RideLust

American drivers don’t have a monopoly on weird when it comes to traffic laws. In fact, some of the traffic laws on the books in other countries make our seem downright sensible. Yesterday, we gave you the top ten bizarre traffic laws for the United States. As promised, here are the top ten strangest driving laws from the rest of the world, as collected on Nowpublic, Goarticles and Journeyetc.

• In Luxembourg, there’s nothing illegal about driving a car without a windshield. On the other hand, it is illegal to drive a car without windshield wipers, regardless of whether or not it has a a windshield. And no, a squeegee mounted on your finger, to wipe your helmet’s face shield, does not count.

In Luxembourg, you still need windshield wipers.

• In Singapore, pedestrians REALLY have the right of way; it’s illegal to come within 50 meters of a pedestrian crossing the street. Unlike New York City, you don’t get bonus points for a near miss.

A scene you'd never see in New York City.

• In Beijing, on the other hand, pedestrians had better damn well look before crossing the street. It’s illegal for a driver to stop at a pedestrian crossing, and doing so can result in a fine of about one dollar.

Would YOU try to cross that on foot?

• In Saudi Arabia, women are banned from driving on the majority of public roads and cannot ride bicycles. Driving for women is allowed on private roads only, generally within a residential community.

They can't drive, but they can Jetski.

• In Japan, drivers must be especially careful after a rainstorm, since spraying a pedestrian with muddy water can result in a fine of $65. In New York, on the other hand, drivers AIM for the puddles, especially if there’s a crowd of people waiting to cross the street.

Bad for Japan, about right for NYC.

• In South Africa, herders with livestock have the right of way when crossing a road. Failure to yield can get REAL expensive, with fines topping out at $535. Remember, this isn’t West Virginia, so you don’t get to keep it if you run it down.

Rush hour traffic jam.

• Taxis in Australia must carry a bale of hay in the trunk. I’m at a loss on this one; anyone from down under that can explain why? It’s not for drunken, vomiting passengers, since sawdust works much better than hay.

An Australian hay bale inspector, hard at work.

• You’ve got to love the Brits: it is in fact legal for a male to urinate in public, provided he’s doing it on the rear wheel of his vehicle and his right hand is on the vehicle. I don’t think this law applies to motorcycles, however.

Splash guards keep your tires clean.

• In Denmark, you must pull over and yield to an overtaking horse drawn carriage, but only if you’re making the horse uncomfortable. If you and the horse are still on good terms, I’m guessing you don’t need to yield. Of course if you’re being passed by a horse drawn carriage, you’re driving too damn slow, anyway.

How do I know if I'm making him nervous if he won't make eye contact?

• When driving the Autobahn in Germany, make sure you’ve got enough gas to get where you’re going. Not only is it a bummer to run out on the Autobahn, it’s also illegal and could result in a hefty fine.

How's your fuel gauge?

Know of any laws even weirder than what I’ve got listed? Send them in and I’ll be happy to update the article.

http://www.journeyetc.com/travel-rants/weirdest-traffic-laws/