French Streets Ahead?
I was going over the 2,115m Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees the other day taking in the spectacular scenery and I could not help but marvel at the pristine nature of the road surface.
Whilst I was not actually cycling up the pass – I was just driving – I could appreciate how important a good road surface is for cyclists. It’s even more important on the way down.
You might say that the road surface is bound to be very good because the route is used by the Tour de France, but other local routes not used by recent tours are almost of the same quality.
Even the rural lanes around Sabres in Aquitaine – a place, I suggest, few people ever go to – were of far better quality than the streets around where I live.
I wonder why France manages to achieve quality in areas where we do not.
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Comments
You said it yourself: few
You said it yourself: few people use most of the roads you were driving on! Britain has massively higher volumes of traffic in all urban and most rural areas as well, especially in the south east where you can't move for flash 4WDs.
James Styring. Oxford
French Streets Ahead
Because they have higher levels of taxation than we do in Britain, simple really. Higher taxation, better infrastructure, healthcare, benefits etc but less competitive economy. Oh hang on, they still have a car industry & were less affected by the economic crisis than we were, they must be doing something right!