Sun, sea, sand ...and sirens?
The most dangerous part of many motorists’ summer holiday is driving abroad, according to the RAC Foundation during National Motorway Month. Death rates on the roads in Greece are 5 times greater than death rates in the UK, while UK motorists who drive to Spain or Portugal are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than at home.
The Top 5 EU holiday destinations with the most dangerous roads are:
1. Greece
2. Portugal
3. Spain
4. Ireland (Eire)
5. Austria
Motorists can reduce these risks by using Europe’s motorways as these are far safer than main roads: the risk of being involved in a fatality on Greek motorways falls to twice that of being killed at home in the UK. Mile-for-mile, motorways in Spain and Portugal are actually safer than our own. Across the EU, just 8 per cent of fatal accidents occur on the motorway network.
Laws you didn’t know you could break on holiday:
-- In Germany it is illegal to run out of petrol on the autobahn, and an on-the-spot fine will be levied.
- In Belgium, it is illegal to use cruise control in heavy motorway traffic.
- Don’t take your speed camera detector to France. Simply having one in the car, regardless of whether it works on GPS or radar signals, is an offence.
- In Greece, you may not carry a petrol can in the car.
- In Belgium it is illegal to leave a dog unattended in a parked car.
- German motorists follow the “zipper law” - If traffic starts queuing where two lanes merge into one, the Reissverschluss law applies. It means vehicles from each lane must give way one at a time.
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