Which European country has the strictest driving penalties?

Driving around countries in Europe, friends in tow, is something we all dream of when learning to drive.

With us all looking ahead to when we can travel again, we’ve looked into the countries across Europe with the strictest laws and most expensive fines. So where in Europe has the strictest driving penalties?

Delving into the most common driving penalties, we’ve revealed which countries across Europe are charging the most for driving offences including speeding, drink-driving, and using a mobile phone to reveal the strictest countries in Europe for driving fines.

Top 10 strictest countries in Europe for driving fines

Norway is the strictest country for driving fines, with an overall score of 6.43 out of 10. Fines for speeding on the motorway are as much as €711, drink driving will set you back €5,783, while fines for running a red light are a minimum of €756.

The 10 least strict European countries for driving fines

Albania is the least strict country in Europe for driving fines, with a score of 1.82 out of 10. Fines are as low as €8 for using your phone whilst driving, €10 for running a red light, €20 as a minimum for speeding on the motorway, and the highest fine costs €175 for drink driving.

The most and least expensive driving fines

Motorway speeding

Norway is the most expensive country in Europe for speeding fines, starting at a minimum of €711 when driving over the 110 KM/H speed limit.

The Czech Republic is the least expensive country for motorway speeding fines, starting at a minimum of €19 for exceeding the 130km/h speed limit.

Speed cameras

Italy has the highest number of speed cameras across the country with a huge 8,073 speed cameras.

Slovakia has the lowest number of speed cameras in Europe, with only 13 across the entire country!

Drink driving minimum

Norway has the highest fines for the drink driving limit, starting at €5,783 for being over the 0.02% blood alcohol limit, in comparison to the Czech Republic with fines starting from just €19 for having anything over 0% alcohol in your blood.

Alcohol blood limit

The strictest alcohol blood limits in Europe are in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia which only accept a 0% alcohol blood limit.

The least strict alcohol blood limits are in the United Kingdom which accept a 0.08% alcohol blood limit.

Using a mobile phone

The least expensive fine for using your mobile phone in Europe can be found in Albania where fines are as little as €8.

In comparison, the most expensive fine for using your mobile phone can be found in the Netherlands at €230!

Running a read light

When it comes to running a red light, Albania again has the least expensive driving fine at €10 minimum penalty.

The most expensive fine for ignoring the stop signal can be found in Norway with penalties of up to €756, which is a huge €746 difference!

Methodology

Using data from Speeding Europe, SCBD and Auto Europe to collate a variety of information in regards to fines, speed limits and alcohol blood limits to give us a full data set on driving fines across Europe.

To calculate an overall score for each country, we gave each one a normalised score out of ten for each factor. We then took an average of these seven scores to reach our final score.