7 Weird Road Rules From Around The World
Driving safely is all about common sense, right? Stay in your lane, signal whenever you need to change lanes or turn, keep a safe distance and so on. Compared to a lot of other countries, we seem to be pretty straight-forward when it comes to laws of the road, but we’re betting there are a few that will surprise you.
Here are some weird road rules found in Australia:
In NSW it’s illegal to leave your car unlocked if you’re more than 3m away from it. So, things like going into the service station to pay for your fuel and parking on your own driveway are included.
A weird road rule of times past were the ‘limitless’ roads in the Northern Territory, that had very few rules at all. In all other states and territories, it’s agreed that the fastest speed limit is 110km/h on any road. In the Northern Territory, long stretches of straight open roads were given no speed limit at all, making them a free for all to prevent boring, sleep-inducing drives.
Of course, politics got in the way and all roads have now been given a maximum limit of 130km/h in the NT. To put the crazy trial into perspective, you can be fined for driving just 2km/h over the speed limit in Victoria.
It’s Queensland that has possibly the weirdest road rule you’ll come across. In the sunshine state, the law states that you must give way to ‘restive’ horses on the road. If the rider gives you a signal, you’ll have to remain at a standstill until the horse is far enough away that any sound or movement from your car won’t spook it.
To around two thirds of the world, one weird Australian road rule is the simple fact that we drive on the left side of the road.
Here’s some weird road rules from around the world we think top ours…
In the Philippines, it’s illegal to drive in peak hours on Mondays if your number plate ends in a 1 or 2. Plates ending in 3 and 4 have the same restrictions on Tuesday, 5 and 6 can’t drive in peak hours on Wednesday and so on. So, even if you rely on your car to get to work, you’re stuck at home. This law was put in place to try to prevent the number of cars on the road each day between the hours of 7-10am and 3-7pm. With such a dense population, you can only imagine how congested the roads would be without the weird rule!
Russians are sticklers for keeping a clean car. Failure to have either the outside or inside of your vehicle looking spick and span could land you a fine. Making matters even more difficult, it’s illegal to wash your car anywhere other than your home or a designated car wash.
The ‘two and ten’ hand placement rule is taken very seriously in Cyprus. It’s against the law to raise your hand off the wheel unnecessarily at any time so eating, drinking or resting your arm on the door is strictly forbidden. Even sipping water while driving will land you a fine so be sure to hydrate before driving around the island.
Mirrors in place? Check! Handbrake off? Check! No children under the car? Yep, it’s a law in Denmark that drivers must check that there are no children underneath their car before they start the engine. We’re not sure how this law is monitored, but safety always comes first, right?
Ever forget to switch your headlights on? In Scandinavia, you’ll be in big trouble if your lights aren’t on, at any time of the day! It’s a legal requirement that your lights are always on, no matter what the weather. This is because Scandinavian countries experience full days of darkness over Winter so it’s safer to enforce the blanket rule than to leave things to chance.
In South Africa, animals have the right of way on all streets. The fine for not giving way to passing livestock can be up to $500 but to be honest, it’s less the money we’re worried about and more so coming face-to-face with a lion.
Even America isn’t exempt from strange road rules. In the state of Alabama, it’s against the law to drive blindfolded. And in California, it’s illegal for an unmanned car to drive more than 60mph. Luckily, there’s a loophole for this one because the law says nothing about driverless cars driving less than 60mph.