) are better than East Coast USA drivers.
Let’s see:
No garbage disposals.
Really awful aluminum foil and cling film.
A real lack of easy accessible ‘ethnic’ restaurants ( yeah, yeah, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, but really I’m not driving into Marseille for good Chinese or Indian takeout).
Surely the main thing going on here is that you’re looking for English-style ‘ethnic’ restaurants? The legacy of empire in the UK is largely responsible for the preponderance of Indian and Chinese food (not that it actually is much like most real Indian or Chinese food!).
France has a different legacy of empire. If instead you compare say Moroccan or Vietnamese food - near me anyway - you would say France has far better ethnic food than the UK.