Car drivers why the difference!

[Dirkpitt66]

Just currently on holiday in France and can't believe the different attitude of car drivers (unfortunately not on my bike ).

They all appear to be well aware of bikers and do their best to give them space and move over to allow room to filter, never experienced much of this in the UK in my limited experience on a bike.

[TheArchitect]

[Mudshark]

and they do the same (i.e. actually notice) cyclists too, must be all the red wine
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[stinkwheel]

They have lane discipline, I'll give them that.

That said, the general standard of driving in France can be slightly terrifying even if you're in a car.

Imagine if loads of people drove about who didn't really care too much if they had a selection of small dents, scrapes and bashes on their car. That's what you get in France.
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[raesewell]

I have driven in France a couple of times and am off there again in a couple of weeks I find the roads and the standard of driving far better that the Uk
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[Rogerborg]

Yup, I'd assume it's just a critical mass of bikers and scooterists tipping the scales of perception.

Someone here pointed out that in Spain it's practically the norm for kids to get mopeds at 14, so most people there are "bikers" in some sense by the time they get behind a wheel.
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[Shinigami]

heading over a week on friday for 2 weeks, shame not on the bike though as there's 3 of us
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[chris-red]

Generally I'd agree, however Priorité à droite and there parking is fucking turd.
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[TheArchitect]

[Clanger]

[orangepeeleo]

[Llama-Farmer]

Its because a significant proportion of them rode mopeds before driving so everyone is aware of them, and there is always loads around to keep everyone aware of them.

There is a different mentality of acceptance rather than jealousy at filtering.


Perhaps if everyone had to do a CBT before their driving test in order to get a perspective from 2 wheels it'd make for much better drivers.
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[Maimboy]

I've just come back from a week in France, and I thought the driving was just as bad as in the UK - sloppy, inattentive, suicidal tailgating, speeding through urban areas, white Audi arseholes, the whole lot.

Still enjoyed it though!

[Robster]

Driven there plenty of times. They don't seem to do the whole road rage thing, or on the same level as UK, if you cut someone up, they just shrug their shoulders in typical Gallic fashion and give you more space.

Have to say, after a while I preferred driving there to in the UK
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[Orennayar]

I passed my car license in france some years ago. As said before a lot of people have scooters when they're teenagers (or their childrens have scooters) and also the big majority starts having driving lessons at 16 to get their license at 18 (not sure if it's the same here though) so maybe they're better prepared.
I also remember my driving instructor forcing me to do shoulder checks every time I was changing lane and entering/exiting roundabouts (which doesn't seem to be the case here).

imho lane discipline is definitely better in france though.
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[Orennayar]

[instigator]

[N cee thirty]

They use their bumpers for what they were made for, bumping in to parking spaces
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[goto10]

[Kierran]

Noticed the standard of euro driving near barca. Just arrived and standing on the balcony with a beer, guy pulls up un a convertible with his kid on his lap, bumps the Seat in front of him forward then reverses into the car behind him to get closer to the pavement. A lot less boy racer mobiles though for large towns and cities. Just a few spinning about each night as opposed to long lines of lowered beemers and dump valve equipped civic 1.6's
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[Vincent]

[Furrybiker]

I found that the standard of driving on the continent was generally better but in towns it can get hectic.

A trick if you are in a RHD car is to get your front seat passenger to wave both hands out of the window, now that shits them up and gets you some room!

[stevo as b4]

I find the standard of bikers to be higher in France and Spain also, so working the other way, they don't tend to piss off or scare car driver's with stupid dangerous overtakes over solid white lines, and aggressive filtering or pulling out into oncoming lanes of traffic just to get round a car or two.

Car driver's are shocking and it's been beyond belief how crap many are for at least a decade, but there's more and more don't give a shit bikers and cyclists out there now, and it still shocks me when I see how much people can have utterly twatish behaviour on 2wheels as well!

[Dirkpitt66]

Another thing I have noticed in the south of France is the motorbike parking bays a marked off with a space for one bike only.

Never seen this in London and would certainly stop the crappy little scooter being squeezed into a space that doesn't exist