Charges due to speeding violations by foreign visitors to Iceland have risen by 137 percent between years, according to records by police near Vík, south Iceland. Charges against Icelandic drivers for the same offense have gone up by just over 40 percent. This is reported by Fréttabladid today.
According to police, those driving at the greatest speed are in the vast majority of cases foreign drivers. “This high ratio of foreign drivers is certainly worthy of consideration in my view,” says Alexander Alexanderson, head of the Vík police unit. “We feel that traffic signs notifying drivers of the speed limit are sorely lacking. You can’t just have the odd sign many kilometers apart.”
Most foreign drivers choose to pay their fines on the spot. The sum total of fines paid by foreign drivers so far this year is some ISK 5 million (USD 72,600). The total number of recorded traffic accidents is similar to the first eight months of last year, and foreign drivers are implicated in some 35 percent of cases.
