Autoroutes in France - Safety On French Autoroutes

Safety On French Autoroutes

France has the following speed limits for limited access roads:

• Under normal conditions - 130 km/h (80 mph)
• In rain or wet road conditions - 110 km/h (70 mph)
• In heavy fog or snowy/icy conditions - 50 km/h (30 mph)

In normal conditions, there is a minimum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) in the lane most left (no minimum speed on the others' right lanes, but speed should be adapted for each situation: not too slow).

The autoroutes are designed to increase the safety of drivers; this allows a higher speed limit (130 km/h or 80 mph) than on the normal roads (90 km/h or 55 mph) with an acceptable risk of accident.

The safety measures are:

• one way driving: the lanes driving in the opposite direction are separated by at least a crash barrier, which is designed to resist the oblique impact of a car at up to 180 km/h (110 mph); no intersecting roads but bridges and tunnels;
• larger lanes, at least 2 (often 3) lanes driving in the same direction, with a larger turning radius - some recently built autoroutes have one-lane-only sections;
• long acceleration and slowing lanes to get in or out of the autoroute without disturbing the traffic;
• presence of an additional emergency lane where it is forbidden to drive (except for the emergency services) and to park (except in case of emergency);
• presence of emergency call boxes every 2 km (1.2 mi) on each side, that allow to call for help with the possibility to locate the call; some call boxes have flashing light that warn when there is a problem ahead;

• presence every 10 km (6.2 mi) (4–6 minutes of driving) of resting zones (aire de repos, i.e. car parks with public toilets), and every 40 km (25 mi) (20–30 minutes of driving) of a resting zone with a restaurant and a gas station - on most recently built autoroutes these distances are longer;
• regular patrols of the security services, to clear any obstacle and protect drivers in trouble (usually a breakdown or a flat tyre) with appropriate warning signs and beacons;
• dynamic information panels that warn about possible difficulties ahead (accident, people at work, traffic jam);
• an FM radio station (107.7 MHz) dedicated to information about traffic conditions on most of the network;
• on heavy traffic days (e.g. beginning and end of school holidays): organisation of specific information and recreation events at rest areas;
• radars automatiques (speed cameras) currently being installed in many locations.