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>>I take it you have never driven on the Périphérique (ring) in Paris during the rush hour. No one leaves a gap for someone to get in.
>
>Countless times..we have a home in the Périgord . Rush hour tends to be from 6 o'clock onwards to midnight on the périphirique. One gets used to it.

Not continously - after 10:00 am it's ok - noon, I don't know. But from 16:00/16:30 to about 19:00 must be rush hour



You can avoid Paris by taking the A104 (La Francilienne). It's after Charles de Gaulle