9 most unusual traffic rules in the world

1. Parking Calendar

If you want to park on the roadside in Greece, you have to keep the calendar in mind – the parking ban is built on that! If the parking ban has a vertical line, the ban applies only in odd-numbered months (January, March, May, July, September, November). Two-bar signs do not allow you to park during even-numbered months (February, April, June, August, October, December). By the way: Smoking in the car is also prohibited if children under the age of twelve are traveling in Greece. Anyone violating this will pay a fine of up to CHF 1,500.

2nd Line Mikado

Parking on the curb in the UK is even more complicated. Different lines on the side of the road represent different strict parking restrictions. The yellow line indicates a no-parking zone where short stops are allowed. A single red line prohibits parking from 7am to 7pm. An absolute and permanent parking ban can be recognized by two red lines. And as if that wasn’t complicated enough, the double dashed line has nothing to do with parking, but encourages you to drive slowly towards the intersection.

3. Night Owls

When bed calls for the night, gas feet can get a little heavier. But in Italy one must restrain oneself. For speeding violations between 10 pm and 7 am, fines are one-third higher than during the day. There are also strict laws in the south when it comes to drunk driving. With a blood alcohol level of 1.5 per thousand, the police can seize the vehicle and place a lien on it – but only if the driver is also the owner of the vehicle.

4. Swedish curtains

We also have strict penalties for speeding offenders here in Switzerland. Even abroad, it is surprising that speedsters are sentenced to up to one year in prison. Anyone who is caught at 70 km/h in the 30 km/h zone or who drives at 200 km/h instead of 120 km/h on the highway goes to jail.

5. Not giving alcohol to the passenger

For Americans, drinking in public is strictly prohibited. This also applies to cars: the “Open Container Act” prohibits not only the visible carrying of open alcohol bottles on sidewalks or in parks, but also the transportation in cars. Opened bottles are only allowed in the trunk, but they are of little use there. Ultimately, this builds solidarity, as front passenger and backseat passengers, such as the driver, have to wait until the next bar with an after-work beer.

6. Wanting to be fast

Vacationers know many pitfalls for tickets: reprogramming the navigation system while driving, missing speed due to the beautiful scenery, or forgetting parking time while sightseeing. In Spain suddenly it pays to be fast. Because if you pay your fine within 15 days, you get a 50 percent discount.

7. Danger of Dizziness

For the French, the world turned upside down. At a roundabout (“rond-point”), the car entering the roundabout has priority, not the car already in the roundabout! It’s the opposite with us. The most famous example of such roundabouts is the seven-lane one around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. But in France there are also “normal” roundabouts with local traffic rules, but they are called “giratoire”. By the way: nice stamps can be bought from tobacconists! You can use it to pay fines instantly, which means you can save between 13 and 45 francs in an emergency.

8. Clean air

The American holiday island of Hawaii naturally invites you for a tour in an open top car. The law even allows for a very special enjoyment of fresh air: if all the seats in a pickup are occupied, people can get in if the loading area is closed to the sides. However, passengers must be at least twelve years old.

9. What’s in there?

You must get on your knees before you are allowed to drive in Denmark. Not to pay homage to the queen, but to make sure no one was under the car. Only then can you go – and be sober, please. If you’re caught with a blood alcohol level above 0.5 per thousand, you need to dig deep into your pocket. For the penalty amount, your monthly net income is multiplied by one thousandth. If the alcohol level in the blood is over two thousand, your vehicle will also be foreclosed and impounded.

Source: Blick