The world's most bizarre traffic laws

[ScoobieFloz]

Found this while surfing and had to share

 

1. Driving with a blindfold on in Alabama is not allowed

It seems basic common sense you shouldn’t obscure your own sight while driving a vehicle.

But apparently somewhere along the line this notion became a bit blurry for someone in Alabama, and the state found it necessary to outlaw blindfolded driving.

 

2.You can be fined for driving topless in Thailand

According to Thai law, it is never okay to take your top off while on their roads.

Despite the country’s often blistering heat, anyone caught operating a car, bike or tuk-tuk while topless will be slapped with a fine.

 

3. You must check for children hiding under your car before setting off in Denmark

The Danes have a rather unusual law designed to protect anyone that may be working underneath a vehicle.

To avoid being fined, drivers in Denmark must check to make sure there is no one under their car before starting the engine.

This includes mechanics, or small children playing hide ‘n’ seek.

 

4. Dirty cars attract fines in Russia

If you are the kind of car owner that cares little for the car wash, thank your lucky stars you don’t live in Russia.

Moscow police have the power to dish out fines to any motorist with a car that is deemed to be too dirty.

And it is entirely up to the officer to decide what counts as not clean enough.

It’s not quite as severe but Brits can land a £1,000 fine if your number plate is too dirty.

 

5. You can’t drive on Monday in Manilla if your registration ends in 1 or 2

In a bid to restrict the heavy traffic build up in the Philippines capital, authorities have imposed restrictions on which cars are allowed in certain areas of the city.

Based on the last digit of a cars number plate, certain vehicles are prohibited from the city on a particular day of the week.

For example, any car with a number plate ending in 1 or 2 is banned from driving in Metro Manila on Mondays.

 

6. It is illegal to drive a black car in Denver, Colorado on Sundays

America is notorious for bizarre, outdated laws – and Denver is near the top of the list with this odd sanction.

State traffic law dictates it is unlawful to drive a black car on a Sunday in Colorado’s capital.

Clearly a very old fashioned restriction, while it is still a legal requirement, it is a near certainty that this is no longer enforced.

 

7. Hefty penalty for running out of petrol on a German Autobahn

Despite their lack of speed limits, Germany’s world-famous Autobahns still come with strict rules. Anyone that runs out of fuel on one of these high-speed roads will face a fine, and could even receive a driving ban in the more serious cases.

 

8. San Francisco bans the use of used underwear to buff or dry a vehicle

One of the more liberal cities in America, San Francisco is rather picky when it comes to the car wash business.

For commercial businesses, you can be cited if you are seen buffing or drying a car and you chose to re-purpose a pair of used underwear as a rag.

But for private car owners keen to give their car a scrub, they are free to use as many pairs of stained tighty-whities as they like.

 

9. Every car in Luxembourg must have windscreen wipers, even if it doesn’t have a windscreen

Luxembourg makes it a legal requirement for every car to have windscreen wipers, even if the car in question doesn’t have a windscreen – much more common among vintage cars.

It is perfectly legal to drive without a glass shield for the driver, but miss the wipers and you’ll be awarded with a fine.

 

10. Headlights must be used 24/7 in Scandinavia

Drivers must have their headlights on at all times when their car is running in Scandinavia, even when the sun is out.

While handy for increasing safety during their notoriously foggy weather and short days, the law is largely designed for periods in winter where there is no daylight for weeks on end.

[db scoob]

Brilliant !! 

[t5nyw]

FPMSL

[MarkJHarris]

I wish we'd adopt the 24/7 lights on rule to be honest. The number of wallies driving about at 5am with no lights is unreal. They clearly forget it's see AND be seen....

[bmwhere?]

I stand to be corrected, but I believe the latest Euro vehicle rules now required daytime running lights as standard.

 

There's some other interesting rules for driving in Germany:

You have to give way to the right at every junction, unless the junction is marked with a relatively small yellow & white diamond shaped sign. The idea is that if two people arrive at a junction at the same time, its clear who has the right of way - The problem is if four people arrive at a crossroads at the same time, they all end up waiting for each other! The size of the diamond sign differs slightly depending on if its in an urban area or on open roads and can appear just before or just after the junction, just to add a bit more confusion. Pretty much all junctions outside of 30kmh zones have such a sign, which means there are way more junctions with a sign for an exception to the rule than there are where the rule is in force, so it would be way easier to scrap the rule and add extra give way to the right signs where they're needed.

The give way to the right rule also used to cause chaos on roundabouts where essentially you'd have to give way to people entering the roundabout. They fixed this by adding the typical roundabout sign (blue circle with three white arrows) which now also cancels the give way to the right rule. The only problem is, they didn't fit the sign to all roundabouts, so there are still a few German roundabouts that you have to give way on!

Another odd quirk of German roundabouts is you should only indicate when you're coming off the roundabout, so not indicating means you're staying on. There is also no requirement for which lane to use on a multi-lane roundabout (although there are not so many multi-lane roundabouts in Germany). The result is, most people use the outside lane and drive all the way around without indicating. As with most countries, most people forget to indicate to come off the roundabout, so its absolutely impossible to predict where people are going and when they're going to turn off.

Another one of my favourites is a rule that means you have to indicate to stay on the road you're already on if there is a sharp curve and a junction on the corner. They add extra signs on these junctions with a thick line showing the flow of the road which has priority and thin lines representing the junctions which have to give way. By not indicating, you are essentially telling the other traffic you're not staying on the road, but continuing straight ahead, so anyone waiting at the junction would be quite entitled to pull out in front of you. Again, most people don't bother indicating on these junctions, but thankfully people don't pull out on you either, so again a bit of a pointless rule.

[ScoobieFloz]

I always forget those when I am over there, I have had a few close shaves, once even forgetting to stay on the the right side of the road

The great thing about the scoob, is just put your foot down and get out of there before others can even make their minds up