Pedal Dancer®: Understanding road signs in France
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17 June 2010

Understanding road signs in France

This should be part of any pre-training for your cycling trip to France 
Of course the road signs in France make sense, but they are different than the road signs in the United States. Upon suggestion I have collected them for display. (Every European is now terrified to think of Americans out on their roads). Study up Fans.
Directional Signs
Get used to seeing these go by (time and again) while driving traffic circles in France.  
Oh, the choices ...
The number of the road you are traveling upon, or need to transfer to, will be on the top of the road sign. You should aim for the large city down the road, most likely beyond your true destination. Be sure to review your map and know the direction of all major cities or towns around you. The Peage (freeway tollroad) road number will be in red. Sortie = exit! Sorties are not marked by a city name (as they are in the United States), but are instead numbered. Know your number.
Read an additional blog post by PedalDancer.com about:
Understanding Autoroutes and Toll Booths in France


Traffic Circles
What does all this mean?:
  • In 100 meters you will enter a traffic circle. This traffic circle has 5 options to exit, important landmarks at each exit are labeled.
  • For the Peage (blue toll road symbol) and the Airport (plane symbol) - take the first exit off of the circle
  • For the tourist site Grange de Meslay continue in the straight direction on the opposite side of the traffic circle. Note: your car GPS system will tell you to "take the third exit" rather than saying go straight.
 These are the basic How To drive road signs in France
The basic danger signs in France
If you happen upon an area of road construction and see a temporary traffic signal set up, always stop until the red light turns green, even if you see no one else around!
Red means danger

Accept that you will not be able to read all signs in one quick fly by
To interpret written road signs (French - English)
Other driving terms:
Aire de repos: rest stop
Allumez vos feux: Turn on your lights
Attention au feu:  Beware of traffic signal
Attention travaux:  Beware roadwork
Autre directions: Other directions
Barrière de dégel: Trucks not allowed
Chaussée déformée:  Bumpy road
Cédez le passage: Give priority to the other road
Centre ville:  Town center
Chambres d’hôtes:   Bed and Breakfast
Col:  Mountain passes
Fermé:  Closed
Gendarmerie:  Police station
Gîte:  Simple bed and breakfast
Gratuit:  Free of charge
Gravillons:  Loose chippings
Haute tension:  High voltage power line
Hors gabarit:  Road, bridge, or tunnel closed to vehicles exceeding certain dimensions
Interdit aux Piétons: No pedestrians
Nids de poules:  Potholes
Ouvert: Open
Péage:  Toll road
Rappel:  Remember
Route barrée:  Road closed
Sens unique: One-way
Serrez à droite:  Keep to the right
Sortie:  Exit
Suivre:  Follow
Sur: On
Toutes directions:  All directions
Verglas: Ice
Vitesse adaptée sécurité:  Adapt your speed for safety
Voie unique: One-lane road
Voitures: Cars 
White Lines
White lines are used to divide traffic in Europe. Never cross a double white line. They are now issuing fines of 175 euros. You may cross a dashed white line if safe. If the dashes seem long, then you must pass at a slower speed.

Driving Tips in France:
  • There is no “right on red” in France. Cars entering highways from the right have priority unless marked otherwise.
  • It is illegal to use a handheld mobile phone while driving in France.
  • My brother always warns danger comes from behind in France, and he is correct. Look behind you frequently and always before changing lanes. Drivers will come upon you very fast from the rear.  
  • don't hog the fast lane. The left (fast) lane is for overtaking only, not for traveling in. If you hog the fast lane, you may also be reminded to move over with a flash of headlights from the car behind trying to pass. Stay as far right as possible at all times, even the middle lane is used for passing.
  • every car must contain an emergency triangle and vest. These items must remain in the main part of the car and not in the trunk.
  • don't pull up too far into the intersection, be sure to stop at the line next to the signal. If you out of habit pull to the intersection you will no longer be able to see the signal and become a nuisance to the drivers behind you.
Priorité à Droite - right-of-way to cars entering from the right
This is a totally different concept for American drivers so read carefully. Cars entering roadways from the right have the priority in France, even if you are moving in your vehicle and they are not and you are on a larger road. All cars on the right have priority unless it is signed otherwise (yellow triangle). In America if we come to an intersection and both cars are stopped, the car and the right has priority. But in France all cars entering on the right have the right-of-way, and cars continuing straight must yield. I believe that survival of the fittest has prevailed over time in France, and cars will not blindly enter from the right when it is not safe. But understand that they can, and you will be at fault if there is an accident.
Almost all round-abouts (traffic circles) will be marked “cedez le passage” which means entering traffic yields to the traffic already in the circle (cars entering on the right do not have right-of-way in traffic circles). At traffic circles look left for approaching cars and do not enter the traffic circle unless it is clear to your left. Keep your left blinker on while in the circle, and turn the right signal on when exiting.
Study these signs well because they are not instinctual to American drivers. A gold triangle means you have the right-of-way, a gold triangle with black line means end of the zone where you have right-of-way. The default is that you do not have right-of-way priority and the car on the right does. These are not yield signs:
 Expressway / peage signs in France
 The bike signs you should recognize in France
*if you see a round sign, with a red border around a bike it means NO BIKES 
(it may not have a line through it. Do NOT enter that road on a bike)

Do not enter
 Watch out for road furniture on your bike (stay to the right)
Some of the most common signs I saw while riding a bike in springtime - Gravel and construction.
Sprint any time you see one of these! (City Limit sign)
(with the number of the road above the sign, but it should be the points you earn for the win)
Content and Photos © By Pedal Dancer®
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3 comments:

  1. I am going to need to read this many times to get it!!! Thank you Pedal Dancer for posting such important information!!!

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  2. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your tips on driving in France were extremely helpful on a recent trip to Paris, the Loire Valley, and Alps. I want to expand on two things, though. We tried inserting our chipless, US credit card multiple times twice on French, privatized toll highways, and it was refused both times. On the first occasion, there was no option for depositing cash, so we had to back out. Luckily, the cars behind us allowed that, but I wouldn't want to repeat it. Thereafter, we made sure that we used the booth on the far right that was attended. The card also did not work for Paris Metro ticket dispensers. Many stations did not have cash options, and the booth attendants were not there to dispense tickets, either, so we made sure to replenish our supply whenever we found machines that took cash. We've heard that Capital One may have a card that has a chip and/or does not charge the 2-3% extra for changing from Euros to dollars. Nor did our card work for unattended gas stations. Thanks to you, we were prepared for that, but it should be noted that gas stations are few and far between in France, and it if it weren't for our GPS, we would never have found them. Our rental car had it even though we didn't pay extra for it and chose the cheapest car and agency we could find. The 5-door, Peugeot 207 diesel from Europecar through Kemwel/Auto Europe that we ended up with was great and also had a back-up assist feature and side mirrors that folded in or our with locking/unlocking. We didn't carry bikes, but think we could have gotten at least one in. I also want to expand on your comment to stay to the right. I must have overlooked your admonition, but soon figured it out when an angry driver cut us off precipitously when we were traveling in the middle of three lanes, which I consider to be the travel lane in the US. Living in the west without toll roads, we forget that the access on toll highways is so limited as to make entering traffic far less onerous. Anyway, we drove 1,500 to 2,000 kilometers in 7 days without incident, thanks largely to you. Whoops, one other thing. I constantly pulled up too far at red lights so that I could barely see even the little, eye-level one. I must be used to the turning right on red system that necessitates a view of cross traffic, but without that law, pulling up is useless and a hindrance.

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  3. Thank you so much for the update. I was just having this conversation 2 days ago with my brother Mike who was in France in June 2012. He said 8 out of 10 times his credit card did not work at the toll booths (luckily he was traveling with French travel companions). Things have really changed - he was warning me to keep cash on hand or use my new chip credit card (but honestly I just got my Chase British Airways chip card and this will be my first time trying to use it, so I will offer a further update). Also they had increasing difficulty getting cash out of ATMs. I am afraid we are falling behind in the US, although I heard many more banks will be issuing chip and pin cards next year.

    I wrote a recent post about this inconvenience at "Chip and PIN Credit Cards" (www.pedaldancer.com/2012/05/chip-and-pin-credit-cards.html)

    Exactly as you have stated, our standard US cards will not work at booths at metro and train stations and gas stations unless an attendant is present. The exception is the gas stations on the peage autoroute. But you have to hit a big highway every few days to fill up. If I see a gas station with an attendant (sometimes at the big supermarket chains) I fill up even if I am 1/2 full. I admit I struggled with this issue on my recent trip to Belgium, even offering a card at restaurants was at times awkward.

    Thank you again for reminding me about pulling up too far at red lights, even though I know it, I still do it automatically, and sit nervously waiting for the kind honk from behind to tell me my light has turned green because I stopped too close to the intersection to see.

    Please share more tips as you remember them. I am so glad you had a fantastic trip. Thanks for writing.

    Did you learn the fine art of round-abouts?

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