American Reacts to More Differences Driving in Europe (France) VS The USA

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[fumblingman]

I wish people would label these videos “The difference between France and the USA” or similar. These observations are not universal across Europe.

[erwin]

In France, the sidewalk parking is usually found in smaller cities, villages etc. They are still defined parking bays, but you are meant to park half the car on the road and half on the sidewalk. However, as soon as there is enough space, regular on-street parking is normal.

[daedalron]

3:48 To clarify, those cars are NOT parked on the sidewalk (that is not allowed in France, 135€ fine if you do park on sidewalk). They are parked on parking spots, that are alongside the sidewalk.

5:18 The no-license cars are cars with extremely small engines (think the same engine as a moped, under 50cc). Since they have the same engine as those smallest motorbikes (that can be driven starting at 14 without a license), they are under the same rule, you can drive them without a license (but still need to follow a quick formation, so it's a kind of license...). The "Smart" car is NOT a no-license car, the Smart is heavier and with a bigger engine than those no-license cars.

7:30 For more up-to-date data, in september 2023, there were 42.986 roundabouts in France. Nice to see that you like them, they are indeed very nice and avoid putting a lot of traffic lights, so the traffic is more fluid with them.

11:55 Why would it be weird for the speedometer to only show km/h, and not mph? US is one of the only countries in the world still using miles, so unless it is a car meant to be sold in that specific foreign market, there is no point putting mph on the speedometer, it would only confuse drivers

[FrankDijkstra]

Man, it's time for you to come and visit Europe and experience it for yourself. Being here is better than just watching videos.

[jurgengrove]

In Germany, for example, you are required to use official number plates on your car (front and back).
This also has to do with the fact that the vehicle can be recorded by the radar camera.
This means that the number plate is always included in the "speed camera photos" and a good picture of the driver so that he cannot deny having driven. The number plate is then used to officially register the owner of the vehicle, and this is how you get the ticket...The tolerance for speed cameras is three km/h, and everything is measured at all times.

[AMBU-NL]

In the Netherlands, speed cameras have a error margin of 4 km/h. This is intended to reduce unjustified fines for speed fluctuations and any calibration deviations in the speedometer. And yes, the cameras are always on, so it's important to pay attention to your speed, especially if you know that a speed camera is coming based on signs, your navigation or personal experience. Although it's often already clear because all the traffic suddenly starts driving suspiciously calm and neatly below the speed limit.😂

PS: If you were wondering how that works with emergency vehicles, since they obviously have to be able to drive above the speed limit. Well that's pretty simple. The control room knows when an emergency service vehicle is on its way to an urgent report. If an emergency service vehicle is automaticly ticketed during the period in which it is registered as "on route to an urgent call" (Code A0/U0 (CPR) or A1/U1 (Acute Life Threat)), the ticket will be waived. If the emergency service vehicle isn't registered at dispatch with an emergency call and is instead registered as "on route to a 'non-life-threatening' call" (Code A2/U2, B1/U3, B2/U4 or C1-2/U5) and therefore has to apply "appropriate urgency" (no flashing lights and sirens, but usually still as quick as safely and lawfully posible), a potential fine is simply for the driver. So even emergency services have to watch out. Although in many cases these tickets can still be waived, as long as your supervisor likes you.😂 And the regular police would almost never give another emergency service vehicle a ticket, unless you really messed up for no good reason.

Keep in mind that there are many more rules and many nuances to those rules, emergency services have to follow, much much more than I can explain here. Also I'm an "Emergency-Doctors Ambulance" driver in the Netherlands, hence why I know this. ;)

[liviurosca]

Hi. Eastern European here, i'm driving trucks (lorries) in UK. It's funny with miles/kilometers. Let me explain. Speedometers are in miles, some of them use both mph and km/h. Tachograps (similar to ELD's) are in km/h and because EU domestic laws, trucks are limited to 90 km/h, 56 mph. However, UK motorway speed limit it's 60 mph, around 96 km/h. I like to put my satnav in km and meters because i don't like guidance in yards. Then when i'm completing my shift documents they ask for "start kilometers" then "finnish kilometers" and then next box it's "mileage" so we reffer to how much we drive as mileage but we write the distance in kilometers. 😅
Also about speed cameras. In UK rarely i saw speed traps, like cops holding the radar. We got camera vans and another following cop come after you or you just get photos and fine at your address the following weeks. Also the motorways got fixed speed cameras and average speed cameras. On smart motorway the speed limit it's announced on the displays from the gantries.
If you speeding let's say 76 mph in a 70 mph limit, you might do one speed awarness course, you pay for it. If you do more you get points and fine. Every offence it's 3 points. They stay on your license 3 years. At 12 points or more you are disqualified. If you are a new driver and in your first 2 years you get 6 points you lose your licence. Also we got some codes like "DD" and this means "dangerous driving". You don't want this on your license. Your insurance get more expensive. Also with 6 points or more it's very hard to get accepted as a truck driver at most of the companies.
Also speaking about pickups, in UK at least they become more and more used as a daily car. Ford Ranger it's very popular. Also imported F150 or similar. I see at least1-2 each week.
Damn, that's was a long comment. 😂

[adamab]

Hello, I'm from Poland, here the police still use speed cameras, placed in civilian versions of police cars, to catch people breaking the rules. They immediately write tickets.

[SteveB]

I totally agree with the laws that say your not allowed to hold or touch your phone whilst driving, yet authorities allow car makers to put so many of a cars features on a touch screen - where with some cars you literally have to look at the screen and scroll to do simple things like change the fan speed on the hvac. (No wonder modern cars have to have stuff like lane assist and automatic braking built in!).

[darkknight]

Many of these videos having a "Europe vs US" theme are actually more "some country in Europe vs USA". For example: sidewalk parking is a bit of a French thing I think. Here in The Netherlands and in Germany, most parking spaces are on the side of the road. We even have a sign that states that you have to park on the sidewalk. We also have small cars where you don't need a car driver's licence. Here in NL, you need a moped license to drive one, and you have to follow moped rules in general. France has the most roundabouts per kilometer of road of all European countries, maybe even the world. And there are a lot more differences like this. Of course, general rules like roundabouts, traffic signs, yielding etc. are very different compared to the US, but more specific rules exist for different countries in Europe.

[Spidouz]

9:00 they still do speed manual radar from time to time, but they have automatic radar at “dangerous” places, to make sure drivers will slow down… not only when there are cops

[LucianoMMatias]

I’m from Portugal, window sticker for the insurance its not mandatory for a year or two, police cars can scan your plate and know all the details, including if it has an insurance. But you must have an insurance proof in the car.
One thing not mentioned in the video is that in Europe you must drive on the right on hygways, no matter the number of lanes. This makes transit flow more easily, in the US it seems that everybody drives were it wants.

[papalaz]

Is there anything done all over the world that Americans aren't baffled by?

[CeleTheRef]

In Europe you can't turn right on a red light, but in some places there's an additional "always blinking yellow" traffic light on the right side, so you CAN turn right there because technically it's not a red light.

[erwin]

Cops do actually mobile radar as well here in France, but less often. Risk points are usually covered by either fixed cameras (well advertised) or a section of road is marked as "frequently controlled" (for example a 30km section) in which case they either have semi-mobile cameras in place or cops with vehicle mounted cameras (we don't really do speed guns here AFAIK).

[JohnDoe-usrq]

There is currently a huge issue around where I live. The cars are being parked at least with 2 wheels on the side walk. And there was just recently a court decision that municipallities have to actually enforce the law when it comes to parking on the sidewalk. The law requires about 5 feet of sidewalk being available to pedestrians and currently, with all the cars being parked on the sidewalk it sometimes is just about 2 feet.
So, technically it's OK to park on the sidewalk, but not when blocking the sideways or reducing the space available below 5 feet.
And of course, the car owners are up in rage, because they might loose 'their' free parking space.

[palantir]

You missed the white lines forming a rectangle on the sidewalks where cars can park.
Or the are signs to show it’s permitted.

The Netherlands has almost 4000 roundabouts

[carlosezequiel]

the small cars are 50cc you need, like a scooter license. In Portugal you need to have the insurance and the inspection of the car on the windshield. until 2023

[dzzope]

Cops do set up speed traps but mobile vans and static cameras are far more common. Average speed cameras are getting more common too, especially in the uk

The only country that uses miles per hr is the UK and they drive on the left, so there isn't much cross-over and remembering that 30mph-50kph, 40-60, 50-80, 60-100, 75-120 isn't too hard(not exact but close enough).

[Gazer]

That registration and insurance was interesting and quite different than here in Norway. You need the registration certificate in the car, but you can't get the plates and the registration unless the car is insured. Reason is its all tied into each other so its impossible to get one without the other. They have cameras that read plates and automatically flag a car if something is missing. Even the bi-annual inspection that is required in Europe.