Most of us have trouble adhering to UK motoring laws, even the simple ones such as the speed limit, so spare a thought for anyone that has fallen foul of any of these strange laws of the road from around the world.

France – High-visibility jackets must be kept in the passenger compartment of a car.

Picture by llamnuds of Flickr.

In October 2008 the French authorities introduced a law stipulating that all cars must carry a high visibility jacket in order to protect drivers that had broken down.

Which is fair enough and many parts of Europe also require motorists to carry a reflective triangle in the boot of their car for the very same reason.

But French police have been stopping and fining drivers for keeping high visibility jackets in the boot of their car and not, as the law says, in the car’s passenger compartment!

But if you fall foul of this legislation whilst travelling in France you could simply do as the French do and not pay the fine, go on strike or set a cow on fire!

China – It is illegal to sound your horn in downtown Shanghai

Picture by C J Sorg on Flickr.

Fed up of the constant cacophony of car horns, Shanghai’s powers that be have now made it an offence, punishable by a fine of up to $26, to sound your car horn in the city centre.

It is a difficult law for police to enforce as they must prove that the car horn was honked and this could lead to an amusing game for motorists who, in a collective ‘I’m Spartacus’ moment, could have law enforcers wildly running from vehicle to vehicle through simply tooting on their horn!

This law has also led to many motorists having their horns modified to play music or sound a human-voiced warning instead of a honk.

And it has also seen a massive downturn in the country’s car sticker industry with sales of the classic ‘Honk if you Bonk!’ sticker going through the floor…apparently!

Thailand – Many of Bangkok’s one-way roads change direction at certain times of the day.

Bangkok’s traffic congestion is amongst the worst in the world with some areas of the city often reduced to a 4-5mph crawl.

This is something that the Thai authorities sought to combat through the introduction of traffic lights and clockwise one-way systems around the city.

But, for some reason, they saw fit to change the direction of the one way systems at various points during the day and so you get the current system whereby people seem to drive in whatever direction they like on whatever side of the road suits them!

Philippines – In Manila, your number plate dictates the days on which you can drive.

Manila may have a worse traffic problem than even Bangkok and so instead of the Thai government’s ground breaking and bumper bending use of the one-way system, the authorities in the Philippines just banned certain people from driving on certain days.

The number plate system works as follows: plates ending in a 1 or 2 are banned from driving on Mondays, 3 or 4 on Tuesdays, 5 or 6 on Wednesdays and so on. Saturdays and Sundays are exempt from the ban as they are public holidays.

Given the opportunity of a long weekend, are number plates that end in 1, 2, 9 or 0 more expensive?

Australia – Taxis must carry a bale of hay in the boot.

Picture by psd on Flickr

This law is thought to date back to the times when taxis were horse drawn carriages and a bale of hay in the boot was a requirement to feed a hungry horse.

This law existed in Britain under section 51 of the London Hackney Carriage Act of 1831 and was only actually amended in 1976!

But the Australian government has still not got around to making this amendment and so, technically, it is still a legal requirement to carry a bale of hay in the boot of an Australian taxi!

Finland – Taxi drivers must pay royalty fees if playing music in their cabs whilst carrying paying customers.

In an extension of the royalty system that operates in many countries whereby owners of businesses open to the public must pay royalty fees for playing music, recorded or otherwise, the Finnish authorities have seen fit to extend this to taxi cabs.

Many cab users wish this could be extended to charging taxi drivers for incessantly talking rubbish!

El Salvador – Drink driving in San Salvador carries the death penalty.

Anyone caught driving under the influence of alcohol in the country’s capital, San Salvador, may be punished with death by firing squad!

It’s irresponsible, dangerous and possibly fatal, but the death penalty?! To make matters worse, the sentence is often carried out immediately by a hastily assembled firing squad!

But it could make you think twice before ordering shots!

USA – take your pick

The accepted home of all things weird and maybe even wonderful, the US doesn’t disappoint when it comes to crazy road rules. No pithy explanations needed, here are some of the best…

• Alabama It is illegal drive while blindfolded.
• Alaska It is illegal to tether a dog to the roof of a car.
• California In Glendale it is illegal to jump from a car travelling at 65mph.
• Minnesota Driving a truck that leaves mud or dirt on any road in Minnetonka will have the driver charge with being a public nuisance and harming the peace, safety and general welfare of the town.
• Missouri It is illegal to honk the horn of someone else’s car.
• Nevada It is illegal to place a bench or chair in the middle of the road in Reno.
• New York In Sag Harbour it is illegal to disrobe when in your car.
• North Carolina It is illegal to play in traffic.
It is illegal to drive through a cemetery if you’re not there to dig a grave or bury someone.
It is illegal to drive on the pavement
• Oregon If you drive on the pavement you must give way to pedestrians.
Police can fine you if you leave your car door open longer than deemed necessary.

UK – not quite as crazy as the US but, again, take your pick

Obviously we all try to stick to the rules when driving in the UK, staying within the speed limits, ensuring our car insurance is valid and making sure we don’t carry a corpse in to a taxi cab…hang on!

• It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.
• In London, it is illegal to flag down a taxi cab if you have the plague.
• It is illegal to urinate in public unless urinating against the rear wheel of your car whilst keeping your right hand on the vehicle.

Canada – In Toronto it is illegal to ride a streetcar on a Sunday after eating garlic.

Picture by OliverN5 on Flickr.

It seems that, in never wanting to be outdone by their cousins from the US, the Canadian authorities have devised potentially the most convoluted and arbitrary law anywhere in the world.

Eating garlic on a Sunday is fine. Riding a streetcar on a Sunday is also fine. But you can forget about riding a streetcar on a Sunday if you’ve eaten garlic!

And this from a state that is widely populated by French people!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 at 12:07 am and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. Tags: car,  high visibility jacket,  high visibility jackets,  law,  law enforcers,  Picture,