Why British roads are better than French roads

[CheeseRolls]

I would think this is very unusual, French roads are usually free moving, smoother, repaired better and cleaner. I wish we had their network instead of all our outdated, cobbled together bits of road which are constantly under repair or under construction with seemingly no completion date.

Not to mention, wonderful roadside picnic areas, truck stops that sell proper food at reasonable prices and the open space provided by a country five times the size of our own, with a similar sized population.

 

[Stat Brother]

Plus when in a twenty mile jam UK there's usually a big hole nearby to play in.

 

[dougdeep]

The irony of your post reflects your ignorance and shows your brain size to be very small who is using the family brain cell today?

I thought ignorant people were those who knew nothing of punctuation and sentence structure.

 

[jemwillett]

Tolls are expensive, especially with a small campervan. However I have driven the length of France several times (skiing, summer holidays) and have never suffered massive delays on a scale of the UK. Almost every FRiday in the UK it is hellish going up and down the country. Be it M25, M6, M1 etc. Bit of research before travelling is advisable as I found out about the Rouen bridge closure prior to travelling and knew how to avoid it. Always found most motorways to be pretty traffic free. There are occasions when jams happen (leaving ski resorts on a Saturday and the annual August French migration) but compared to the UK it is a pleasure to drive over there. As for toll technology, you simply take a ticket one end and chuck your card in when you exit.

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

there are 4 days of the year you should never think of driving on french roads

first & last days of July & August

that's when the french are either going or coming back

they have the bison fute here,colour coded green,orange & red

it varies from region to region,but could be Worth considering for your Holiday next year

http://lci.tf1.fr/lexique/bison-fute-6610218.html

 

[Glawstergull]

I came thru Rouen at 5.00 on Friday and it was shocking.The flyover/bridge to cross the river is obviously the first choice route but as its being repaired/rebuilt the alternative was a disaster. It didn't help that I had driven from Bergerac for nearly 8 hours.

 

[The Large One]

I've loved driving through France, but the only place I've come a cropper is in Rouen. Got lost. I blame the lack of 'Toutes Directions' signs.

As an aside, can I just say that the typeface for The Albion Roar is the one used for French road signs. So there.

 

[Norman Potting]

Yesterday i was driving the family back from the Vendee. As the French so often do, they route a main 'motorway' through, rather than round town so we'd already lost an hour at Angers and getting near Rouen town centre.

The bridge over the river we needed in Rouen has been shut for some months due to a tanker fire and it was a holiday weekend, so traffic was heavy but moving. However, the traffic planners thought it would be a good idea to divert then 'kettle' all those returning to the channel ports in a 10 mile stretch of 'peage' toll road about 10 miles north of Rouen.

The only indication of the impending doom on the A29 was one notice that described the road as "tres difficile". We took this to mean a bit slow, or a lane closed. However, having taken a ticket and got onto the road within 100 yards we were confronted with a solid traffic jam for 10 miles. Unbelievably, it had been caused by the 'peage' itself - no accidents, no cones, just the sheer act of stopping the traffic to get on and having insufficient barrier operators to get people off.

No information, no exits. 10 miles. 2 hours, 1 missed ferry and €5 euros for the privilege. The excuse - "Deviation and holiday'. Hundreds of families delayed, massive travel chaos. I then like many had to drive the last 80-odd miles like the wind to get to Calais. We later found out this traffic jam had been reported as early as 10.55 that morning.

We then queued for 1 and a half hours to board the last MyFerry out of Calais a mere 15 mins before scheduled departure, squeezing out genuine passengers for the 21.30 further back in the queue.

Luckily kids were as good as gold, but paying €100+ on the peage for the equivalent of driving to Scotland and back is shit, especially with so many delays.

Returning to the UK we were nitified that 2 junctions of the M25 were shut some 85 miles before that point. Proper information in a timely fashion.

Our roads are brilliant by comparison and God help us if we introduce toll roads on a widespread scale. I'll be giving France a miss for a few years after yesterday.

Did exactly the same journey as you a couple of Saturdays ago - diversion out of Rouen took us round two side of a triangle to get back on to our normal route. Not anywhere as bad a delay as you, we had a queue of around half an hour at the peage to pay a toll of under a Euro for the distance we travelled on the diversion. Fortunately it meant only that we had to catch the ferry we were booked on as we are usually lucky enough to make an earlier one.

I have never been one who subscribes blindly to "...they do it better in Europe..". The only reason the roads are perceived as better is that the are usually less crowded. Have they not hear of cats eyes in France - don't do very much after dark driving but it makes it far more stressful. They have started to put in a few "flashing LED" markers on some roundabouts which seem to be be more confusing than helpful. And a lot of bypasses seem to stay in an "half built" phase for several years before they get finished (ok I will concede Arundel on that one).

Where in the Vendee were you? This year was our tenth consecutive visit and, although we have stayed in several different places we have always been only around 15' from our first location. I expect we will be back for 11 next year, we find the majority of the people friendly and helpful, probably like the UK.

 

[Notters]

What a load of utter tripe. French roads are better than English ones in every way but one - the lack of cats eyes.

 

[yxee]

The lorry overtaking ban is a good idea as well, I have no idea why that isn't instituted over here

 

[Iggle Piggle]

What a load of utter tripe. French roads are better than English ones in every way but one - the lack of cats eyes.

Never sat in a 10 mile tailback at a Paege then?

 

[Brian Parsons]

I fully concur with all the posts praising French roads. Since my wife passed away I now no longer use the peages, no windows for r/h drive cars ( only down side to the autoroutes).
My post is slightly off piste as they say, before my wife died we were on our way to Brittany on the autoroute just north of Le Havre when the exhaust on my Peugeot 206 failed big time. We stopped beside the road, donned our hi-viz waistcoats and phoned for assistance. A recovery lorry arrived very quickly and took us to his garage in the beautiful little town of St Romain de Colbusc, which he opened up and put our car on a on a hoist and repaired the exhaust there and then. We had AA european cover. Cost 135 euros for the part, labour and recovery covered by AA. What so special about this, well it was a Sunday and a public holiday weekend in France. Now you tell me were in england would you get that sort of service?
A little footnote to this story I make a point of returning to the garage once a year and have a rather sumptious lunch with the garage owner Albert.

 

[HitchinSeagull]

there are 4 days of the year you should never think of driving on french roads

first & last days of July & August

that's when the french are either going or coming back

they have the bison fute here,colour coded green,orange & red

it varies from region to region,but could be Worth considering for your Holiday next year

http://lci.tf1.fr/lexique/bison-fute-6610218.html

Thank goodness someone pointed this out, its been roughly the same for 40 years, as a child we spent every summer holiday in France and not once did we travel on the worst days, leading to very rare delays. However I would concede that having limited toll booths open at busy times and then charging you for the honour is maddening! If you cant man the booths dont charge.

 

[North East Seagull]

Sorry to hear about your missed ferry and other travel related stress yesterday Pav. You weren't in a red car with several BHA stickers in the rear window that I passed somewhere South of Paris yesterday morning were you?

I have to disagree with your assertion that British roads are better than French roads yetserday. I drove up from my house in the Limousine to Calais yesterday and had no real problems. Longest delay was for about 20 mins at the Vierzon peage and it was quite busy on the Paris Periphique but made good time all in all. I think this is not too bad when compared to the 10 minute queue for the Dartford Crossing at 8.30pm and a hugely annoying 20 mile detour through the pit villages of County Durham because the A1(M) was closed for a couple of miles between 2 junctions.

Roads in roads - they are a bloody pain wherever you are. Better luck next time.

 

[Pavilionaire]

No I wasn't in Paris NE Gull. Some other points of note:

1. I have nothing against French people but their traffic management and road design is dodgy. When you exit an A road you typically have minimal slip road with a 90 degree turn about 30 yards after coming off, so a very rapid braking combined with turn.

2. The previous Saturday was very busy too but Rouen was negotiated with some but by no means terminal assle.

3. Angers is fast becoming Rouen Mark 2.

4. Last year 1 hour queuing for the Eurotunnel French side vs 15 mins Uk side. This year a whole hour and a half queuing for the ferry on road into port. On three occasions we had to lock the doors as gangs of asylum seekers were walking along the roadside and we're in a stationary vehicle full of luggage with 2 young kids. Here's an idea - why not have a wider fan of access roads, a proper passenger terminal with bogs and security to deal with asylum seekers?

5. Vendee is great with young kids. Last year we did Lucon in the south, this year near Challans in the North. However, I can't be bothered with the 6 hr drive + X hrs delays + 1hr + queuing bollocks at the terminal, so will have to reconsider.

 

[Foolg]

Never sat in a 10 mile tailback at a Paege then?

We've driven from the Vendee to Caen/St Malo/Calais for the last 12 years, a few times a year to our house, and I can safely say i've never queued for more than 15 minutes at a Peage.

Traffic in the UK is far, far worse than in France.

 

[Pavilionaire]

We've driven from the Vendee to Caen/St Malo/Calais for the last 12 years, a few times a year to our house, and I can safely say i've never queued for more than 15 minutes at a Peage.

Traffic in the UK is far, far worse than in France.

I take it you don't travel in peak season, i.e. end July / start and end August?

If French roads are so good how come they frequently cut through / the edge of major towns and cities? You can bomb up to Scotland from the south, and I don't recall getting involved with Manchester? Birmingham is as bad as it gets but the relief road is good.

 

[Foolg]

I take it you don't travel in peak season, i.e. end July / start and end August?

If French roads are so good how come they frequently cut through / the edge of major towns and cities? You can bomb up to Scotland from the south, and I don't recall getting involved with Manchester? Birmingham is as bad as it gets but the relief road is good.

Plenty of times. We usually go down every summer. In fact the parents just came back and had no trouble as usual, did Fontenay-Le-Comte to Caen - Ouistrehem in about 4 hours which is average travel time.

The Motorway goes straight around Nantes, and Rennes, the only two large cities en-route, not through either. Fairly similar to how the M1 bypasses Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Derby etc.

 

[Pavilionaire]

You're lucky you don't do Calais so have all the Rouen and Angers rubbish, not to mention the queuing at that terminal.

Since you're experienced on the roads of France do you have an opinion on their 'warning' messages that appear on the visual display above the road? Personally, I think describing a road as 'tres difficile' is not very helpful. 14 characters of vague shite. Maybe "a29 15k bouchon" might have been more helpful, as would flagging up that a bridge was shut a bit earlier than one mile beforehand?

 

[mona]

I love our motorways. The M25 is perfect. I've never been held up there for 4 hours and there are never any delays at Dartford. It's brilliant driving on the M23 and M25 after evening games when there is no traffic. It is then that the arrogant, devious English get loads of yellow tabarded bar stewards to cone off all the lanes and bring the traffic to a stand still. We are so lucky to be able to drive on God's own motorways.