Iceland review - 2016, Qupperneq 78

76 ICELAND REVIEW
GOING
PLACES?
Overtaking on narrow dirt roads.
Overtaking on blind corners
or hills. Overtaking with lit-
tle distance between oncoming traffic.
Driving perhaps 120 kilometers per
hour (75 mph)—up to twice the speed
limit. Stopping without warning. Failing
to indicate. Driving in the middle of the
road. Generally showing no awareness of
surrounding traffic.
These actions could easily have result-
ed in accidents. Where were these peo-
ple going? Why were they in such a
rush? Did they really think it was OK
Shocked by drivers’
reckless behavior on
a recent road trip,
Zoë Robert offers
some advice on
driving in Iceland.

PHOTO BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
to drive like that? While Icelanders are
certainly not exempt from such criticism
and of course not all visitors are guilty,
I’m sorry to say that many of these driv-
ers were behind the wheel of rental cars;
that is to say, likely tourists.
A roundtrip from Reykjavík to the West
Fjords over the three-day Merchants’
Weekend—traditionally the biggest trav-
el weekend on the Icelandic calendar—in
late July left me appalled by the reckless
behavior of fellow drivers.
With a 34 percent year-over-year
increase in the number of visitors to
Iceland this year, there’s a record amount
of traffic on Iceland’s roads. A record
number of rental cars. A record number
of people who are unfamiliar with the
conditions. There have unsurprisingly
been more accidents involving tourists—
of the 1,324 people who were injured
in traffic in Iceland last year, 208 were
foreign tourists—including a number of
fatalities. There’s increasing awareness
among car hire companies and others
of the need to educate visitors about the
unique conditions and hazards of driving
in Iceland, but clearly a lot more needs
to be done.
Here are a few tips for your road trip
in Iceland:
• Drivers often report that it’s easy to
lose sense of how fast you’re driving in
Iceland without the usual markers like
trees, but don’t forget that the speed
limit outside urban areas in Iceland is
never more than 90 km/h (55 mph).
Remember that wearing your seat belt
is the law and could save your life.
• Not speeding is one thing but driv-
ing too slowly is another, encouraging
others to overtake, sometimes under
dangerous circumstances.
• There are long distances to be
covered and plenty to see, so plan
accordingly so you won’t find yourself
tempted to let your eyes wander from
the road or to speed. If you stop to take
photos, indicate and move your car off
the road. Don’t just stop on the side and
think it’s OK. You’re creating a poten-
tial hazard for other drivers. There are
enough dangers as it is.
• The road and weather conditions
in Iceland are different to what many
people are used to: gravel roads in plac-
es, single-lane bridges and other tour-
ists stopping on the spot. Then there’s