"If you have ever tried to use a pedestrian crossing in France, you know that cars don't stop -- no more than they do in Russia or other third world countries. The pedestrian is an inferior creature who deserves to be crushed. This reality has rather softened the impact of a revolution that was announced by President Sarkozy's government this week. Henceforward, all drivers in France must give way to anyone who crosses the road even if it they are not on a pedestrian crossing. Failure to stop will cost an automatic 135 euro fine and four points from the 12-point driving licence.This is a classic case of Gallic practice prevailing over theory. Even before this week's decree, the highway code said that French drivers must yield to anyone using a pedestrian crossing. Very few drivers, at least in the cities, have obeyed unless there were traffic lights denoting pedestrian priority. So the idea of making everyone everywhere stop for pedestrians has been greeted as a joke. "I'd like to see the first person try to walk across the Place de l'Etoile," said a news presenter on RTL radio. He was referring to the homicidal traffic circus around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
There are a couple of qualifications to the new rule. A pedestrian does not have priority over the traffic if there is an official pedestrian crossing within 50 metres. The walker must also show "a clear intention to cross". This is defined as "an ostensible step forward or a hand gesture". This will be quite a novelty because hand gestures on French traffic are usually applied after the event not before.The new rules stem from the noble intention of taming French traffic. Another new regulation will enable cyclists to turn right at a red light if the intersection carries a special sign. Again, this will have little impact since few cyclists in Paris stop at red lights, whether turning right or left or going straight ahead. I know, because I am one of them".
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