MK5 Golf GTI
General => Random Chat => Topic started by: MC71 on July 28, 2012, 09:29:23 am
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Am going to France in a couple of weeks with the car, is there a definitive list of what I legally need to take with me?
Have been told I HAVE to have the reflective vest in the front go the car.
Have to disable my speed camera detector on the sat nav
And have to carry a Breathalyser! Why?
Oh, and what are the Gendarmerie like at enforcing these laws?
Cheers
:happy2:
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[pdf]http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/touring_tips/france-monaco.pdf[/pdf]
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^^^^ as this is the French, where it says "deposits", sholud that read bribe? :laugh:
Still don't know why it's up to the driver to supply the Breathalyser?
:happy2:
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^^^^ as this is the French, where it says "deposits", sholud that read bribe? :laugh:
Still don't know why it's up to the driver to supply the Breathalyser?
:happy2:
....Italy and Greece are the countries where bribes might sometimes be an escape from jail but don't risk it with the French!
The French speeding laws are draconian and enough not to want to visit France at all, which is a pity as it's such a beautiful country. It's just a shame about those Frenchies who are in authority. I wonder what modern France would be like if they hadn't guillotined the monarchy. I wouldn't even begin to attempt to understand why drivers are now supposed to carry breathalysers, especially if like me they don't drink any alcohol whatsoever.
The French: :rolleye: :stupid: (mad rather than stupid)
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BTW, I read somewhere that you now have to carry a high-viz vest for every individual occupant in the car.
I always carry one in my car permanently anyway, but.
Oh, and I think you are also obliged by French law to stop at the scene of any accident you come across unless the emergency services are already in attendance. There's more threads on this forum if you try a Search.
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Spare set of bulbs aswell too I think. Robin your right about high via for everyone in the car. Plus you need two hazard triangles not just one.
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Plus you need two hazard triangles not just one.
....That at least makes good safety sense: One triangle ahead and one behind to alert/warn on two-way roads.
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I found out yesterday, trying to arrange car hire for france, that I need to supply my own breathalysers (2 No) everything else, High Vis jackets & triangles are supplied with the car
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Bloody hell, this is getting expensive.
Just spoke to the AA, reply went something like this:-
Both parts of driving Licence, all other relevant documents, ie V5 and MOT (must be original)
A sticker denoting what country you are from (does this refere to the car or the occupants :laugh:)
2 single use breathalysers (fine of €11 for not having 2),
4 jackets (must be all kept within reach of the occupants)
A least 1 triangle, (even the AA lady was not sure, def 2 for Spain she said)
Headlamp converter kit
spare bulbs,
a full first aid kit,
a fire extinguisher,
speed camera detectors must not be used (fine is upto €1500 if you have one, even not in use)
Oh and after you have been stopped, stripped searched, relieved of all your money, your car and all your possessions, they will still breatalise you with THIER own bloody machine.
I only want to go to Honfleur for 3 days!! :confused:
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RE: Gendarmerie
Went to Veynes in the Alps last summer (Awesome in the Pirelli) and saw 1 Gendarmerie car who looked as if he was asleep!
Be extremely careful on the way home. They are mentally hot on people who are late for their ferries trying to make the time up. Saw tens of cars sat at the side of the roads and service stations with speed guns! :fighting:
They will litterally hide in trees!
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also by law you have to carry 5 spare tyres incase of an emergency
:grin: :grin:
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Bloody hell, this is getting expensive.
Just spoke to the AA, reply went something like this:-
Both parts of driving Licence, all other relevant documents, ie V5 and MOT (must be original)
A sticker denoting what country you are from (does this refere to the car or the occupants :laugh:)
2 single use breathalysers (fine of €11 for not having 2),
4 jackets (must be all kept within reach of the occupants)
A least 1 triangle, (even the AA lady was not sure, def 2 for Spain she said)
Headlamp converter kit
spare bulbs,
a full first aid kit,
a fire extinguisher,
speed camera detectors must not be used (fine is upto €1500 if you have one, even not in use)
Oh and after you have been stopped, stripped searched, relieved of all your money, your car and all your possessions, they will still breatalise you with THIER own bloody machine.
I only want to go to Honfleur for 3 days!! :confused:
I don't think the fire extinguisher is mandatory.
I was in Honfleur with the family for a week, 2 years ago.
Beautiful place, but if you intend on eating out everyday, especially with kids I'd plan on remortgaging :signLOL:
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A garlic necklace and a baguette sticking outa your ar*e.....
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^^^^ memo to self:- never eat a baguette at your house! :signLOL:
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^^^^ memo to self:- never eat a baguette at your house! :signLOL:
.... :signLOL: :laugh: :signLOL: :happy2:
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^^^^ memo to self:- never eat a baguette at your house! :signLOL:
.... :signLOL: :laugh: :signLOL: :happy2:
Its nutella..... Honest! :innocent:
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The breathalyser is for you. Idea being if you have been drinking you use it before you get in the car and I thought holiday makers had some exception on this for a few months.
UPdate:
The new regulations, which excludes mopeds, will be fully enforced and include foreigner drivers from November 1 following a four-month period of grace. Anyone failing to produce a breathalyser after that date will receive an 11 euro fine.
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The breathalyser is for you. Idea being if you have been drinking you use it before you get in the car and I thought holiday makers had some exception on this for a few months.
UPdate:
The new regulations, which excludes mopeds, will be fully enforced and include foreigner drivers from November 1 following a four-month period of grace. Anyone failing to produce a breathalyser after that date will receive an 11 euro fine.
....I assume that you have to carry a breathalyser for each occupant of your car, as it is for high-viz waistcoats.
So breathalysers don't have to be sealed and unused but what would be the point of carrying a sealed unused one when you were stopped by the Frenchies?
After I got done for speeding in Belgium on the way back to the Eurotunnel with John Hurdy, and given a very friendly warning about how bad the French police are, we strictly kept to the French speed limit and it was extremely boring.
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^^^^ had not thought about Breathalisers for everyone else in the car, surly it would only be needed for the driver? I can see the point of having jackets for each occupant as you may well all be standing by the side of the road in the dark.
Got stopped in France about 10 years ago on the way back from Le Mans via the Normandy beaches (to pay our respects). I think there was 6 cars in our convoy and we were very, VERY late for our ferry at Dieppe so were "making up time" and were swarmed upon by the police. We were lucky and were given a good telling off but we heard many stories of people being stopped and taken to cashpoint machines to pay the so called "fines". In those days we were always told NEVER to take our original documents with us as they could be confiscated and another "fine" paid before they were returned. Not sure of the truth behind this but it was enough to make us drive slowly after that.
Can't wait to drive through France next week :sad1:
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Can't wait to drive through France next week :sad1:
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Just relax bring all the guff required on the lists, stick broadly to the speed limits and i know your have a good time :happy2:
I got pulled by the german police last year, we were coming back into germany from poland (having gone to see where the great escape happened) in a hire car with french plates on, might aswell had a bullseye on the car. But i knew i wasn't speeding as i'd seen the police waiting by the border when we were going the other way, they just wanted a nosey!
Give them no reason to pull you over and have a great time! :happy2:
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Agree with Phil. No need to worry about it as the roads are much nicer and quieter than our congested and pot-hole ridden tarmac..
The French also understand lane discipline so you rarely come across middle or outside lane hoggers, slow moving vehicles on single lane roads will pull in to the side to let you past unlike the 40 everywhere brigade over here who will try there best to block you.
Look out for cars flashing you as they also like to warn drivers about speed traps up ahead. Like the UK speed traps they are normally set up where road works are going on so pay attention to changes in the speed limits on m'ways and also when going through villages and towns.
We did 10 days back in June driving from Caen-LaRochelle-Bordeaux-Biarritz-StEmillion-LeMans-Home and had no problems what so ever apart from setting off a few fixed speed cameras which we have heard nothing about since.
Lovely place and off back next year :happy2:
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^^^^ cheers fellas. :happy2:
Pretty much going to stick to the toll roads! Going to Honfleur first, then Saint Malo and finally (maybe) Paris as my wife has never been so that would be good. Am NOT driving in Paris though, will get a bus/train in there. :laugh:
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No need to worry about it as the roads are much nicer and quieter than our congested and pot-hole ridden tarmac..
The French also understand lane discipline so you rarely come across middle or outside lane hoggers, slow moving vehicles on single lane roads will pull in to the side to let you past unlike the 40 everywhere brigade over here who will try there best to block you.
....The Germans also understand lane discipline, but the English are the very worst! :fighting:
The trouble with many French roads is that they are far too good not to want to drive fast on them:
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdaz.co%2Fmedia%2Fb308%2FRedRobin_05%2F5_N88LePuy.jpg&hash=30af919368f956966469b184cb957ca08fc61138)
^ N88 running south towards The French Riviera.
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdaz.co%2Fmedia%2Fb308%2FRedRobin_05%2F3_A31LyonBMW.jpg&hash=2f6619292223a4e8f04c4bd2cbae967e82b57d78)
^ In fast company with a BMW and a Porsche.
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The first aid kit, bulbs and fire extinguisher aren't compulsory. Just advisories. High vis vest are only for people getting out of the vehicle, so you get away with one, although its sensible to take one for each person.
Don't forget logbook, licence and insurance, if this hasnt already been mentioned.
This is what we use for our hire vehicles;
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/touring_tips/compulsory_equipment.pdf
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:happy2:
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^^^^ that's an interesting insight into this thread, well done!
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I've heard their law states if you are at the end of a stationary queue of traffic you should have your hazard lights on to warn cars coming up behind you, not sure how true but its believable and pretty sensible!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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^^^^ see that quite a bit over here on roads when coming up behind traffic and have even used it myself (when I remember) :happy2:
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I've heard their law states if you are at the end of a stationary queue of traffic you should have your hazard lights on to warn cars coming up behind you, not sure how true but its believable and pretty sensible!
....I always do that if on a fast road and especially a motorway. I've done it ever since I had a car with hazard lights - It works to greatly reduce the risk of getting rear ended. It's surely a no-brainer.
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I've always done this ever since I started driving over 8 years ago. As RR says its good practice and a good warning to drivers behind, especially on high speed roads
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Agree with RR. It is a sensible precaution to take to avoid being rear ended