Tourist Caught Speeding - Speed tickets in Iceland

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
Iceland24, October 2014

Regret over Iceland's first police shooting

Icelandic police have shot dead a man who was firing a shotgun in his apartment in the early hours of Monday. It is the first time someone has been killed in an armed police operation in Iceland, officials say. Tear gas canisters were fired through the windows in an attempt to subdue the 59-year-old, who lived in the east of the capital, Reykjavik.

When this failed he was shot after firing at police entering the building. Between 15 and 20 officers took part. Back-up was provided by special forces. The tear gas was used when the man, who has not been named, failed to respond to police attempts to contact him and continued shooting.

When they entered the apartment, two members of the special forces were injured by shotgun fire - one in the face, the other in the hand.

Police stated during a press conference earlier today that policemen were shot at when trying to enter the gunman’s apartment. On one occasion, police shot at the man in an attempt to overcome him. The man was rushed to the hospital’s emergency ward but was pronounced dead.

Motives unclear

“All available members of the police force were deployed, and they tried to subdue him, but it was not successful,'' Reykjavik Metropolitan Police Commissioner Stefan Eriksson told a press conference, according to local media website Visir.

“The man began to shoot out the window of the apartment and it was decided to take action.'' The motives of the man, who has not been named, are unclear. According to RUV, Iceland's national television station, the gunman had been making threats to his neighbors. Shotguns for hunting are legal in Iceland.

Many Icelanders believe that the country rarely sees gun violence in part because handguns are banned.

Source: BBC News, Icelandreview and Aljazeera
Iceland24, December 2013