As we approach the end of our trip, I’ve been contemplating the differences between the various EU countries when it comes to driving and towing, and the Schengen area countries in particular. Are the rules of the road harmonious and joined up? Not at all is my conclusion! In no particular order therefore:
In Spain, you are restricted to 90 kph when towing on a motorway, whilst in Portugal it’s 100 kph. Italy restrict you to 80 kph, along with all wagons, but they take no notice of the speed limit, and frankly neither do the car drivers. All three countries have tolls for their motorways, with Portugal requiring registration beforehand.
The speed limit in Croatia is also 80 kph, and there are no tolls, but Slovenia (80 kph) has the dreaded vignette rather than a toll – a minimum 7 days for about €18 as does Austria (80 kph) – their vignette is a minimum of 10 days for about €24. Switzerland (or Swizzerland as I call it) has a 14 month vignette for each of the car and the caravan separately at a cost of €42 per vehicle and once more restricts you to 80 kph. I plan to keep returning to Switzerland as often as possible over the next year, just to get my monies worth!
Germany has no tolls for cars, whether towing or not, and restricts towing vehicles and wagons to 80 kph. However, quite a bit of their motorway network still has no speed restriction for cars at all. To counter what could clearly be a bit of a hazard, they don’t allow wagons or any towing vehicle to overtake between 7 in the morning and 7 in the evening on two lane stretches of motorway, which means the outside lane is kept free for the faster cars. How clever is that?
Belgium (no tolls) have ‘normal’ speed restrictions on their motorways of 120 kph for cars, but towing vehicles do not have any separate, lower towing limit, so they can go as fast as all the other cars! Wagons are however restricted to 80 kph, and seem to stick to that, so obviously it’s well policed. Finally Holland allows towing vehicles to travel at 90 kph, and has no tolls, and very little traffic.
The quietest roads and motorways with the most courteous drivers are to be found in Spain, and Holland and Slovenia were quite quiet too. The busiest roads by far were in Italy and Croatia, where, coincidentally both had the worst drivers too. Germany had the most roadworks and the best road surfaces, and Portugal probably had the most potholes, despite all the EU money they’ve had to improve their roads. Germany does however have the annoying habit of closing road junctions (usually the one I want!) without any notice whatsoever, and no indication as to what you need to do instead; you’re just left to your own devices!
However, one thing they have in common is that they are all much better than our roads – much quieter, better thought out junctions, clever use of crawler lanes, and of course in far better condition.
I’m not looking forward to being back on UK roads once more……