Driving in EU

Can anyone help please?
I am going to be driving through France with the family over the next couple of weeks and according to French law you are now supposed to carry spare bulbs in the car.
Am I really expected to purchase a replacement Xenon bulb and LEDS for indicators etc?
I have the hi-vis jacket and triangle etc, that's no issue.
Has anyone driven through France and had experience of the ACTUAL requirements please?

You can rent them from the AA IIRC

I drove through the entire length from the north to the south of France across to Italy last year and I just carried a normal replacement bulb, high viz jacket and breathalyser kit.

Thanks Singy. I will likely work on the principal that the French police won't really know what the difference between a halogen and a xenon.

Drove through France at Easter to Spain and just took the normal bulbs with me. Kept to the speed limit (most of the time) and had no probs

I just took the basic spare bulbs too, although I left France as quickly as I entered it... heading straight for Belgium!

(26-05-2013 10:39pm)PhilSkill Wrote:  I just took the basic spare bulbs too, although I left France as quickly as I entered it... heading straight for Belgium!

Belgium is a dreadful place, I absolutely hate it. The state of the roads is a disgrace and the Belgians indulge in the national sport of tailgating. I speak French, German and Italian but draw the line at Flemish, so if they don't like my French, I just resort to English.

As for bulbs, the French police understand perfectly well about modern lights not being user replaceable, so I don't take any.

Enjoy your trip, just make sure you take note of those boxes which look like filing cabinets in the central reservation. They are of course speed cameras and I expect they are enjoying a couple of portraits of me in my Ferrari last week.

(27-05-2013 02:23pm)mark_n Wrote:  Belgium is a dreadful place, I absolutely hate it. The state of the roads is a disgrace and the Belgians indulge in the national sport of tailgating. I speak French, German and Italian but draw the line at Flemish, so if they don't like my French, I just resort to English.

As for bulbs, the French police understand perfectly well about modern lights not being user replaceable, so I don't take any.

Enjoy your trip, just make sure you take note of those boxes which look like filing cabinets in the central reservation. They are of course speed cameras and I expect they are enjoying a couple of portraits of me in my Ferrari last week.

Belgian here, Flemish, which is Dutch basically. In certain parts of Belgium you're better of speaking English. If you're French is really good, they might think you are rude and don't want to try to speak Dutch. If you're English, they don't expect you to speak Dutch. Most of us also understand German since the languages are related.

As far as the roads are concerned, you are right. They have been patched for years, instead of having a proper fix. Now they are trying to catch up, which means Belgium is one big construction site at the moment.

What I remember for my trip to the UK is that everyone seems to pick a lane and sticks to it at the speed limit. Here people don't like to stick to speed limits, at least I don't. We have always been told to overtake and then move back to the right side, well the slow lane, of the road. It tends to make traffic more nervous I believe, hence the annoying tailgating. I suppose it has to do with the fact that you can't have a stretch of motorway without an exit every 5 km.

Apart from all this, Belgium is loooooovely

On topic again. I don't think the police expects you to carry light bulbs which cost a fortune and can't be replaced by yourself anyways.

(28-05-2013 08:26am)Cedric Wrote:  What I remember for my trip to the UK is that everyone seems to pick a lane and sticks to it at the speed limit. Here people don't like to stick to speed limits, at least I don't. We have always been told to overtake and then move back to the right side, well the slow lane, of the road. It tends to make traffic more nervous I believe, hence the annoying tailgating. I suppose it has to do with the fact that you can't have a stretch of motorway without an exit every 5 km.

Hi Cedric, agree that mostly we Brits are hopeless with lane discipline. We can't seem to grab the concept of keeping left unless overtaking.

Shame though that your fellow countrymen don't confine their speeding habits to Belgium. I live near the UK end of the Channel Tunnel and 9/10 Belgian plated cars have no regard for our motorway limit.

Also don't forget that traffic law violations anywhere in the EU can now be sent to your home address since all the police computers were linked up a couple of years ago.