Romania

Touring tips

Drinking and driving: Strictly forbidden. Nil percentage of alcohol is allowed in a drivers’ blood. Driving Licenses can be suspended for a maximum of 90 days or prison sentence for offenders.

Driving license: The minimum age at which an Irish license holder may drive a temporarily imported car and / or motorcycle (for up to 90 days) is 18.

Fines: Police can impose fines and collect them on the spot, a receipt must be obtained. A vehicle which is illegally parked may be clamped and removed.

If a fine is paid within 48 hours, the fine amount is halved.

Fuel: Lead replacement petrol (95 & 98 octane), unleaded petrol, Diesel and LPG are available. Petrol in a can is permitted (but it must be empty when leaving Romania). Tax is payable on petrol and diesel in the vehicle tank when leaving Romania. Credit cards are accepted at many stations; check with your card issuer for usage in Romania before travel. Payment is usually made in local currency.

Lights: It is forbidden to drive at night if vehicle lighting is faulty. Additional headlamps are prohibited. Dipped headlights must be used outside built up areas during the day.

Motorcycles: Use of dipped headlights during the day are compulsory. Wearing of crash helmets is compulsory for driver and passenger of machines 50cc and over.

Motor Insurance: Green Card / third party motor insurance is compulsory. Drivers of vehicles registered abroad who are not in possession of a valid green card must take out short term insurance at the frontier.

Passengers/Children in cars: Child under 12 cannot travel as a front seat passenger.

Seat belts: It is compulsory for front / rear seat occupants to wear seat belts, if fitted.

Speed limits: Standard legal limits, which may be varied by signs, for private vehicles without trailers are: 90 km/h in built-up areas 50 km/h, outside built-up areas, 100 km/h on dual carriageways and 130km/h on Motorways. No minimum speed on motorways.

A 10 km/h reduction of the standard speed limit applies if towing. A driver who has held a license for less than 1 year is restricted to a speed limit of 20 km/h below the indicated speed.

The speed limit for mopeds is 45 km/h inside and outside built up areas.

Compulsory equipment in Romania

• First aid kit
• Fire extinguisher
• Red warning triangle – not required for two wheeled vehicles
• Reflective jacket – All persons exiting a vehicle to walk on the road when in a breakdown or emergency situation must wear a reflective jacket.

Other rules/requirements in Romania

It is against the law to drive a dirty car. If a temporarily imported vehicle is damaged before arrival in Romania, the importer must ask a Romanian Customs or Police Officer to write a report on the damage so that he can export the vehicle without problems. If any damage occurs inside the country a report must be obtained at the scene of the accident. Damaged vehicles may only be taken out of the country on production of this evidence.

“Claxonarea interzisa” – use of horn prohibited. The use of the horn is prohibited between 2200hrs & 0600hrs in built up areas.

Spiked tyres are prohibited.

The use of snow chains is recommended for winter journeys to the mountains and may be compulsory in case of heavy snow.

Since the 1^st October 2010, the road tax ‘stickers’ known as “rovinieta” have been replaced by a system of electronic tax.

The tax is payable at the National Road Administration offices at border crossing points, from post office branches in Romania and some petrol stations.

The driver must give details of the vehicle, his identity and place of residence. You must advise of the number of days in Romania and pay the tax accordingly. This information is then entered into a database of the Road Information Centre. Cameras are situated along roads. This enables the traffic police to check your vehicle number plate against the database. The cost depends on the vehicle emissions category and period of use in Romania.

Fine for non-compliance or expired road tax is between €50 and €900.

This information should be read in conjunction with general advice for motoring in Europe.

Toll Prices

As is the case in many of its neighboring countries, a vignette tolling system is in operation in Romania on motorways and main roads out of town. Vignettes are a small, colored sticker affixed to motor vehicles in the Romania and some other European nations to indicate road tolls have been paid. Vignettes can be purchased at border crossing, in petrol stations and Post Offices.

2011 Vignette prices are as follows: