Car Trouble

A bit of a mis-nomer this, as there hasn't been any trouble at all yet; I just wanted to squeeze in an Adam & The Ants reference. It's true I was a bit nervous about the old driving on the wrong side thing, especially with the roundabouts and left hand turns accross dual carriageways etc, but it's been fine. Bringing the car has been the best decision I could have made, and in truth, when I go home to visit, I'm now more concerned that I'll set off the wrong way round the M60 on my motorbike. I was a little tentative too when faced with situations where piority was arbitrary, mainly because I knew the locals would be wanting to go first, but now I'm comfortable on the RHS, I can hold my own, and as long as there's no dithering, most road users don't care. My colleages at work keep telling me that the French are really poor drivers, which doesn't really tally with my own experience. When I ask why, they mention things like not indicating properly, and a tendency to cut you up, but it's not as bad here as it is in Manchester, and as for London, well.. My colleagues also claim that there is alot of drink driving in France. The limit here is 50mg as opposed to 80mg in the UK, but I think the system is graded as far as punishment goes, with bans only being imposed for more serious offenders, as opposed to the mandatory ban regardless of severity in the UK. You can also buy single use breathalyser kits for one euro, so there is obviously some attention being paid to the law.

All in all, I think the French here are still pretty much in love with their cars, perhaps not in a purist way as in England, but certainly for their practical benefits. One reason might be that the Metro is creaking at the seems and is to undergo a long improvement program. Another might be that the roads do tend to flow, even in rush hour. I've mentioned previously that they are building lots of new roundabouts in Toulouse, and roundabouts do keep traffic moving much more efficiently than traffic signals do. Perhaps also Toulouse is a relatively new boom town, and hasn't got to coerce old Victorian roads into urban highways. There are a few other more subtle differences between here and the UK:

Most roads do not have two sets of traffic lights facing the driver ie one at the near side of the junction and one at the far side. This means the French here save almost half of their road furniture costs, and also helps reduce the blizzard of information we now seem to face at every junction. Instead they place lights just on the near side of the junction, right where the driver stops. This could mean that the driver at the front of the line, would have a difficult time looking up through his roof at the signal to see when to go, but they've solved this conundrum by placing a small repeater signal at driver eye level on the same pole and facing the driver. Clever, huh? While on this subject, I asked yesterday what a prolonged amber flashing signal meant, as for the first time I'd got stuck at one, and observed some odd behaviour. On all previous occasions I'd been on a main road and speeded up in order to sneak through before the bastard turned red. It turns out it means that the signalling system is down, ie there is no signalling in operation, so take extra care! Oops.

I can also park my car in some pretty small gaps here too, because when driving into kerb sideways parking slots, I can put my passenger door right up against the car on my left and not inconvenience its driver whilst maximising door opening space for me and the guy on my right.

Sometimes when you are trying to figure out who should go at a junction, you try and eyeball the driver of the other car to see if they're either awake or if they're allowing you out. Even now in my fourth week though, I find I'm still either eyeballing the passenger in the other car, or wondering how there's a car driving itself in front of me, so I guess haven't quite cracked this side-ness thing just yet.

I am now getting used to being a bit of a celebrity on the road too. Pedestrians at traffic lights almost stop and stare (perhaps they're thinking my car is driving itself :-), and other car drivers let me out at junctions without hesitation, and smile, which I am assured is not the norm. Perhaps they think there will be a comedy moment coming up, which will be better viewed from behind. Given that I haven't seen a single RHD car here yet, perhaps this isn't too surprising. Toulouse is not really a holiday destination, so I guess very few Brits bring their cars down here, and there are few other countries that would be likely to source a RHD car.

And the best thing of all about having the car here is that my commute to work is 2 miles and takes only a few minutes. That will save me a lot of time, and also save me money too, as petrol seems comparatively priced with the UK, give or take a bit.

RHD=0