Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DRIVING LICENCE & DOCUMENTS
An International Driving Permit (IDP), valid only if accompanied by your original li-
cence, is good for a year and can be issued by your local automobile association
before you leave home.
Drivers must carry the following at all times:
•
» passport or EU national ID card
•
» valid driving licence (
permis de conduire;
most foreign licences can be used in
France for up to a year)
•
» car-ownership papers, known as a
carte grise
(grey card)
•
» proof of third-party liability
assurance
(insurance)
FUEL
Essence
(petrol), also known as
carburant
(fuel), costs around €1.40/L (US$7 per
US gallon) for 95 unleaded (Sans Plomb 95 or SP95, usually available from a green
pump) and €1.30 for diesel (
diesel, gazole
or
gasoil,
usually available from a yellow
pump). Filling up
(faire le plein)
is most expensive at autoroute rest stops and often
cheapest at hypermarkets.
Many small petrol stations close on Sunday afternoons and, even in cities, it can
be hard to find a staffed station open late at night. In general, after-hours purchases
(eg at hypermarkets' fully automatic, 24-hour stations) can only be made with a
credit card that has an embedded PIN chip, so if all you've got is cash or a
magnetic-strip credit card, you could be stuck.
Priority to the Right
Under the
priorité à droite
('priority to the right') rule, any car entering an intersection (in-
cluding a T-junction) from a road (including a tiny village backstreet) on your right has the
right-of-way. Locals assume every driver knows this, so don't be surprised if they cour-
teously cede the right-of-way when you're about to turn from an alley onto a highway -
and boldly assert their rights when you're the one zipping down a main road.
Priorité à droite
is suspended (eg on arterial roads) when you pass a sign showing an
upended yellow square with a black square in the middle. The same sign with a horizontal
bar through the square lozenge reinstates the
priorité à droite
rule.
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