Driving in France and Europe

Driving on the right

The first few miles feel strange, mostly because you are also busy with navigation, new speeds and unfamiliar signs. Once those settle, keeping right becomes automatic surprisingly quickly.

Once you roll off the ferry to Calais, leaving the port is easy: the exit road takes you straight onto the A16 motorway. A few tips for the start:

1. Preview the route. Look at the first junctions after the port on the map before you board, so you know where you are going.
2. Use your passenger. A passenger can remind you to keep right, especially at roundabouts and when pulling out of a car park.
3. Follow the traffic. Driving behind a local car makes the first roundabouts much easier.
4. Watch for priority to the right. In some towns, traffic from a road on your right has right of way unless signs say otherwise (priorité à droite).

What you must carry in France

• UK identifier. If your number plate shows the UK identifier with the Union flag, you need nothing else. With a GB identifier, a Euro symbol, an England, Scotland or Wales flag, or no identifier at all, put a UK sticker on the back. The old GB sticker is no longer valid. In Spain, Cyprus and Malta you need a UK sticker whatever your plate says.
• Warning triangle. Compulsory in France; place it well behind the car after a breakdown.
• Reflective jacket. Keep it within reach inside the car, not in the boot, and put it on before you step out on the hard shoulder. Ideally carry one per passenger.
• Headlamp beam deflectors, unless your car can switch its beams to right-hand traffic (see below).
• Breathalyser. French law still says you should carry one, but there is no fine for not having it.
• Documents: your photocard driving licence, the V5C log book (or a VE103 for a hire or lease car) and your insurance details. An international driving permit is not needed for France.

The ferry shops sell most of this, but it is cheaper and calmer to sort it at home: a complete driving kit for France ↗ has the triangle, jackets, deflectors and UK sticker in one box. For passports, EES and the rest of the paperwork, see our ferry checklist.

Headlights: adjust them for the right

British headlights dip to the left. On the continent that means they shine straight into oncoming drivers’ eyes, which is dangerous and can get you a fine for dazzling.

The usual fix is a set of headlamp beam deflectors ↗: stick-on patches that mask the part of the beam that would dazzle. Where exactly they go differs per car model, so check the instructions for yours at home rather than on the car deck. Many newer cars let you switch the beam to right-hand traffic in the settings menu.

Crit’Air and low emission zones

Paris, Lyon, Grenoble and a growing number of other French cities have low emission zones (ZFE). To drive in them you need a Crit’Air sticker, which shows your car’s emission class. Order it only from the official French government website, certificat-air.gouv.fr: it costs a few euros, but third-party sites charge much more. Allow a couple of weeks for the post.

Driving on? Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent), the Netherlands and Germany have their own zones and rules, from online registration to a windscreen sticker. The European Consumer Centre keeps an overview of environmental zones in Europe.