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What are Norway’s increased traffic fine rates? 

Recently rates for all traffic fines in Norway were increased. So how much will the new penalties cost you if you commit a traffic offence? 

Published: 9 February 2023 13:07 CET
Pictured is a road in Norway.
Here are the new rates for traffic fines in Norway. Pictured is a road in Norway. Photo by ben benjamin on Unsplash

At the beginning of the month, Norway’s traffic fine rates were increased significantly. Most rates increased by around 30 percent. 

However, while motorists are not currently being charged the new rates due to an IT issue with how fines are issued, the technical hiccup will soon be resolved. 

Fines for traffic offences have increased by around 30 percent under the new rules. For example, if you are caught doing 140 km/h in a 100 zone, the fine will be 15,100 kroner, where it was previously 11,600. 

The new rates take the fines for using a phone behind the wheel and running a red light has been increased to 9,700 kroner, as has tailgating. 

There is also a new fine system for those who commit multiple offences at once, such as using a phone while running a red light. 

The highest single fine will need to be paid in full, while the monetary punishments will be combined into the same penalty at 50 percent of the full fine for additional offences. However, this won’t apply when fines exceed 26,500 kroner. 

READ ALSO: Can driving offences prevent you from getting Norwegian citizenship? 

Below we’ve included the penalty rates for some of the most common offences. 

New speeding fines: 

Between 5-9 km/h over a speed limit of 60 km/h or lower- 1,100 kroner 

Between 10-14 km/h over a speed limit of 60 km/h or lower- 3,000 kroner 

Between 15-19 km/h over a speed limit of 60 km/h or lower- 5,400 kroner 

Between 20-24 km/h over a speed limit of 60 km/h or lower- 7,800 kroner 

More than 25 km/h over a speed limit of 60 km/h or lower- 12,100 kroner 

Between 5-9 km/h over a speed limit of 70 km/h or higher- 1,100 kroner

Between 10-14 km/h over a speed limit of 70 km/h or higher- 3,000 kroner 

Between 15-19 km/h over a speed limit of 70 km/h or higher- 4,800 kroner 

Between 20-24 km/h over a speed limit of 70 km/h or higher- 6,700 kroner 

Between 25-29 km/h over a speed limit of 70 km/h or higher- 9,100 kroner 

Between 30-34 km/h over a speed limit of 70 km/h or higher- 12,100 kroner 

Over 35 km/h over a speed limit of 70 km/h or higher- 14,500 kroner 

When a motorway speed limit is 90 km/h or higher, and the driver is driving between 36 km/h and 40 km/h- 15,100 kroner 

It’s also worth noting that many of these punishments come with three points on one’s licence. If a driver accumulates more than eight points over three years, their licence will be suspended. 

Other common offences: 

Running a red light- 9,700 kroner + three points 

Tailgating- 9,700 kroner + three points 

Driving on the wrong side of the road, entering a public transport lane and where driving is prohibited- 7,800 kroner + three points 

Illegal overtaking – 9,700 kroner + three points 

Driving a car on a pavement, cycle lane or footpath- 5,900 kroner + three points

Failure to give way 9,700 kroner + three points

Passengers under 15 without a seat belt- 3,520 + two points 

Driving without a seatbelt- 1,500 kroner 

Not using indicators or lights on the correct setting- kroner 3,700 

Missing plates- 3,7000 

Missing driver’s licence, vehicle registration, warning triangle or driving with a faulty speedometer- 500 kroner. 

Driving without valid insurance- 150 kroner per day

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DRIVING

‘Città 30’: Which Italian cities will bring in new speed limits?

Bologna has faced heavy criticism - including from the Italian government - after introducing a speed limit of 30km/h, but it's not the only city to approve these rules.

Published: 23 January 2024 15:12 CET
'Città 30': Which Italian cities will bring in new speed limits?

Bologna on January 17th became Italy’s first major city to introduce a speed limit of 30km/h on 70 percent of roads in the city centre under its ‘Città 30’ plan, first announced in 2022, and initially set to come into force by June 2023.

The move made Bologna one of a growing number of European cities, including Paris, Madrid, Brussels, and Bilbao, to bring in a 30km/h limit aimed at improving air quality and road safety.

But the change was met last week with a go-slow protest by Bologna’s taxi drivers and, perhaps more surprisingly, criticism from the Italian transport ministry, which financed the measure.

Matteo Salvini, who is currently serving as Italy’s transport minister, this week pledged to bring in new nationwide rules dictating speed limits in cities that would reverse Bologna’s new rule.

Salvini’s League party has long criticised Bologna’s ‘Città 30’ plan, claiming it would make life harder for residents as well as people working in the city and would create “more traffic and fines”.

OPINION: Italians and their cars are inseparable – will this ever change?

Bologna’s speed limit has sparked a heated debate across Italy, despite the increasingly widespread adoption of such measures in many other cities in Europe and worldwide in recent years.

While Bologna is the biggest Italian city to bring in the measure, it’s not the first – and many more local authorities, including in Rome, are now looking to follow their example in the next few years.

Some 60 smaller cities and towns in Italy have adopted the measure so far, according to Sky TG24, though there is no complete list.

This compares to around 200 French towns and cities to adopt the rule, while in Spain the same limit has applied to 70 percent of all the country’s roads since since May 2021 under nationwide rules, reports LA7.

The first Italian town to experiment with a 30 km/h speed limit was Cesena, south of Bologna, which introduced it in 1998. Since then, the local authority has found that serious accidents have halved, while the number of non-serious ones has remained unchanged.

Olbia, in Sardinia, also famously introduced the speed limit in 2021.

The city of Parma is planning to bring in the same rules from 2024, while the Tuscan capital of Florence approved five 30km/h zones in the city centre earlier this month.

Turin is set to bring in its first 30km/h limits this year as part of its broader plan to improve transport infrastructure, aimed at reducing smog and increasing livability.

READ ALSO: Why electric cars aren’t more popular in Italy

Meanwhile, the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, has promised to introduce the limit on 70 percent of the capital’s roads by the end of his mandate, which expires in 2026.

In Milan, while the city council has voted in favour of lower speed limits and other traffic limitations on central roads, it’s not clear when these could come into force.

Milan mayor Beppe Sala this week said a 30 km/h limit would be “impossible” to implement in the Lombardy capital.

And it’s notable that almost all of the cities looking at slowing down traffic are in the north or centre-north of Italy.

There has been little interest reported in the measures further south, where statistics have shown there are a higher number of serious road accidents – though the total number of accidents is in fact higher in the north.

According to the World Health Organisation the risk of death to a pedestrian hit by a car driven at 50 km/h is 80 percent. The risk drops to 10 percent at 30 km/h.

The speed limit on roads in Italian towns and cities is generally 50, and on the autostrade (motorways) it’s up to 130.

Many Italian residents are heavily dependent on cars as their primary mode of transport: Italy has the second-highest rate of car ownership in Europe, with 670 vehicles per 1,000 residents, second only to Luxembourg with 682, according to statistics agency Eurostat.

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