Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Have you had a near miss today ?

It does indeed sound like a lack of awareness of the priorité a droite rule; it took me ages to get accustomed to it, but we've now lived in France for 26 years so I've just about got it sussed.

I was once driving along in Paris with a Kiwi who was working for us. I had to slam on the brakes as a car came belting across from my right. "What a stupid rule the priorité a droite one is" I said to my passenger. He asked me what I meant. Once I'd explained it to him it slowly dawned on him that this was the reason he'd had so many near misses and been hooted and sworn at so much on his lengthy tour of France in his WV combi.....

Priorite a droite!
You think that is dangerous?
Try driving down Budleigh Salterton High Street during the day.
They come at you from everywhere.

That is very useful, thank you . Now printed and in the "Driving in Europe" file.



As my wife and I found in France last year, the navigator certainly earns his/her place in the car.

I grew up in Australia where you drive on the left hand side of the road and, if there are no signs such as GIVE WAY or STOP you have to give way to the right. I have always seen this as sensible. I can't understand the logic of having to give way to the right in countries where you drive on the right. It creates a situation where visibility is more difficult and there is less time to stop or take evasive action once the car on the right emerges on to the through road.

Fortunately most roads are marked for priority in Italy but I was very surprised when Alis told me that the give way to the right rule applies in Italy too.

Italian drivers are generally fairly good but they do rely on their reflexes, they have to. Speed limits and stop signs are considered as advisory, pedestrian crossings are striped so you can better target the pedestrians, most pedestrian crossings are badly marked and would not comply with any recognised standard, traffic lights are often only on the the approach side of the intersection (significantly reducing the chance of seeing that the light has just turned red). All this and we wonder why we have some of the highest insurance costs in Europe

Peter.
I was thinking of a trip via the Dolomites towards Venice and Chioggio might be nice but now I am in some doubt whether to risk it. Passed through a load of debris on the dual carriageway near Toulon yesterday due to a bad smash involving a big Mercedes. Its crumple zone had been well and truly crumpled. Glad I wasn't involved.
Any suggestions on Italian roads to avoid ?

Graham...

Graham, it is perhaps not as bad as it seems from what I wrote. The problem is that in many cases the speed limit is 50 where in France it would be 75, the centre line on the road is unbroken where it is perfectly safe to overtake and so on. Naturally people ignore the signage and do what they perceive is actually ok. This leads to a habit of disobeying the rules even where they should be applied.

After a while in Italy you learn to drive like the Italians. I have to concentrate to drive like the English when in England or

I am convinced of the need for better driver training and stiffer penalties where pertinent. I believe that speed limits should be revised in both directions as there are times when long stretches of say, here, 90kph on roads with excellent sight lines are monotonous and encourage robot driving and there are areas where the current limits are inappropriate. Another interesting aspect of this is road markings which are often bizarre and dangerous and seem to have been set out without thought to the geography of the road or its potential hazards. Just a thought.

"The problem is that in many cases the speed limit is 50 where in France it would be 75"

Speed limits in France are :

130 km/h on highways where you have to pay
110 km/h on dual road (in fact free highways, but 20km/h less, you have to pay to can run at 130 km/h !!!)
90 km/h on normal road (5th gear 2000 RPM with a 2005 PLUS4)
the other current speed limits :

70 km/h (4th gear 2000 RPM)
50 km/h (3rd gear 2000 RPM) in the towns
30 km/h (2nd gear 2000 RPM) in the center of most towns and village... a nightmare, impossible.

For the major limitations 90/70/50/30 you have to be at 2000 RPM on 5/4/3/2 gear.



At the moment there is in France a project to decrease the speed from 90 km/h to 80 km/h (green people). Where is the end? They want to kill the cars.

Effectively, people drives like robot, looking left and right, phoning, typing on their iphone... Professional truck drivers watching at video... In fact speed limitations could be very dangerous when it is extreme.

But with a Mog you never get bored if you take the small roads.

I was probably thinking of the 70 km/h. In any case I find the speed limits in France, as they are at the moment, generally fairly reasonable. Given reasonable sped limits there is more of a tendency to obey them. Outside of the towns in France I generally find the traffic moves at a speed I am comfortable with and I am impressed that most French drivers slow down when entering an urban area. Most Italian drivers do not.

The road marking problem is avoided in Italy by putting unbroken lines even in places where it is safe to overtake. Again, my theory, this encourages people to ignore the markings and overtake anywhere, even if it is not really safe.