Driving in Europe

skodacb

Hi folks, as title suggests I'm going to be driving in Europe this summer taking the car over to France and Germany around 2,000 miles in total.


I have most of the essentials sorted, NF breathalyzer kit for France, first aid kit, hi vis jackets for all passengers, triangle etc, but this will be my first time driving a RHD car on the opposite side of the road. I've previously driven on the opposite before in the US and Spain but the steering wheel was on the correct side for their roads.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips in relation to driving in Europe in a Irish car that I might be missing.

First Up

skodacb wrote:

Just wondering if anyone has any tips in relation to driving in Europe in a Irish car that I might be missing.

The key is to keep up your concentration but I find it comes very naturally.

Roundabouts are maybe the thing to watch most. Remember you are going right and yielding to traffic coming from the left so if you have a front seat passenger, make sure they don't obstruct your view.

Other than that, just pay attention but I think you will find you slip into it very easily.

aquarius10

skodacb wrote: »

Hi folks, as title suggests I'm going to be driving in Europe this summer taking the car over to France and Germany around 2,000 miles in total.


I have most of the essentials sorted, NF breathalyzer kit for France, first aid kit, hi vis jackets for all passengers, triangle etc, but this will be my first time driving a RHD car on the opposite side of the road. I've previously driven on the opposite before in the US and Spain but the steering wheel was on the correct side for their roads.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips in relation to driving in Europe in a Irish car that I might be missing.

We've driven to France the last few years in our own car and thankfully have never had any major problems on the motorways as your following the traffic in front of you.

The most dangerous time we've noticed is when we are driving around the towns and villages, if we pull into a square and park for a few minutes - it takes a second to think where do I drive now when pulling out again. Same thing at crossroads and junctions / just take your time and think before you pull out - which way do I drive now.

Having a passenger keeping an eye out too helps, safe driving

Effects

The French can be a bit impatient towards Irish/foreign reg cars.

First Up

Effects wrote:

The French can be a bit impatient towards Irish/foreign reg cars.

In what way? I've driven thousands of kilometers in Irisg reg cars and never experienced any negative reaction.

_Brian

Effects wrote: »

The French can be a bit impatient towards Irish/foreign reg cars.

Been going to France each summer for 15 years and never found that at all, I find the French actually have a better standard of driving than the Irish. Portugal and Malta I found very rude and impatient and poor drivers.
Germany again is very organised and good drivers.

My biggest advice is make sure when you need to concentrate that the passengers actually be quiet and don't distract you.

Bring a paper map as well as sat nav, our sat nave failed a few years ago and we always have a proper map as back up.

Stick to the speed limits, carry your documentation,

Enjoy

Pinch Flat

Effects wrote: »

The French can be a bit impatient towards Irish/foreign reg cars.

Never noticed this - I've holidayed in france about 5 times, all the time with my own car - what they do have zero tolerance of is people who can't use the motorways. The standard of driving is much higher than here in my experience.

First Up

Pinch Flat wrote:

Never noticed this - I've holidayed in france about 5 times, all the time with my own car - what they do have zero tolerance of is people who can't use the motorways. The standard of driving is much higher than here in my experience.

Yes, if you are dozing in the middle lane as people tend to do here, you might experience a bit of impatience alright.

CiniO

skodacb wrote: »

Hi folks, as title suggests I'm going to be driving in Europe this summer taking the car over to France and Germany around 2,000 miles in total.


I have most of the essentials sorted, NF breathalyzer kit for France, first aid kit, hi vis jackets for all passengers, triangle etc, but this will be my first time driving a RHD car on the opposite side of the road. I've previously driven on the opposite before in the US and Spain but the steering wheel was on the correct side for their roads.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips in relation to driving in Europe in a Irish car that I might be missing.

Few tips from me.

1. Don't bother too much with all supposedly required stuff like breathelisers, fire extinguishers, first aid kids, etc... In Europe, your car must be equipped as required in country of registration, so considering nothing is required in Ireland, you'll be grand. Obviously if you have first aid kit do take it - might come handy, same as reflective jackets or spare bulbs. Warning triangle might be actually required in some countries, and it's an offence not to use it during breakdown so if it happens, you're better off having it.

2. Make sure you bring all required documentation. You'll need to carry your driving licence and car's registration cert with you at all times when driving. Also you should have your full insurance cert (disc might not be enough).

3. Make sure car is roadworthy. I think having legal tyres is obvious, but do check all the lights before going, as driving with blown bulb is not tolerated there like in Ireland. German polizei might ask you to change it on the spot or drive to nearest petrol station if you don't have a spare one. This includes even number plate bulbs, etc...

4. Try to familiarise yourself with local rules of the road. There are some significant differences between Ireland and Continent. Among most important ones might be fact that pedestrians have green light at junctions at the same time as cars (in the same direction). So f.e. when you are going straight on a junction on green light, you are OK, but if you are turning left or right on green light, you might need to give way to pedestrians crossing the road, as they also have green light.
Another thing is fact that you're not really supposed to exit roundabouts directly from inside lane, but change to outside lane before exiting. If you exit straight from inside lane, you might crash with someone who was on outside lane.
On motorways in Germany, you have to learn judging distance as well as speed of other vehicles. So when you look in the mirror before changing lanes, make sure that car you've seen was far far away, isn't actually doing 300km/h and will be passing you in few seconds. It's easy, but just requires extra attention comparing to driving on Irish motorways.
In urban and residential areas, you might encounter juntions of roads of equal importance, and on those junctions you will have to give right of way to vehicles coming from your right.

5. About driving RHD car in Europe. Generally it's straight forward. On motorways it makes no difference whatsoever IMO. Just keep to your lane, and watch your mirrors.
On country and national roads, you might find it harder to overtake due to limited visibility. Only help can be your passenger. Trying to keep more distance to vehicle in front of you will help you see better.
In the cities at junctions when turning right, make sure you approach junctions straight. It's bit unnatural, as in Ireland if you are approaching left turn into main road, you naturally turn your vehicle a bit towards the left before stop line. If you do that in right hand traffic in rhd car (during right turn), you will find your visibility to the left very obstructed, and often you'll need to look through rear window. Ideally then approach junction ideally perpendicular to the junction for better visibility.

6. And obviously enjoy your trip. Generally you can expect other drivers there to drive better than in Ireland, so less evasive actions will be required if you follow the rules. However on the other hand, you have to expect less leniency from other drivers to your own mistakes then you get in Ireland.

Marcusm

skodacb wrote: »

Hi folks, as title suggests I'm going to be driving in Europe this summer taking the car over to France and Germany around 2,000 miles in total.


I have most of the essentials sorted, NF breathalyzer kit for France, first aid kit, hi vis jackets for all passengers, triangle etc, but this will be my first time driving a RHD car on the opposite side of the road. I've previously driven on the opposite before in the US and Spain but the steering wheel was on the correct side for their roads.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips in relation to driving in Europe in a Irish car that I might be missing.

If you're i're by yourself, you will have hassle at toll booths and car parks in a right hand drive car.

Del2005

Unless there is a Yellow diamond on your road vehicles from the right have right of way.

Be extra careful when starting driving if there is no other traffic around, it's easy to drive on the left.

CiniO

Del2005 wrote: »

Unless there is a Yellow diamond on your road vehicles from the right have right of way.

It's a fairly misleading explanation.

By yellow diamond I assume you mean that sign:



It's indeed sign that indicates, you are on the main road.
However very often it's not repeated before every junction.
You might see it once, and the road you're driving on, is a main road for next 20km, without this sign being repeated, so lack of this sign before the junction, doesn't indicate that you have to give way to vehicles coming from your right.

Generally, you can expect junctions of equal importance to be marked with that sign:


Also in residential areas, all roads will generally be of equal importance, and then they won't be marked with above sign.
However residential areas are marked with those signs, and usually speed limit of 20km/h or 30km/h applies in them.





There's another thing I forgot to mention about speed limits.
Generally speed limits are marked with speed limit signs only when limit is different than standard limit for that type of road.
So f.e. if you are in a built up area, speed limit will be 50km/h, but you won't see any speed limit sign indicating that.
In residential areas marked with above signs, it will be automatically 30km/h (in Germany), but you also won't any speed limit sign indicating that fact.

towger

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/travel-advice-driving-in-europe-involves-more-than-keeping-to-the-right-side-1.3079765

eeguy

Just remember that you should be sitting near the middle of the road and the passenger near the edge of the road.
That works no matter if you're in Ireland or in France

Also, try to keep behind other traffic. Let them lead the way and you follow.

First Up

CiniO wrote:

1. Don't bother too much with all supposedly required stuff like breathelisers, fire extinguishers, first aid kids, etc... In Europe, your car must be equipped as required in country of registration, so considering nothing is required in Ireland, you'll be grand.

And make sure your French is good enough to persuade the cop issuing you a hefty fine that this nonsense is correct.

snaps

First time I drove from Ireland to Poland I got stopped (we were actually stopped having a rest on autobahn at night) in Germany. I didn't have a fire extinguisher. I had everything else. I promised the police I'd buy at my first opportunity and they let me on my way.

christy02

eeguy wrote:

Just remember that you should be sitting near the middle of the road and the passenger near the edge of the road. That works no matter if you're in Ireland or in France

What? If you're driving your irish reg rhd car in France this is obviously not correct.

Main problem is overtaking as visibility is reduced and you have to trust your passenger that road is clear lol.

pajor

OP won't be driving in NL, but I discovered only recently that the triangle sign with the black X doesn't mean the same here. Means dangerous junction ahead not junction of equal importance.

Good advice about the speed limits. A lot of the time when entering a town it doesn't say the limit is 50, but the limit is 50 unless stated otherwise.

dr.fuzzenstein

Irish reg itself won't be a problem, what annoys continental drivers would be some Irish driving habits, such as driving 20 km/h below the limit "to be sure", taking 15-20 seconds to move from a red light, driving in the " fasht lane" (shure, I'm doing the limit!) to name but a few.
I find the driving style in Germany a lot more assertive than in Ireland, people generally get a move on quickly. In Ireland the 0-100 time of any car is 30 seconds, because of the law that states to never rev it above 2000 rpm and never press the accelerator more than 10% to save the engine from exploding. This is why DPF failure is almost a non issue in Germany.
But contrary to common believe you don't have to drive at a million miles an hour, plenty of people here drive at 120 km/h, but you DO need to look out for Mercs, Beemers and Audis approaching at 200+ km/h.
Which makes the next custom more astonishing to me. People driving behind a truck and wanting to drive at 120 WILL pull out in front of you. To their mind it's your problem if you're going too fast. So watch out for that.

eeguy

christy02 wrote: »

What? If you're driving your irish reg rhd car in France this is obviously not correct.

Main problem is overtaking as visibility is reduced and you have to trust your passenger that road is clear lol.

Hah, sorry. Had a brain fart. I always rent a car when I'm on the continent, forgot the OP was ferrying over.

InTheTrees

I find the time I need to concentrate most on which side of the road I'm supposed to be on is when I'm turning onto another road with no other traffic in sight.

_Brian

Was driving in Portugal years ago, not long married and no kids.
We were traversing a roundabout and herself lost the plot as we went round and started screaming "we're going the wrong way round" that was enough to put me off just for a moment and I jabbed the breaks, car spun about (probably going too fast for the wee clio), before car stopped I knew I was right and barked back !!
Not much conversation after that !!


Was in Bordeaux few years ago and being honest my city driving here isn't wonderful but I was so busy watching traffic lanes I followed car out of junction but traffic stopped and I was left stranded on the junction - right on the light rail tracks. Was a nervy few minutes watching the tram come up along the river praying the damn lights would change soon, thankfully they did to save my embarrassment.

John_Rambo

Stay left, look right. Enjoy the trip.

Edit - IGNORE!!!

First Up

John_Rambo wrote:

Stay left, look right. Enjoy the trip.

Are you sure you know which continent we are talking about?

John_Rambo

First Up wrote: »

Are you sure you know which continent we are talking about?

I'm such a dope.

Stay right, look left. Ignore my previous post. Have a good trip!!

Thanks First Up.

Effects

First Up wrote: »

In what way? I've driven thousands of kilometers in Irisg reg cars and never experienced any negative reaction.

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Never noticed this - I've holidayed in france about 5 times, all the time with my own car.

_Brian wrote: »

Been going to France each summer for 15 years and never found that at all, I find the French actually have a better standard of driving than the Irish.

I spend time in the south of France every year as my family have a house there.
I've noticed this when driving Irish reg cars there but never when I'm driving our French car.
It's things like tailgating to overtake and when navigating through towns.

You're right about motorways. They have a much better standard of driving on them. More lanes and faster trucks can be daunting in you're more used to Irish motorways.