If you’re someone who makes a living doing courier jobs, you’re no stranger to spending lots of time driving and adhering to the rules of the road. Most of the laws you come into contact with are to be expected and make sense, such as refraining from using your mobile phone when behind the wheel and wearing your seatbelt. However, in many places around the world (and even in the UK!), there are some rather strange regulations, to say the least.
Here are some of the weirdest driving laws from around the world; keep them in mind if you ever move to one of these countries and carry on your courier career there!
The UK
Let’s start close to home. In the UK, where an archaic law still stands that you’re not allowed to flag down a taxi if you have the plague! And if you have any other ailments, you must alert the driver. Strange rules, yes, but at least they won’t affect your courier jobs.
Europe
Europe is right on the doorstep of the UK and, while you most likely won’t have any courier jobs to complete on the continent, you may drive there while you’re on holiday. The following unusual rules vary by what country you’re in:
•Switzerland – It is illegal to wash your car on a Sunday.
•Finland – If you don’t have the appropriate license, you cannot play music in a taxi.
•Luxembourg – You must install windshield wipers in your car… even if it doesn’t have a windshield!
The USA
As laws vary by country in Europe, they also change depending on the state in America. Again, you probably won’t have any courier jobs in the USA, but if you decide to hop across the pond for a holiday, knowing these strange laws may come in handy.
•California – A woman can’t drive in this state if she’s wearing a bathrobe. In the city of San Francisco, you aren’t allowed to wash your car with used underwear! (We can’t say we disagree with that last one.)
•Colorado – Taking a trip to Denver? Don’t rent a black car… you won’t be able to drive an automobile that colour on a Sunday.
•Alabama – You can’t drive barefoot or (wait for it) while wearing a blindfold. Finally, a law that makes sense!
Asia
Western countries aren’t the only ones with strange driving rules – Asia has them too. Again, they vary by country.
•The Philippines – In Manilla on a Monday? You can’t drive if your license plate ends in the numbers one or two.
•Saudi Arabia – If a woman wants to take on delivery work, they’re out of luck. Females aren’t allowed to drive at all in this country.
No matter where you are in the world, you’ll find some unusual driving laws, from not getting behind the wheel in a bathrobe to not being able to not being able to hail a taxi if you’ve got the plague. At least we can all be thankful none of these weird rules affect couriers!
Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world's largest neutral trading hub for same day courier jobs in the express freight exchange industry. Numerous transport exchange businesses are networked together on their website, trading jobs and capacity through what is now the fastest growing Freight Exchange in the UK.
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