Driving in Sweden
From Halal Explorer
In Sweden, driving is the best way to get around outside the big cities. While most roads are good, and traffic jams are rare, winter driving and animal collisions are major concerns.
Contents
Driving in Sweden Halal Travel Guide
In large parts of Sweden it is crucial to have a car, mainly due to the long distances, but also because public transport is scarce outside populated areas. In some areas where there is public transportation, thit is only active on working days, which means no or very limited public transportation on weekends and public holidays. You will encounter people of all ages and experience behind the wheel, which means some of them will drive excessively slow, well below speed limits, and perhaps even insecurely, which means they will lower their speed well in advance of a turn. Have this in mind when driving in Sweden.
Something unique for Sweden is the socalled A-traktor. It is a rebuilt (old) vehicle where the transmission is locked, so the maximum speed is 30 km/h. An A-traktor can be legally driven from the age of 15. It must be equipped with a large red triangular warning sign on the rear end, and must give way to other traffic by driving on the shoulder of the road when necessary. The A-traktor is mostly common in the nationside.
Legal requirements
Studded tires prohibited - Studded winter tires, while perfectly legal in winter elsewhere, are prohibited on some streets in Stockholm, Uppsala and Gothenburg.
All motor vehicles in Sweden must have their headlights on at all times, even in the middle of the day. Modern Swedish-sold cars always have the lights turned on automatically (unless you actively turn it off), so if you hire a vehicle in Sweden you won't have to worry about it. If you drive without lights you may find other drivers flashing their headlights at you to inform you. If your vehicle is fitted with daytime running lights these are sufficient in daytime.
It is mandatory that both driver and passengers use seatbelts, when the vehicle is equipped with them (antique cars (veteranfordon) are exempt). Crash helmets are mandatory for drivers and passengers of motorcycles. Motorcycle passengers under the age of seven may use an appropriate helmet — a riding helmet, skiing helmet or bicycle helmet.
From 1 December to 31 March all cars used in Sweden are required by law to have either studded tires or un-studded winter friction tires (or equivalent measures like snow chains). The tires must be marked, M+S, Monday - s, M.S, M&S, MS or Mud and Snow. This rule is valid only if the roads are considered to be in "winter conditions" by the local police, but that is so common in this period that you should not be without such tires. /winter-tyres Transport Ministry (in English)]
Be aware that there are streets in Stockholm, Uppsala and Gothenburg where studded tires are banned.
Roads
Ekerövägen 2008e - Priority road with 70 km/h limit (länsväg 261). The dashed line, common in Sweden, means you are allowed to use the shoulder to facilitate overtaking.}}
The European road network goes through Sweden, and mostly have higher standard than national or local roads. Some important roads are:
- E4 – from Helsingborg via Jönköping to Stockholm and all the way north to Haparanda at the Finnish border; see E4 through Sweden.
- E6 – from Trelleborg via Malmö to Gothenburg and Oslo, Norway; see E6 through Sweden and Norway.
- E10 – from Luleå to Riksgränsen, onwards to Narvik; see E10 through Sweden and Norway.
- E20 – from Malmö via E6 to Gothenburg and then to Stockholm, where it ends at the harbour with ferry connections to Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Russia.
- E22 – from Trelleborg via Malmö, Karlskrona to Norrköping, where it ends as an onramp to E4.
- E45 – from Gothenburg through inland Sweden to Karesuando; see E45 through Europe.
Most of the European roads outside Norrland are highways.
Second in the hierarchy are national roads (riksvägar) with two digit numbers.
The three digit numbered roads (länsvägar) come in two flavors. Major ones are numbered 100–400, minor ones with higher numbers.
Roads with numbers below 400 are marked. Roads with lower numbers are situated south of the roads with higher numbers.
The small roads, and four digit roads that might show up with numbers on your GPS map, are never marked with their numbers. They are just numbered for some administrative purpose and the numbers cannot be used while driving.
Finding directions
- The best markings are made with big blue signs with the name of the upcoming towns.
- If the road leading there is a freeway and the signs are green instead of blue.
- Unless you are going on a very big road, make your directions based on what towns or villages you are passing and keep an eye out for* these signs instead of the road numbers.
Speed limits
Swedish road sign J1 1.svg|Standard speed limits in Sweden, mandatory headlights and mandatory seatbelts}}
The current speed limit is very well marked by signs. The speed limit signs are in km/h. The signs you see are normally 30, 50, 70, 90 and 110. Recently, new speed limits have appeared: 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120. Two speed signs on each side of the road mean from this point thit is the new speed. One sign on the right means that thit is the speed on this road but there is no change in speed.
The speed limit for roads outside built-up areas is always 70 km/h unless otherwise indicated.
Since 2001 some new signs have been introduced or have been altered to also indicate the speed limit. These are:
- The freeway (motorväg) sign now also means 110 km/h.
- The highspeed road (motortrafikled) sign indicates 90 km/h (100 km/h on roads with cable fence between the lanes (since 2008).
- The new start of village sign means 50 km/h.
- The new end of village sign means 70 km/h.
With the adding of new speed limits in 2008 and the signs mentioned above now follow these rules:
- The freeway (motorväg) sign is now always posted together with a sign indicating the speed limit for this road.
- The "start of village" sign is also always posted together with a speed limit sign.
The respect for the speed limit is rather poor. Often, when you are driving at the correct speed on a 70 or 90km/h road, you will constantly get passed by other cars or be urged to get out of the way to let them pass. On the other hand, speeding on 30 km/h roads is not accepted. If caught, speeding will cost you from 1500 kr (about €160), for 1–10 km/h too fast, to 4000 kr (about €430), for 36–40 km/h too fast on 70 km/h or faster roads. Speeding on slower roads is more expensive.
Road signs
Sweden follows the same convention as the rest of Europe regarding road signs and therefore they are more or less the same as for the rest of Europe (the colours vary somewhat).
The road signs in Europe differ substantially to those e.g. in the Americas. The warning signs are triangular but have symbols that should be understandable.
These are some signs that could need explanation for foreign visitors.
| Sweden road sign B1.svg|Yield (give way) | Sweden road sign C1.svg|No entry | Sweden road sign C35.svg|No parking | Sweden road sign C39.svg|No stopping | Sweden road sign D1-1.svg|Mandatory direction | Sweden road sign B4.svg|Priority road | Sweden road sign E18.svg|Passing place (single-track road) | Sweden road sign F14-3.svg|National road (2 digits), priority road (3 digits) | Sweden road sign F14-4.svg|Upcoming national or priority road
Some useful phrases that might be found on signs
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