Another thought from Le Continent.

As I now live in France, I've observed with interest the differences in driving style, design and enforcement.

OK so the French (in general) do tend to drive right up your boot but when it comes to road discipline they are much better than the British. They always pull into the inside lane. They indicate their intention to overtake beforehand, therefore anyone further down the queue waiting to pass knows they are going to pull out when they think it is safe to do so.

As to the design of French motorways, they tend to be two lane, a third crawler lane is provided whenever there are likley to be slow moving vehicles.

Slip roads reduce to one lane for the entry and the bend onto the carriageway can be very tight prohibiting overtaking on the slip road and forcing the speeds down.

Enforcement from the Police and Gendarmerie is expected and accepted.

If the Gendarmes consider your driving to be dangerous they have the power to instantly ban you from driving and take your licence (and even impound the vehicle). This applies to British drivers in France too!!!

You eventually get your licence back through the authorities (British Embassy to DVLA) but have been known to get lost in post...

They consider speeding to constitute dangerous driving, over 20 kph over the limit and instant 90 euro fine, over 40, instant removal of licence, over 50 over limit impounding of vehicle.

Be warned!