Give way to the right
 

..in France. Can someone explain this to me in simple terms before we get killed next week!

In general, it's just like home, No issues at all. the exception, and it'll be signposted by a cross on a Triangle (If I remember correctly) is in smaller villages or in the countryside where they want a little calming. This is where you'd need to be vigalent in any case.

There never used to be any rules about giving way...and some older drivers don't give a toss about the new Code. Just keep your eyes open to the left and the right.

I'd beg to differ...if you are in some quaint little town some old codger will bomb across the island like there's no tomorrow;)

The 'give way to the right' is, as described by Rob, denoted by a cross inside a triangle, and if that sign is not there you should assume it is anyway. Having said that, there are regular roadsigns that tell you when you have priority and the 'give way to the right' rule is getting far less common than it was, most of the time nowadays the major road has the right of way just like it does here although there are always the old codgers.

Likewise the old 'give way to traffic joining the roundabout' rule is almost always superceded by the 'give way to the traffic on the roundabout' rule, the same as ours (except of course you give way to the left). before that roundabouts were always a nightmare for me. For some reason when I approached a roundabout I would always remember that I had priority and would go steaming straight onto it, only to remember a fraction of a second later that everyone was piling on the brakes to give way as traffic entered from the next turning

:lol::lol::lol:
Like I said...Lokk both ways ;)

I can see this all going tits up at some stage!

Last time i didn't even think about it apart from one occasion in Caen when someone stopped in the main road to let us out of a side road. I'm more worried about riding down a fast main road and having a tractor pull out in front of me.

The easiest way to remember is that when you come to any intersection then you must give way to all cars on your RIGHT, this excludes vehicles coming out of garages, shops ect that are entering the road.
GOOD LUCK, I had ALOT of troubles when I moved over to Sweden from Australia

Thats not the problem rick! I had no real problem in driving on the wrong side of the road.

The issue is that in France they have a rule going back years that vehicles entering the main road from a side road have right of way. Traffic on the main road has to stop. However many people say that this has been abandoned apart from in the more rural parts of france but i can't find out for certain if that is the case.

Unless i've got it totally wrong!

Just got back from France and it's business as usual, just ride like everyone is gonna pull out on ya, no different to the UK. Doesn't matter what the "rules" are, some follow em others don't.

On the whole there does seem to be more bike awareness in France and most other European countries for that mattter and a willing to let a bike rider make progress unlike in the UK where it's " I'm sitting in the outside lane even if the left is empty while I chitty chat on me mobile so borrocks to ya"!

Even on back roads the majority get as far over as they can to let you past.

Ray.