French highway code: the complete 2026 guide
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Everything you need to know about the French highway code to pass the category B theory test: the main exam topics, the essential rules, and where to practise for free.
The main topics of the code
Road signs
Danger, prohibition, obligation, indication: learn every French sign and its exact meaning.
Priorities & traffic rules
Priority to the right, roundabouts, lights, give way: the situations that win or lose points.
Speed & safety
Speed limits in and out of town and on the motorway, safety distances and first aid.
What "the French Highway Code" actually is
It is a national body of rules - the same in Paris, Lyon and Marseille - governing how road users behave: priority, speed, overtaking, stopping and parking, signage, and the obligations of drivers, riders, cyclists and pedestrians.
Because it is national, there is no regional patchwork to untangle. The one genuine local variation is the default limit on ordinary rural roads, which each department may set at 80 or 90 km/h. Everything else - the rules, the signs, the exam format and the pass mark - is identical countrywide. Confusing that single local choice with a wider divergence is the source of most contradictory advice you will read online.
The five rules that surprise foreign drivers
If you have driven for years elsewhere, the exam will not test your driving. It will test the handful of French specifics that no amount of experience abroad prepares you for.
- Priority to the right. Applied more broadly than in most countries. Unless a sign or road marking says otherwise, the vehicle coming from your right goes first - including one emerging from a road that looks smaller than yours.
- Stopping is not parking. French law separates arrêt and stationnement, with different rules and different signs. One diagonal stroke forbids parking; two crossed strokes forbid both stopping and parking.
- The rural default is 80 or 90 km/h, decided department by department. Habit is a poor guide on a two-lane road - read the sign.
- Blue circles are obligations, not permissions. A blue circle with a bicycle does not permit cyclists; it requires them to use that lane.
- Trams and cycle infrastructure carry their own rules, including priority and dedicated-lane obligations that have no equivalent in many licensing systems.
How the signage is organised
French signs fall into a small number of families, and the family is readable from the shape and colour before you look at the pictogram at all. That single grid answers a large share of exam questions on its own.
| Family | Function | Shape and colour |
|---|---|---|
| Danger | Warning | Triangle with a red border |
| Intersection & priority | Priority | Distinct shapes: inverted triangle, octagon, diamond |
| Prohibition | Bans | Circle with a red border |
| Obligation | Mandatory | Solid blue circle |
| Indication | Information | Blue square or rectangle |
| Direction | Guidance | Rectangular, colour-coded by road type |
Some indication signs change the speed limit without showing a number: the built-up area sign means 50, a 30 zone covers a whole area up to its end sign, and a zone de rencontre means 20 with pedestrians having priority across the full width.
Learning it without reading a legal text
The Highway Code exists as a formal Code de la route, and reading it front to back is a poor way to learn it - it is written to be unambiguous in court, not to be understood by someone starting out. Almost everyone who tries abandons it within a few chapters.
What works is the reverse order: learn each rule through the situation it governs, then check the wording. Signs first, because they are pure recognition and account for roughly a third of the exam. Priority second, because it causes the most failures. Speed, stopping and parking next. Motorway, manoeuvres and the administrative chapters last - they are short and learn quickly.
The Highway Code at a glance
- 6 — families of road signs
- 40 — exam questions
- 35/40 — to pass
- 1 — national code, no regions
Frequently asked questions
Did the French highway code change in 2026?
The basic rules stay stable, but signage evolves. Our lessons and questions are kept up to date with the current code.
Where to find the highway code for free?
You can learn for free on PermisFrance.fr: theory courses, the full sign gallery and first tests are free.
Is the French Highway Code the same across the whole country?
Yes. The Code de la route is national and identical everywhere. The only genuine local variation is the default speed on ordinary rural roads, which a department may set at 80 or 90 km/h.
Where can I read the French Highway Code in English?
There is no official English version with legal force - the Code de la route is published in French. English explanations, including the ones on this site, are there to make the rules understandable, and the official text remains the legal reference.
How much of the theory exam is about road signs?
Typically ten to fifteen questions out of forty, so roughly a third of the marks. It is the most efficient chapter to learn first because it is recognition rather than reasoning.
Do I need to know the Highway Code if I already drive?
For the exam, yes. Experience elsewhere does not cover the French specifics - priority to the right, the legal split between stopping and parking, the rural 80/90 default, and the meaning of blue circles.