Higher fines for traffic offences
Finally you are on the Ring road, enjoying everything Iceland has to offer but be aware, 1st of May most fines for traffic offences/violations increased greatly. The second highest increase is 400% (which will not affect you, only car owners, not people in rental cars).
The absolutely highest raise is the fines for talking/texting on a cell phone without any hands free equipment while driving!. They raised that one with 800%. The reason being that a new study shows that 25% of all fatal accidents are caused by texting while driving, surpassing fatal accidents from while driving under the influence among the younger generation. It is believed the accident rate here due to texting is about the same but we are lucky so far that fatal accidents has not increased with the text accidents.
Here are a few of the new fines from 1st of May 2018:
| Offence | Before | Now |
| Driving above 67km/h where the limit is 30km/h | 40.000ISK | 90.000ISK |
| Driving above 88km/h where the limit is 88km/h | 40.000ISK | 65.000ISK |
| Driving over 160km/h where the limit is 90km/h | 150.000ISK | 240.000ISK |
| Using cellphone without hands-free equipment while driving | 5.000ISK | 40.000ISK |
| Driving over red light | 15.000ISK | 30.000ISK |
| Seat belt not in use while driving | 10.000ISK | 20.000ISK |
| No lights during day | 5.000ISK | 20.000ISK |
| Not respecting the “Give away” sign | 15.000ISK | 30.000ISK |
| Driving under the influence (Alcohol and/or drugs) | 20.000ISK | 60.000ISK |
| Highest driving under the influence fines | 240.000ISK | 320.000ISK |
| NEW: Bicycling over red light | – | 20.000ISK |
We of course want you to enjoy your vacation around Iceland and spend money on fun stuff and not on fines so take it easy out there. Follow the rules and regulations, park sensibly at all times (not in the middle of the road to take pics).
If you are unfortunate and do get into a minor accident with your rental car, read our post “Rental car damage assessment” to know how the damages are assessed.
Read more: Crazy drivers in Iceland
Safe travels! #GoIceland
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