For visitors taking to the roads of Quebec, the degree of familiarity with the rules of the road will depend a lot on where the visitor is coming from: for drivers from the USA, things will seem pretty familiar; for drivers from other parts of Canada, they will be even more familiar. But from drivers from Europe there are a lot of points to watch out for many of them common to much or all of North America. Language: road information and road signs are in French, not usually in English. Most road signs use internationally familiar pictograms, so you’ll have no difficulty understanding them. A freeway is called an “Autoroute”, and freeways are numbered with the letter A, as in France. Speed camera warning devices: these are illegal in Quebec. Seat belts must be worn by all persons in the car, at all times. Phoning at the wheel. It is illegal to use a hand-held cellphone / mobile phone for speaking or texting while driving in Quebec, even if the car is stopped at the traffic lights. Warning: fines from $115 upwards. Speed limits in Quebec: 100 km/hr on divided highways, 90 on rural roads, 50 km/h in towns. The limits on divided highways / motorways / autoroutes vary from province to province or state to state in North America. In Quebec, it is on the low side, at 100 km/hr. Take care! See table below for conversion into mph. Drinking and driving in Quebec: the maximum tolerated blood alcohol level is 0.05 grams per liter, the same as in most of Europe, Canada and the USA - but lower than in the UK. Gas (petrol) prices: average fuel prices in Quebec in 2017 are about 1.10 CAD (Canadian dollars) per litre. This is about a 30% cheaper than average prices in continental Europe, about 35% cheaper than in the UK, but about 50% more expensive than in the USA. Motorway tolls: generally speaking there are no tolls on highways in Quebec. One exception is the A-30 expressway round the south side of Montreal, where there is a fixed toll (2 CAD for a car in 2015).
