A tourist was caught speeding 60 kilometers over the limit along Reykjanesbraut, the road to Keflavík International Airport, earlier this week.
The speed limit in the area, and the maximum speed limit in Iceland, is 90 km/hr (55 mph) but the man was driving 150 km/hr (95 mph).
A total of 11 people were caught speeding in the Suðurnes region where Keflavík Airport is located this week, visir.is reports.
The police in Selfoss also stopped a tourist on the mountain pass Hellisheiði, between Reykjavík and Hveragerði, for speeding 168 km/h (105 miles/h) in a 90 km/h zone last monday. The speed limit outside of urban areas in Iceland is generally 90km/h (55miles/h).
The driver was issued a ISK 112,000 (USD 1000, EUR 770) on-the-spot fine. The man will also be banned from driving for three months.
There have been several cases of tourists being booked for driving much faster than the speed limit in recent months.
Speed limits and tickets in Iceland
The general rule is that 90 km/hour is the maximum speed you can drive at outside of towns and villages in Iceland in perfect circumstances on tarmac and without a carriage. On unpaved roads the speed limit is 80 km/hour Nowhere in Iceland are you allowed to drive faster than that. Somewhere the speed limit can be lower if the circumstances call for it such as steep mountain roads or sharp turns. There are usually plenty of signs that tell you the maximum speed so not knowing is really not an excuse.
The table below tells you how the speeding ticket system in Iceland is built up. The yellow line represent the speed limit on any given road and the pink line represent the actual speed the driver is caught driving at. The numbers in the other boxes represent the fine in thousands (ISK) + the months the license is suspended. We don’t know if the Icelandic police has jurisdiction to suspend foreign licenses but they can and will give out tickets.
How do you get a ticket?
As you may have noticed if you have driven around Iceland there are not a lot of police around. There are plenty of speed cameras though and even thought there are big signs that tell you that they are there, somehow people don’t slow down and end up getting a ticket.
Also, even though there are not a lot of police around they do lurk around and show up when you least expect it. Certain counties are notorious for very efficient speed control and the police knows exactly where to hide so you won’t figure out they are there until it’s too late.
We’ve also heard, and we don’t know if this is true or not, that they just love to bust tourists in rental cars.
But nobody told me I got a ticket when I dropped off my rental car, that must mean I’m in the clear, right?
Wrong. It always takes the authorities some time to process the ticket and then it takes the car rental agency time to put two and two together and figure out who was driving the car when the ticket was issued. What’s more, some car rental agencies will charge you a processing charge on top of the actual ticket.
Soure: Icelandreview
WhereToGoInIceland.blogspot.com, October 2014
