Letters: Stop blaming French drivers, maybe the problem is you

To the Editor,

Your correspondents in recent issues appear to live in a different France from me.

Are French drivers as aggressive, ill-mannered and impatient as they suggest? 

Letters: high death toll on French roads is no surprise

Some of them undoubtedly are, of course, as are drivers in every single other country.

I see these letters and wonder how experienced the people are as drivers themselves, both generally and internationally. 

Having driven extensively, for example, in the US, it is undoubtedly true that the whole experience is very different – roads are typically pretty straight, junctions tend be straightforward crossroads and there is almost always plenty of room for two gas-guzzlers to pass each other without either party needing to pay too much attention. 

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Here in Europe, that is not how things work – and visitors should take pleasure in that if they want to enjoy what we have to offer. 

I do not think there are very many in France, whether native or immigrant, who wish to see much of the countryside bulldozed and tarmacked to make D roads wider and straighter and provide 'road shoulders and pullouts'.

Perhaps the problem lies with individual drivers, rather than a road network which, in general, satisfies the 60 or so million French people who use it.

 Let’s remember that we are the immigrants, so it is our responsibility to adapt or go elsewhere – it is not for France to turn itself into a ‘little America’.

Ashley Hildebrandt, by email

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