Which Side Of Road Does Spain Drive On?
Driving in Spain FAQs –
- Can I drive my car in Spain? Yes. You must have a valid UK licence and V5 document, along with sufficient insurance and breakdown cover for your trip. You should also familiarise yourself with the laws around driving in Spain before you set off to keep yourself and other road users safe.
- How do I drive to Spain? Getting to Spain by car from the UK is probably easier than you think. Firstly, you’ll need to take your car across the Channel to Calais on either a ferry from Dover or the Eurotunnel from Folkestone. Once you’re in Calais, drive down through France and across the border into Spain, which should take around 10 hours. Alternatively, you can take a ferry from Plymouth or Portsmouth to the northern Spanish cities of Bilbao and Santander.
- What side of the road do they drive on in Spain? Unlike in the UK, motorists drive on the right-hand side of the road in Spain and overtake on the left – which can take some adjustment if you’re used to driving on the left.
- Can you drive in Spain with a UK licence? Yes, you can legally drive in Spain with your UK-issued driving licence without the need to apply for an International Driving Permit.
- Do I need extra insurance to drive in Spain? Spain and the UK are both part of the Green Card System, a Europe-wide scheme allowing all countries to recognise foreign vehicle insurance policies of visiting motorists, so it’s quite possible your existing insurance will cover you. However, before setting off on your trip, you should contact your insurance provider to make sure that no additional cover is required, as you won’t be able to buy short-term cover at the border entry points.
- Is driving in Spain dangerous? Driving in Spain is generally very easy once you get used to driving on the right side of the road. All main roads are in good condition and well signposted, and the toll motorways are very quiet. Be careful if you go off the beaten track, however, as the quality of the roads and signage can vary considerably.
- Do I need a GB/UK sticker to drive in Spain? You will need to display a UK sticker on the rear of your car. GB stickers have been discontinued.
- Do I need headlamp converters in Spain? Yes. Depending on your car, you will either need deflector stickers or have to adjust the beam manually. This is so you don’t dazzle oncoming traffic when driving on the right side of the road at night.
- What is the national speed limit in Spain? The national speed limit on Spanish motorways is 120km/h (75 mph). If you’re driving on a main road outside a built-up area, the limit is 90km/h, and for built-up areas it’s 50km/h.
- Do I need snow chains in Spain? Although Spain is known for its sunny climate, it does snow in some areas. In certain circumstances, particularly on mountain passes, the use of snow chains or winter tyres may become compulsory.
- How much are toll roads in Spain? The amount you pay per toll will depend on the length of the road and the area you’re driving in. Visit https://www. viamichelin. com to calculate the cost of your journey.
- How do you pay for toll roads in Spain? There are two ways to pay for tolls – electronically or manually. On most toll roads, you take a ticket when you enter the motorway and pay when you exit at a booth with a green arrow. Simply insert your ticket into the machine and it will show you how much you need to pay. You can either pay by cash or credit card. If you regularly use toll roads, it’s worth signing up to the Telepeaje scheme which takes you through the fast lane without having to stop and pay.
- Does Spain use mph or kph? Spain uses the metric system for all road signs, so speed limits and other signs including distance are shown in kilometres and metres.
- Is it compulsory to carry a spare wheel in Spain? For Spanish residents, a spare tyre or puncture repair kit must be carried in the vehicle, but if your car is registered outside Spain this is not obligatory. You should, however, make sure you check all your tyres before setting off. The legal minimum depth of tyre tread is 1. 6mm for the full circumference of the tyre.
Is driving in Spain easy?
The main highways of Spain are very good and driving is easy. Drive on the right lane because Spanish drivers are very aggresive. There are many large restaurants along the highways where you can take a break and eat something.
Why do British say bloody?
Bloody – Don’t worry, it’s not a violent word… it has nothing to do with ” blood “. ” Bloody ” is a common word to give more emphasis to the sentence, mostly used as an exclamation of surprise. Something may be ” bloody marvellous ” or ” bloody awful “.
Why did Sweden changed driving side?
It was a normal Sunday in September 1967 in Sweden, except that every driver on the road was about to have to change the way he or she did things. At 5 a. , traffic switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. And a bit of mayhem ensued, what Time Magazine called a “brief but monumental” traffic jam. (Jan Collsiöö/public domain) Now known as “Dagen H Day” — Dagen means “day,” and the “H” stands for “Högertrafik,” the Swedish word for “right-hand traffic” — the story was mostly forgotten until the photo resurfaced on social news site reddit Friday. It generated hundreds of comments. Sweden initiated the driving change in part because its neighbors already drove on the right side of the road. Many members of the Swedish parliament also argued that the left-hand vehicles Swedes drove had caused too many head-on collisions.
“Do you want to see your mother killed?” one politician dramatically said, arguing in favor of the change. The country’s citizens, however, were not convinced. In 1955, a national referendum found that more than 80 percent of Swedes opposed the driving change, according to Volvo.
So a national campaign of persuasion was begun, and the Dagen H logo was soon emblazoned on milk cartons, shorts and even women’s underwear. On the day of the change, only 150 minor accidents were reported. Traffic accidents over the next few months went down.
Why do British drive on the right?
Visitors to Great Britain are quick to spot things that make Britons special. These include a love of their tea, the Queen, the British pound and driving on the left. Many continental Europeans think the Brits are just quirky. But they shouldn’t be so quick to judge as driving on the left is neither a quirk, nor simply an excuse to do things differently than the rest of the world.
- No, Britons were allegedly the first people to figure out the best and safest way to pass one another on the street;
- This phenomenon dates back centuries, long before the ages of automobiles, to a time when horses and carriages were the main means of transport;
There were more pedestrians, too. Back then, you could never be too sure who you might run into on the street, so people always needed to be on their guard. As the majority of people tend to be right-handed, walking on the left seemed more sensible. This way, you could more quickly draw your rapier and stab an enemy, if need be.
But that’s just one of many unproven tales about how left-hand traffic came to be. Centuries ago, it was also customary for commoners to walk on the right. The aristocracy, however, apparently found it much more polite to pass one another on the left.
Then came the French Revolution, and a new motto rang throughout Europe: liberty, equality, fraternity. Suddenly it became chic for the nobility to walk on the right like everyone else, not to mention imperative to their survival. Driving on the right became synonymous with democracy and Napoleon’s conquests throughout Europe.
The Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia, Poland and Germany have all been firm supporters of right-hand traffic ever since. Left-hand traffic only managed to keep its stronghold in the British colonies. True, the British Empire did have a quite a few of them, and when, for example, North Americans gained their independence from the Brits, they were also quick to kiss left-hand traffic goodbye.
Will the day ever come when the whole world does it the same way? The last time the topic of driving on the left seriously came under scrutiny in its motherland was during the 1960s. Completely changing traffic is an incredibly expensive undertaking, and not without its dangers.
After all, people have a tough time changing their ways overnight. Indeed, no place is that truer than right here. And so, at many pedestrian crossings, tourists are politely reminded to either look left or look right as the case may be.
That’s the British for you. Not only do they love their tea, Queen, currency and driving on the left, they also love having guests. Thank you, Great Britain.
Why do Americans work so much?
“Timer Clock” by Free-Photos. Pixabay License via Pixabay. In this excerpt from Spending Time: The Most Valuable Resource , Daniel S. Hamermesh examines the American desire to spend more time working than in other similarly wealthy countries. The usual workweek in the US — less than forty hours per week — does not seem onerous.
In Western Europe, the length of workweeks is also around forty hours. Yet somehow actual hours worked per year in the US exceed those in Western Europe, often by a lot. The explanation is quite simple: American workers have much shorter vacations and many fewer public holidays than other workers.
Over the last forty years, people in other wealthy countries have made the political choice to accept slightly lower annual incomes in exchange for less time working. Americans have not. There are various explanations for Americans’ “extra” time at work. Perhaps there is a special American work ethic that values time spent at work more than in other countries.
- Maybe, but Americans’ work orientation was the same as that in Western Europe in the 1970s, and it is hard to believe that the cultures changed so much and diverged so considerably over so short a period of time that it has caused Americans now to be working so much more than Europeans;
Another explanation is that American taxes on work — payroll and labor income taxes — are low compared to those in most rich countries, giving workers incentives to seek more work and providing employers incentives to offer it to them. This argument is difficult to credit, since Americans’ tax rates have been lower than those in Europe for over fifty years, yet until the late twentieth century, Americans’ work time differed little from Europeans’.
- Japanese tax rates are also low, yet the Japanese too work increasingly less than Americans;
- Even taking some high estimates of the impact of taxes on labor force participation or weekly work hours, the US-European difference in tax rates cannot explain the differences in work time;
Another possibility is an argument made in the early 1990s that Americans work harder because the barrage of advertising that assaults us daily leads us to desire more goods — leads to consumerism — that must be financed by the additional work that we do.
The premise of the argument was correct — we are constantly deluged by advertisements, including now when we surf the Web, but so too are people in other rich countries. Unless one believes that Americans are more easily manipulated by advertisers than Europeans or others, why should they be more desirous of “things” than people elsewhere? More importantly, why should we care if people choose to work a lot? The issue is not that I work a lot — that’s my own choice.
Rather, it is that I may be addicted to work — I may be a workaholic, someone who can’t let go and who suffers withdrawal symptoms when not working. So what if I am a workaholic — isn’t that my own business? No, no more than my being a drug addict, a three-pack-a-day cigarette smoker, or an alcoholic is my own business.
If I am a workaholic, and a high-paid, highly placed, powerful one, my workaholism will spill over onto the work time of my subordinates. Executives will work long hours and insist that their assistants do the same if they wish to keep their jobs.
The assistants will put in those long hours and will remain in their jobs, since they are paid more than they would receive starting off anew elsewhere. Workaholics have similar impacts on their families. I may work long hours in my later years because I have become a workaholic, working longer and enjoying less leisure with my wife than she would want.
- Our family income is higher as a result, but my wife would happily give up some of the extra dollars to be able to spend more time enjoying leisure with me;
- She is better off than if she divorced me but not as well off as she would be if I worked less, earned less, and spent more time with her;
Workaholism is an addiction that affects other people. It generates what economists call “externalities,” negative impacts on others that we produce by our freely chosen activities. The discussion of why Americans’ work habits are now different from other rich countries has either been negative or theoretical or institutional, but these explanations are consistent using people’s behavior. Daniel S. Hamermesh is Distinguished Scholar, Barnard College, Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin and Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2013 he received the Mincer Award for Lifetime Contributions to Labor Economics of the Society of Labor Economists and the IZA Prize in Labor of the Institute for the Study of Labor.