Is vehicular cycling legal in France?

Question

I learned to ride in Toronto, where behaviour such as the following is legal:

if there is not enough space to share the lane safely with another vehicle, it is legal to ride near the centre of the lane, so that drivers must wait or change lanes to overtake

Is this also true in France?

I asked a french man (the father of a competitive cyclist) who replied something which implied, "no": that cyclists should keep right at all times, and that although groups ride two-abreast, they return to single-file if a car approaches from behind.

I would like to double-check: is it legal, and is it at all customary or is it likely to annoy or cause aggressive driving?

Examples of when I might want to use it include:

• In a town where the road is narrow or lined with parked cars
• In the country-side, going up a hill with many bends, where it wouldn't IMO be safe for an overtaking car to leave their own lane (which would tempt them to overtake me without leaving much margin)

Cars routinely slow down behind tractors when they go up that hill; but when I was driving (a car) I was surprised to see a cyclist hugging the verge as if there was enough room for me to overtake him safely (I didn't think there was and so I didn't).

Also, is there any legally-required overtaking margin (for example, "cars must leave a gap of one metre (3 feet) when overtaking a cyclist")?

FWIW I understand there is strict liability law in France, which may help, nevertheless I'd like to do whatever it is I should.

Answer 1

Note: I finally found the relevant article, so I'm editing my first answer.

According to the article R431-7 of the French "Code de la route":

Les conducteurs de cycles à deux roues sans remorque ni side-car ne doivent jamais rouler à plus de deux de front sur la chaussée.

Ils doivent se mettre en file simple dès la chute du jour et dans tous les cas où les conditions de la circulation l'exigent, notamment lorsqu'un véhicule voulant les dépasser annonce son approche.

Which could be translated as:

Drivers of two-wheeled cycles without a trailer or sidecar should never ride more than two abreast on the road.

They must drive in single file from nightfall and in all cases where the traffic conditions require it, in particular when a vehicle wanting to overtake them is approaching.

It's not really clear if that imply you have to stay on the right of the road, but according to the second paragraph it would make sense to draw this conclusion.

However, especially in France, there is the official law and the less-official customs, which can be quite different from each other sometimes. From my personal experience of both living in France and riding a bicycle, staying in the middle of the lane with cars behind you is the surest manner to make the driver loose his patience and start trying to do crazy things, like driving few centimeters close to your back wheel. So I would not advise it. But keeping a safe distance between your path and the right side of the road, such as around 1 meter, is what most riders do.

For a full reference of the "Code de la route", you can check the legifrance website. You can get the latest version of the text, and also download a PDF version. It's cross-referenced and you can search on the text. Obviously it's in French :)

Answer 2

The Code de la Route also states the following:

En marche normale, tout conducteur doit maintenir son véhicule près du bord droit de la chaussée, autant que le lui permet l'état ou le profil de celle-ci.

Which means:

In a regular situation, any driver must keep his vehicle close to the right side of the road as much as the state of the road allows it.

This part does not specify the nature of the vehicle so bicycles are impacted.

The "as much as the state of the road allows it" is a freedom breech that allows you to add good sense to this law:

• ride on the right, but not too close as to be within reach of an opening door of a parked car!
• ride on the right, but if the road is narrow enough that you consider overtaking by a car unsafe, prevent it from happening a ride closer to the centre!
• ride on the right but if the side of the road is covered by debris, move closer to the centre!

True it might piss the drivers off but ensure your own safety first.

The police is not that picky with cyclists and when they're riding on the right half of the right lane, everyone is happy I would think.

Answer 3

An update since there has been a modification of the law in 2015 concerning this question.

The Article 3 of the Décret n° 2015-808 du 2 juillet 2015 relatif au plan d'actions pour les mobilités actives et au stationnement modifies the Article R. 412-9 of the Code de la route. In particular:

1° Après le troisième alinéa, il est inséré deux alinéas ainsi rédigés : « Un conducteur de cycle peut s'éloigner du bord droit de la chaussée lorsqu'une trajectoire matérialisée pour les cycles, signalisée en application des dispositions de l'article R. 411-25, le permet.

« Sur les voies où la vitesse maximale autorisée n'excède pas 50 km/ h, un conducteur de cycle peut s'écarter des véhicules en stationnement sur le bord droit de la chaussée, d'une distance nécessaire à sa sécurité. » ;

[And I just noticed that there is no closing guillemet for the first paragraph added... French law.]

that is:

1° After the third paragraph [of the R. 412-9], the two following paragraphs are added: "Any driver of cycle can move away from the right side of the road when a materialized trajectory for cycles, signalized by applying the provisions of the Article E. 411-25, allows it."

"On lanes where the maximum speed allowed is not over 50km/h, any driver of cycle can move away from vehicles parked on the right side of the road, at a distance required for its security"

This means, mainly in cities, that when there are cars parked on the right, you are allowed to move to the center of the lane. Notice that the intention is not to prevent cars following you to overtake, but to avoid the doors of the parked cars that can open at any time.

As a side note, you might be interested in the full Décret which introduces various provisions in favour of cyclists.

Answer 4

As for your second question (minimum margin for overtaking a bicycle), indeed there is one: several websites (one, another) mention it. From the Code, Article R414-4 (IV) says,

Pour effectuer le dépassement, il doit se déporter suffisamment pour ne pas risquer de heurter l'usager qu'il veut dépasser. Il ne doit pas en tout cas s'en approcher latéralement à moins d'un mètre en agglomération et d'un mètre et demi hors agglomération s'il s'agit d'un véhicule à traction animale, d'un engin à deux ou à trois roues, d'un piéton, d'un cavalier ou d'un animal.

So the overtaking margin is 1m in urban area and 1m50 outside.