Priorité à Droite, priority to the right, a funny rule the French have. We’ve all heard of it but do you know, as in do you really know, what the rules are and how to apply them in real life situations?
Although no longer applicable on the majority of major roads in France (and Belgium) there is still this traffic rule that means traffic joining or merging from your right could have priority over you.
This can be the case even if you are on what looks like the bigger (main) road and they are joining from a side road. The rule is mostly applied in urban and village areas but it can, in theory, happen anywhere. You certainly need to be on the look out for it if for no other reason than, as advanced riders, we should expect other motorists to not always get it right, ie: they might think they have priority when they don’t!
But the rules are clear once you know what they are. So let’s start with four important road signs. These will be posted to tell you who has priority on the stretch of road ahead. Is it you or a vehicle entering your road from the right?
Let’s look at some real life examples;
No 1. If you see this sign it means there is a junction ahead (not necessarily a crossroads) and almost certainly the priority to the right rule will apply. Be ready to stop and give way!
No 2. Don’t confuse No 1 with this sign, this means there is a junction ahead (again could be on the left or right or a crossroads) however this time you do have priority!
Yellow Diamonds.
No 3. The sign below means you are on the priority road and traffic entering “should” yield to you. Be careful in a town or village, it’s ever so easy to take a fork or a turning thus leaving said road and you no longer having priority!
Golden rule - if there is a road on your right without paint across it or without an obvious stop/give way sign exercise caution and expect vehicles from the right to assume priority.
No 4. This sign is the opposite of No 3, it means the road you are on no longer enjoys priority status, or in this case it won’t in 500m. This sign may often be found on the approach to a village as is the case here.
In a town or village center, they pay particular attention to the road markings across junctions. If there is a solid white line that’s a stop line, and a dotted one is give way. If they are across the road entering from your right then you have priority. If there are no markings then regardless of the respective sizes of the road be prepared to give way to anything to your right. Be wary of pedestrian crossings, the French love putting them across junctions as an extension of the pavement and it is very easy to mistake them for give way markings!
No 5. This photograph provides a good example of a typical village center where priorité à droite applies. I want to go ahead taking the road to the left of the church, but I must yield to the white car as this is to my right. The grey car wants to turn left so it must give way to me as I’m to their right. Obviously if all three of us wanted to turn right none of us would have to stop or yield, and that’s what you have to look out for!
And note the pedestrian crossing by the white car, very easy at a glance to mistake it for give way markings!
No. 6. This is another example of how they put the crossings by junctions. Here there are also give way markings on both side roads, meaning I have priority ahead.
No. 7. And below is an example of a stop line across my road meaning I have to yield to vehicles from the three other directions. Note there are no other stop or give way lines at the junction. So if, for example, I was coming from the opposite direction I would have to be ready to give way to anything coming out of the junction to my right (the junction on the left in this photo).
Riding a bike in France is usually a joy, hopefully this information will make your trips more so.