Speed limits, safety distances and driving in traffic
Limits
- Built-up area (þéttbýli): 50 km/h unless signed otherwise.
- Rural paved roads: generally 90 km/h.
- Rural gravel roads: generally 80 km/h.
- Posted signs override the general limit, including lower limits near schools, tunnels and bridges.
- Towing a trailer: lower limits apply, typically 80 km/h on paved roads; check the sign.
- Passing roadworks or an accident: slow down, even without a posted limit.
Safety distance
Use the three-second rule in dry conditions; double it on gravel, ice or in rain. In tunnels and poor visibility, increase further. A safe gap is what lets you stop if the car ahead brakes suddenly.
Worked example
A gravel road is signed 80 km/h and it is raining. The legal maximum is still 80, but the safe speed is much lower; the exam asks what is safe, not only what is legal. If you cannot stop within the distance you can see, you are driving too fast for the conditions.
Traps
Treating 90 km/h as a target on every rural road; forgetting that 50 is the default in towns, not 60; tailgating to "keep up"; ignoring that a lower sign applies until cancelled.