practical
Tourist gets stuck driving caravan over south-west France bridge: rule reminder
Incident offers a timely reminder of caravan towing rules for drivers in France
A Dutch motorist caused a stir in south-west France last week after his caravan got stuck on a bridge, leading to the bridge’s temporary closure to traffic.
The driver attempted to cross the bridge connecting Sénestis and Le Mas-d'Agenais (Lot-et-Garonne) with their vehicle, towing a caravan behind them on Monday (September 7).
The vehicle made it across the narrow bridge fine, but the caravan became stuck in the bridge’s – admittedly low – gantry.
The driver had to get out, detach the caravan from the vehicle and move it backwards off of the road, blocking other vehicles for around 10 - 15 minutes.
His vehicle was also damaged in the incident from the attached caravan crashing to a halt, and needed to be repaired.
Rule reminder
The unfortunate incident is an opportune time for a reminder on caravan towing rules for drivers in France.
Drivers need to ensure the total weight of their caravan and vehicle does not exceed certain limits.
Those holding only a standard ‘B’ permit are further restricted by these rules.
When it comes to driving the caravan itself, vehicles carrying a combined vehicle and caravan exceeding 3,500kg are limited to 90km/h even on motorways, but this does not apply to combined weights below this, which have the same limits as cars.
However, they are also required to follow restrictions lowering speeds in dangerous weather.
Towed caravans are banned from the far-left (fastest) lane on three-lane motorways, and while not banned outright from driving in city centres may struggle to find roads wide enough for both vehicle and caravan to drive through.
However, low-emission zone (zone à faibles émissions, ZFE) rules do apply, so you will need to order a Crit'Air sticker for your vehicle if passing through any of these zones.
Similarly, there are no bans on caravans using certain roads, but drivers should be aware of narrow roads, low bridges/tunnels, etc, that they may not be able to pass through.
Road signs will give ample warning of an upcoming low-level obstacle, allowing drivers to change direction or find an alternative route.
While Google Maps, Waze, and most sat-navs do not offer drivers the ability to input vehicle height as a restriction for routes, there are dedicated navigation apps for caravans and larger vehicles that do.
These include Sygic and CoPilot, both of which have European versions for use in France.
