The Weirdest Driving Laws in Foreign Countries

It is a finable offense to have a dirty car in Russia. They dug deep into this law on a Lonely Planet forum and the consenus is that fines are only levied if the car's registration is so dirty that it is illegible. Unfortunately, the general consenus was also that Russian traffic cops will stop you for whatever they want whenever they want regardless of the cleanliness of your vehicle.

You will need to yield to animal herders if you are ever cruising in South Africa. So, don't be surprised if you have to wait for sheep, goats, and the like to cross the road. The herders have rules of their own to follow. If you plan on legally herding animals, you must display a warning 150 meters ahead of and behind your herd. The warning must be conveyed via red light during the night and by red flag during the day.

As it turns out, those Bulgarians are all about safety. Not only must you always be ready to put out fires, but you must also make sure you have a red warning triangle, reflective vest, and a first-aid kit in your car. You might laugh now, but if a fire breaks out or you feel the need to impress a passing motorist with your cool reflective vest, you'll be glad you were prepared.

We can't imagine that cabbies of modern London or Sydney are forced to keep oats or hay on their person. There was a time, however, that hay was a key part of the taxi driver's profession. Of course, back then, taxis were pulled by horses. It seems that the busy lawmakers of these countries just haven't gotten around to updating the books yet. There could be benefits to keeping this law around, though. Wouldn't it be nice if you could threaten to report a cabbie for this violation when he refuses you service to your off-the-beaten-path apartment?

Much like the Bulgarians, Serbs are quite sensitive to automobile safety. Though you don't need a fire extinguisher on your person, you are going to have to pack a reflective jacket, warning triangle and first aid kit there as well. In place of the extinguisher, you get to carry a tow bar and a minimum of 3m of towing rope with you.

Some people see ridiculous laws like this and get angry at the bureaucracy of government. When we see laws like this, our minds drift to the idiot who made the fatal mistake that got this law put on the books. Just like Bloomberg's soda ban and laws requiring you to clean up after your pet, sometimes, the government has to step in when common sense utterly fails.

You might be surprised to hear that this law wasn't conceived as an eco-friendly initiative. The intent here is to fight a different kind of pollution: noise pollution. The Swiss are not allowed the mow the lawn or wash their cars on Sunday morning; they are also forbidden from making excessive noise late on a Saturday night. All of you night owls out there can probably appreciate an attempt to preserve that precious lazy Sunday shuteye.

If you have unpleasant breath and you live in Nova Scotia or British Columbia, fear not. Only in Ontario is stinky breath a crime. If you have just eaten garlic, you cannot ride in streetcar on a Sunday in the great city of Toronto. We have to imagine that this law is lightly enforced, but we're sure that the rest of the world's cabbies would be eternally grateful if this law were imposed internationally.

If this law were enforced in middle America, about half the guys in high school would be in jail. Of course, that wouldn't be a terribly different state of affairs.

A British travel guide recently reported that there is a law on the books banning drinking water while driving in Cyprus. While this may technically be the law, it doesn't look like Cypriots are getting pulled over en masse for staying hydrated. There are ample articles online preparing tourists for driving in Cyprus and none of them mention criminalized H20.

Unsurprisingly, this law was recently suspended. But, if you were driving in France in 2012, you were required to be able to check your BAC at the drop of a hat. The requirement turned out to be a logistical nightmare; stores couldn't keep enough breathalyzers in stock to meet citizen's required needs. To be fair, it looks like the law worked: Auto fatalities dropped by eight percent while the breathalyzers were required.

As was the case with your boy's shitty short film and your other boy's shitty DJ samples, Finnish taxi drivers have to pay musicians for the right to use their jams. In Finland, cab drivers must pay for the right to play the radio while they are carrying fares. Though the bill is only roughly $40 a year, many cheap cabbies simply turn off the tunes when they take customers.

After having more than our fair share of work days ruined by some intense puddle water stains on our finest work khakis, we are ready for this law to go worldwide.

Though this law struck us as a bit crazy at first, we slowly came around to the Spanish way of thinking. Those of you who wear contact lenses or glasses know how easy it is to lose a lens or bend your frames. If you happened to have an optical misfortune while driving, who wouldn't want to have a back-up at the ready?

If you thought the United States had some convoluted laws, look no further than the South Pacific. Here's how this law works: if you're license plate ends with a 1 or 2, you are not allowed on the roads on Monday. If the last letter on your license plate is a 3 or a 4, you can't drive on Tuesday. If it's a 5 or a 6, then no driving on Wednesday, and so on and so forth. We assume that this law is aimed at reducing congestion and pollution. It's hard not to appreciate a smaller carbon foot print, but you have to wonder if there is a less confusing way to go green.