Well, sometimes a smiley can save you.
I love visiting France. Would have been there this week actually. Cancelled trip due to father in law request when Spain Train bombings occured.
Plan to schedule later this year.
What we need in the USA are decent everyday drinking wine as they have in France at under $10.
Yes, Emery, I've been to France many times. The first time that I drove I was going to Riems from CDG and the first 25 kilometers we're scary on the Peripherique since I wasn't aware of the priority from the right, and the motorcycles and scooters highballing it between the lanes! Mon Dieu! Bi!!
Almost all states are adopting roundabouts in the US now. It is the coming thing in highway engineering. The ones that kill me are the roundabouts for ramps onto and off freeways. Of course we are a long way from the magic roundabouts in places like Swindon,UK.
In Hilton Head South Carolina we have several Round abouts on the island and may in Sea Pines Plantation.
But they are different when you live in the same country and speak the same language.
No it isn't, at least in the roundabouts I've run into, but this is up to the individual states rather then the Federal government to decide.
In MA the person entering must yield to those already in the circle. I believe this is also true in NH and CT, but the few I've seen in those states are always clearly marked this way.
Andy
Thank goodness. I was wondering whether I was imposing UK roundabout usage on the US single-handed :). Certainly in CT, MD, VA and CA - the states I've driven around them - roundabouts work on the (sensible!) approach that those already on have right of way. As in the UK. Coming from Milton Keynes, home of all the surplus roundabouts the rest of the country didn't need, I know this very well!
I could be wrong, I was thinking of the one outside my office. It is marked; I assumed the marking was because most people are not familar with them. To me it made sense, because it follows the yield-to-the-right. The others could be different (it is in Texas, and I have not seen any others, here).
So in the UK, those in the round-about have the right-away, in France it is the other way around? How is it in the rest of the world?
Salut/Hi shumway,
le/on Thu, 06 May 2004 17:25:16 GMT, tu disais/you said:-
In France, in general those on the roundabout have priority. They are marked accordingly. The "priority to the right" rule has almost entirely been abandoned.
Norway is like the UK. However, during heavy traffic one road could be completely blocked were it not for a gentlemen's agreement to do 'zipping', i.e. merging the two streams, which works fine, at least in my Oslo area. Anders
Actually I've found that the drivers in Oslo are some of the best mannered that I've ever encountered. I spent a week there last fall and never had the first problem diving. The smoke in the restaurants was a bitproblematic though....and I'm not a radical non-smoker but WOW! Bi!!
"RV WRLee" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m11.aol.com...
From June 30th smoking will be completely prohibited indoors... Imagine patrons huddling outside during winter blizzards in order to smoke... Anders
] Salut/Hi shumway, ] ] le/on Thu, 06 May 2004 17:25:16 GMT, tu disais/you said:- ] ] >I could be wrong, I was thinking of the one outside my office. It is ] >marked; I assumed the marking was because most people are not familar with ] >them. To me it made sense, because it follows the yield-to-the-right. The ] >others could be different (it is in Texas, and I have not seen any others, ] >here). ] >
] >So in the UK, those in the round-about have the right-away, in France it is ] >the other way around? How is it in the rest of the world? ] ] In France, in general those on the roundabout have priority. They are marked ] accordingly. The "priority to the right" rule has almost entirely been ] abandoned.
Indeed, I said earlier in the thread:
"Bill, if it makes you feel any better, all roundabouts outside of Paris (and perhaps another major city?) are supposed to be marked giving priority to the person already in the roundabout."
Not sure in what way that was unclear.
However priority on the right is still alive and well in Paris, and of course on country roads at intersections marked with an 'X' sign.
-E ] -- ] All the Best ] Ian Hoare ]
] Salut/Hi shumway, ] ] le/on Thu, 06 May 2004 17:25:16 GMT, tu disais/you said:- ] ] >I could be wrong, I was thinking of the one outside my office. It is ] >marked; I assumed the marking was because most people are not familar with ] >them. To me it made sense, because it follows the yield-to-the-right. The ] >others could be different (it is in Texas, and I have not seen any others, ] >here). ] >
] >So in the UK, those in the round-about have the right-away, in France it is ] >the other way around? How is it in the rest of the world? ] ] In France, in general those on the roundabout have priority. They are marked ] accordingly. The "priority to the right" rule has almost entirely been ] abandoned. ] -- ] All the Best ] Ian Hoare ]
It's not unclear and I would agree that many if not most are marked that those in the roundabout have the priority but to a stranger to the area (especially on the back roads) you have to pay strict attention since my natural inclanation is for the main flow to always have priority. I always find it much more difficult in the UK to drive on the left! I continually must tell myself, over and over,...."body in the center, body in the center", especially when making a turn or pulling into parking lot. If as the driver, you keep yourself nearest the centerline, you'll be on the correct side of the road. Bi!!
Salut/Hi Emery Davis,
le/on Fri, 7 May 2004 09:29:07 +0200, tu disais/you said:-
It wasn't unclear, Emery, but Shumway seemed to have missed that, which is why I jumped into the thread.
What we've noticed is that it exists as a default, but that increasingly even IN towns, priority is being marked. Just enough to be truly confusing. I was driving in Brive today, and saw a learner on my right, making as if to pull out in front of me. Jacquie made shocked noises about learners, but I pointed out the lack of a priority marking and gave way. ALL the rest of the junctions all the way home WERE marked with priority.
Just as I know you're an old hand in France, Bill. But different rules are always confusing.
Good tip on keeping on the correct side in the UK, beats my mantra "keep-to-the-left, keep-to-the-left." And in intersections, look both ways twice. (Much to the annoyance of those behind, no doubt.)
France is not the only place to have rules and then abrogate them by putting a sign at every intersection. I was living in Boston when the "right on red" was adopted in Mass, I'd swear there wasn't an intersection without a "no turn on red" sign, even when the new law made perfect sense.
Probably DMVs everywhere are populated by some strange race that delights in confonding the rest of us...
-E
I want to make sure I am understanding the jargon. In France, those in a traffic circle have the right of way, correct? The two terms you use are entirely foreign to me. Maybe they are British English.
What few traffic circles I've seen in the US (I think this is what we are talking about), those in the traffic circle have the right of way.
Thanks for the clarification.
Tom Schellberg
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