European driving laws - Clear or convoluted?

European driving laws - Clear or convoluted?

Every year drivers from the UK make over 30 million visits to other European countries. Quite a few of those trips involve using their own car on an unfamiliar autoroute, autostrada or autobahn. Now we all know about the European Union' s drive to harmonise laws across its 28 member states. However road rules can be a different story as they can still change at every border crossing.

Before you even set out, you should check what the law says you need in the car. Hopefully most of what' s required won' t ever come out of the boot again.

Keeping track of driving laws across Europe can be a bit easier thanks to the web site map provided by the FCO. This web site at www. fcowidget. com has links to each counties specific driving and travel safety information. Rather than list lots of them here I have selected a few that worth remembering.

1) Reflective jackets in case of a breakdown are a must in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and many other countries. Some, such as France, insist that jackets are kept in the passenger compartment, not the boot of the car.

2) If you’re headed to snowy places, you must keep a shovel in the boot in countries such as Croatia and Sweden. Winter tyres or snow chains are also legal requirements in most of northern, eastern and Alpine European countries, but this also depends on road conditions and the month of travel.

3) The French custom of ' priorite a droite' is particularly bad. These days not all traffic joining a road from the right has priority. However the practice is still common in rural areas especially at crossroads.

4) The UK alcohol limit for drivers is relatively generous at 80mg per 100ml of blood, compared to 5O mg in most of Europe. Beware that in some places, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, the legal alcohol limit is zero.

5) Many of us these days let our satnav devices warn us of upcoming speed cameras at home, but this is banned in a number of places, notably Germany, France and Cyprus. Also in France in particular even having the software on your phone is an offence.

6) Most European countries have a top motorway speed limit of130 km/h (80 mph), but in Poland it’s 140 km/h (86 mph) Many German motorways have no legal limit at all, but 130 km/h is recommended where no signed limits apply.

7) German autobahn users may be free to drive fast, and many do, but lane disciple is good with slower drivers mostly keeping to the right. What you do not want to do is run out of petrol on the motorway. This is considered an avoidable, illegal incident and the fines can be heavy.

8) In all Scandinavian countries, and many eastern European ones, it's compulsory to keep headlights on.

9 ) I have left the best till last! It' s against the law in Romania to drive a dirty car. Romania is also one of a few countries where you should officially report any damage to a car before arrival, to avoid legal problems when leaving.