The Icelandic Road Administration has installed two new speed cameras on the Ring Road in South Iceland, just east of the town of Selfoss. RÚV reports that the cameras will go into use on March 1.
The cameras are part of the government’s road safety plan, says the Icelandic Road Administration, which aims to reduce traffic speed throughout the country as well as the number of road accidents. The government passed a number of new traffic laws that went into effect on January 1 this year, including permitting authorities to ban or limit traffic to reduce pollution, lowering the maximum blood alcohol level permitted for drivers from 0.05% to 0.02%, and officially making it illegal to drive through red lights (this was previously a traffic regulation, but had not been made into law).
The digital cameras will send images of speeding violations directly to the police (photos will only be taken of vehicles in violation of the speed limit).
Unless otherwise marked, the general speed limit is 50 km/h in urban areas and 30 km/hr in residential areas, 80 km/h on gravel roads in rural areas, and 90 km/h on asphalt roads. For more information, see the Icelandic Transport Authority’s “How to Drive in Iceland” page, here.
