Ah! Those french!!!

We’ve all heard a story or two about the legendary French mighty temper as well as their apparently appalling driving skills… so you would think that a traffic accident would automatically be an explosive combination of these two things, right?

Actually, I have to disagree. You have to give it to the French for being so incredibly civilized in a situation that usually brings out the very worst in people no matter the nationality: a traffic accident.

Disclaimer: I just want to point out that I can't claim I'm much of an expert on this topic so what follows is only my personal experience of being a car owner in Mexico (if driving your parents' car qualifies as being one), an occasional driver in the US (without ever actually having owned a car nor been in a traffic accident) and spouse to a former French car-owner with a grand total of 6 road trips under our belt.

Growing up in Mexico I witnessed my fair share of traffic accidents ranging from the small fender-benders all the way to up to an impressive head-in-windshield accident (which thankfully only ended up with my friend’s car being totaled but amazingly no broken bones to deplore). I myself have thankfully only been once in my life involved in a light car accident that a) was not my fault b) didn't harm me nor anyone else and c) involved a hit and run driver so I never got a chance to follow standard procedure in these cases since the @$$%ç#£€ took off.

However, observation and experience in Mexico taught me that a simple arrangement between drivers is often all it takes. Either money exchanges hands or else one car is taken to the garage of the other with all expenses taken care of and no further questions asked. Very rarely are Insurance companies or direct Police involvement required. Even in the case of the big accident I mentioned before, the most that happened was that the policeman in charge of the accident report and towing my friend’s car to the junk yard turned out to be my neighbor and my friend got off with a simple traffic fine.

I image things have changed a bit in recent years (most of these experiences go back to when I was living in Puebla, some 10 years ago) and that as people buy new cars, Insurance has become more of a recurrent thing. Still, I doubt that too much has changed and that more often than not money still changes hands, people still take cars to their private mechanics and policemen still do “favors” for friends.

As I said earlier, I’ve never been in a traffic accident in the US (knock on wood). But I do remember my grandfather making sure his car insurance covered me when he lent me his car to drive to work. I’m not sure this made any difference to me as I have to admit I’m not really familiar with what the procedure is in case you do get into a car accident in the states (Call insurance? Call traffic police? Call mom?). Whatever it is, I’m guessing it involves a lot of paperwork, phone calls and signing official statements..... Basically, a total drag (Resident Expat gives a good description here).

Now in France, the procedure is so astonishing, you could easily think it’s a joke.

You see here, if people get into a car accident, all they have to do is sign a “Constat Amiable d’Accident Automobile”…. (which literally means: friendly affidavit of automobile accident). This official document, which you can buy at any stationary store and has 100% official validity, looks something like this:



Basically, the date, place and time of the accident are written on top of the page. Then, each side writes in their personal data, insurance info, car info and explain the circumstances under which the accident occurred (there’s even a section to draw a diagram explaining the points of impact! How cute is that???). If both parties agree on the other’s description of the accident, they sign at the bottom of the page, they each keep a carbon copy so that they can mail it individually to their insurance companies and go on their way (of course, this is implying that the cars involved are in usable condition of course). And that is that!

In case both parties don’t agree on the circumstances of the accident, then they each write their side of the story down and don’t sign the paper but still send it to their insurance companies leaving it up to them to sort out the mess. To my knowledge, the police is never involved in the equation, unless there is property damage or a third party that has been affected (but I may be wrong so anybody who knows better, feel free to comment).

In any case, this yellow and blue piece of paper is almost as much a must-have in every Frenchman's vehicle in this country as a spare wheel.

Leave it to the French to teach us a thing or two about Traffic Politeness

Of course, this doesn’t mean that legendary French temper doesn’t flare up once in a while despite de Constat Aimable d’Accident Automobile (as un Gars et Une Fille teach us in the video below):



Fned.