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Road Rules and Traffic Regulations in Latvia - Driving Nuances

1. The length of roads in Latvia is more than 73 thousand km, and about 28,000 km of them are paved. All roads in the country are free to use. You will only need to pay an extra fee for entering the resort area of Jurmala - for conventional cars the price is 1 lats.
2. Jurmala can be reached by the Riga highway, the side roads of which are equipped with special machines. All motorists should insert coins into the machine and get a special ticket that proves payment. The ticket is valid during one day. If you do not plan to leave the resort area on the next day, you must return to the machines and pay again. Tickets must be preserved, because their presence is often checked by the police.

Nuances of Car Rental in Latvia

To save on your rental, we advise to book your car in advance. You will save the most if you do this several weeks or even several months prior to your trip. Rental offices in Latvia usually raise rental prices over time, based on the number of cars left available for the accounting period.

When looking for an exotic car (cabriolet, minivan or limousine), we advise to check in the rental offices located at airports, as they usually provide much wider choice comparing to offices in urban areas.

Upon receipt of invoices, bills and documents for your car at the rental location, please compare the obtained data with your voucher. Quite often, employees of rental offices in Latvia try to add optional charges or services without informing customers.

It is very important to pick up your car at the rental office in Latvia in a correct way. Prior to leaving the office, carefully inspect the car for various defects, and ensure that all the discovered defects are mentioned in your rental documents. In case of a non-compliance found, place a demand for correction to the rental officer.
3. Absolutely all parking lots in the central part of Riga are paid. Payments must be done for the use of parking space on weekdays from 8:00 to 20:00 and on Saturdays from 9:00 to 17:00. During other hours, parking is available free of charge. Similar rules are adopted in central parts of other major cities. The first hour of parking usually costs no more than 3 lati, and each next hour costs around 5 lati.
4. It is forbidden to park a car at a distance of less than 25m before and after public transport stops. Parking on sidewalks is also prohibited unless they have special road markings that allow parking. If you want to park your car on a country road, it must be located at a distance of 100m from any turns and more than 50m away from railway crossings.
5. In settlements, the maximum permitted speed is 50 km/h, and on country roads you can drive with the speed of 80 km/h. Highways adopt the 90 km/h speed limit. It is also worth mentioning that in many residential areas there is a special speed limit of 20 km/h. If there’s one, you will certainly see special road signs that warn drivers of the speed limit.
6. Drivers with the experience of less than two years are not allowed to drive faster than 80 km/h, even if greater speed is allowed at a certain road.
7. The implementation of traffic regulations is strictly monitored in the country. If you violate the regulations for the first time, and the speed was exceeded by less than 20 km/h, you may be not fined and will get only a warning. However, drivers shouldn’t relax and think that warning is the only punishment – if you make a traffic violation again, it will be really hard to escape a large fine. If you exceed the permitted speed by more than 60 km/h, your driving license may be deprived for a period of 3 to 6 months.
8. The permitted blood alcohol content in Latvia is 0.5 ppm. If you pass a breath test and the result ranges from 0.51 to 1.0 ppm, the fine for the violation will be from 300 to 450 latu. In addition to that, your driving license will be suspended for one year.
9. If the blood alcohol content ranges from 1.01 to 1.5 ppm, the minimum amount of the fine will be increased to 600 latu, and driving license suspension for two years will be imposed as an additional punishment. If the blood alcohol content is greater than 1.5 ppm, the minimum fine will estimate 800 latu, and the driving license will be suspended for 4 years.
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