We sign up for a free service which guarantees no fines at the new free-flow M25 Dartford Crossing.

Also, a quick overview of the route on day one of the Mille Miglia 2015. The Calais migrant crisis has reached boiling point again this week, this time at Eurotunnel.

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NO DART CHARGE FINES, GUARANTEED

Company offers free Dartford Crossing service with plenty of time to pay.

The Dartford Crossing. Photo @DriveEurope

The introduction of free-flowing tolls on the M25 Dartford Crossing has not been without problems.

Last November, the toll booths were removed in favour of a number plate recognition system.

Exactly like the London Congestion Charge, drivers have until midnight the next day to pay the £2.50 fee.

Apart from the large number of foreign vehicles appearing to get away without paying – so far – there are numerous tales of users being double billed and/or fined even when they have paid.

Just yesterday, a driver was fined for the car on the back of his trailer.

We have had our own issues. Two weeks ago, nearly five months after the apparent offence – and long after our ‘unique reference number’ had been thrown away – we were sent a £70 fine despite having a bank statement showing the fee had been paid.

After several phone calls and an entire Saturday afternoon spent trying to prove our innocence we reluctantly accepted an ‘early amnesty’ offer to re-pay the original £5 charge.

Needless to say that offer will not be there forever. Naturally we were all ears when a company called DartSave contacted us to say they could guarantee we will never be fined again.

Admin manager Emma Westwood tells us, ‘Dartsave is a free to use service ensuring that our customers will never be fined for failing to pay in time when using the Dartford Crossing. It is a simple to use system, with online registration and account visibility. Once the account is activated and correct vehicle registrations are added we guarantee that our customers will never be fined.’

It works because DartSave has an account with Dart Charge and pays a reduced rate for each crossing, currently £1.67.

All drivers can register themselves with Dart Charge but it means putting down a minimum £10 deposit – lost if not used within a year – and keeping the account topped up. Failing to keep the account topped up means the account will be closed and in turn the user fined…

Meanwhile, DartSave pays the charge automatically and immediately emails the customer with 21 days to pay, more than enough time for most holidays and trips to the Continent.

It saves the hassle of remembering to pay and the expense of phoning Dart Charge, or logging on, from abroad.

Surely there’s a catch? Not that we can see. The registration is as simple as they say and aims to be complete within two working days. Whether it works as well in practice or not we shall find out shortly.

For more information see DartSave.co.uk.

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The Mille Miglia might be, ‘moving away from a hard core test for drivers prepared to suffer, and becoming more of a genteel event for those happy to cope with some challenges, but not too many’ – in the words of the Classic Car Trust – but driving a temperamental racer over long distances will never be an entirely relaxing affair, no matter how gentle the course. Today’s route takes the drivers 310km from the start in Brescia to Rimini on the east coast. It’s a relatively simple navigation, just six roads in total, all on the flat, starting along the southern shore of Lake Garda – with nasty road works at Peschiera del Garda – into Verona then cross-country to Ferrara, latterly along the River Po. The second half is a more-or-less straight run on SS16, again cross country, to the finish. See a map here. For more information see 100Miglia.it. Graphic @MercedesBenz_IT

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roundup: MIGRANT CRISIS. Eurotunnel is calling on the authorities to do more to tackle increasing numbers of migrants massing around its French terminal says a report from the BBC’s @SimonJonesNews. Exactly as the company feared last year, recent investment in security at Calais seems to have shifted the problem further down the coast. A technical problem at Eurotunnel on Monday has seen delays build throughout the week with large groups of migrants attempting to board trucks. One regular said it was ‘the worst we have seen’. Eurotunnel has written to truck drivers saying terminal areas will be closed for parking up for the next three weeks as it tries to improve security. All vehicles will have to cross to the UK immediately.

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Fuel prices edge up all round this month but there are still significant savings to be made by refuelling on the other side of the Channel.

Also, a quick look at the Susa Valley’s Colle delle Finestre. As major mountain passes open in Norway and the Pyrenees, Italian police announce Alpine road speed checks this summer. Luxembourg’s standard traffic fine to double next month. Copenhagen’s parking wardens to double as tourist guides.

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CROSS-CHANNEL FUEL SAVINGS

Buy petrol before the Netherlands, and diesel before Switzerland, but wait for Spain, Andorra, Luxembourg and Austria.

British diesel may not be the most expensive in Europe any longer – having slipped behind traditional chart topper Norway – but at an average €1.678/l it is still more expensive that it was last month.

Thanks to a similar rise in France – from €1.190 to €1.248 – the saving on a typical fifty litre fill up has fallen slightly, but is still a significant €21.50.

France is still way down the list at 22nd most expensive diesel in Europe (and 16th unleaded95).

Diesel prices have edged up all round meaning the savings for the notional fifty litres – compared to the UK – are broadly similar to last month: Belgium (€19.25), Germany (€20.95), Netherlands (€14.65) and Luxembourg (€29.35).

With unleaded95 the UK has edged up into fifth place at €1.609, again more expensive than last month, behind Norway, Netherlands, Italy and Denmark.

The fifty litre saving is €8.45 in France, €4.20 in Belgium, €6.50 in Germany and €18.35 in Luxembourg though it would cost €6.10 more in the Netherlands (down from €6.70 last month).

At the same time, unleaded95 might be a mid-pack €1.487 in Switzerland but the diesel is now Europe’s fourth most expensive at €1.535.

Meanwhile, Spain continues to be very cheap at €1.326 unleaded95 and €1.229 diesel, much cheaper than Portugal (€1.569 and €1.309) where new ‘no frills’ fuel has not cut prices by as much as many hoped.

Finally, Austria is really embedding its reputation for cheap fuel. At €1.099 diesel is on a par with Luxembourg but unleaded95 at €1.209 is actually cheaper.

It still has a little way to go before it catches Andorra however, at €1.023 diesel and €1.169 unleaded95.

All prices are indicative only, per litre, taken from fuel-prices-europe.info, updated daily. Mainly averages except Belgium and Luxembourg where prices are nationally regulated.

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With its ‘endless hairpins’ and unpaved final 8km – and so tiny on the map you can hardly see it – Colle delle Finestre (2178m) makes a fitting finale for this year’s Giro d’Italia. It runs 18.6km from the Susa Valley in the north – off the A55 Turin-Lyon – to Val Chisone and Sestriere in the south, and on to Briancon over the French border via Col de Montgenevre. Photo Wikipedia

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roundup: ALPINE ROADS. Norway’s Trollsteigen and Col de Tourmalet in the Pyrenees both opened today. Meanwhile, Italian police have announced mountain road speed checks in South Tyrol during some weekends this summer reports ADAC: Saturday 16 May Karerpass; Sunday 24 May Gardena, Saturday 6 June Stelvio; and Saturday 15 August Timmelsjoch. See PassFinder for the locations. Further dates to be announced. LUXEMBOURG. The standard traffic fine will double from 1 June, to €145 says Wort.lu. It will apply to drivers using a mobile phone at the wheel; tailgating; ignoring no-entry signs; not wearing a seatbelt; and those with incorrectly installed child seats. It comes amid a general tightening up as the Duchy attempts to tackle its outlying road safety record. DENMARK. Copenhagen’s traffic wardens are to double as tourist guides reports the Copenhagen Post. Eleven of them will wear large ‘ASK ME’ signs to begin with, throughout the summer. If successful numbers will be increased next year.

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Bike race shuts mountain roads in northern Italy for the last week of May, just as they open for the summer.

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Santa Maria Val Mustair, Switzerland, on a pass chain – Vinschgau, Ofenpass and Fluela – between Merano in Italy and Davos in east Switzerland. Umbrail (2501m) – typical of the late opening cross-border passes – heads south to hit the mid-point of Stelvio (2757m). All photos @DriveEurope.

For some reason it seems to be Italy’s cross-border passes that open last of all.

With France: Little St Bernard (31 May); Lombard (1 June) and Agnel (12 June).

Switzerland: Umbrail (31 May) and Great St Bernard (1 June).

Austria: both Staller Sattel and Timmelsjoch open on 31 May.

The two late openers wholly in Italy are Gavia on 31 May and Stelvio on 1 June.

Meanwhile, the Giro d’Italia bike race heads up into the mountains on 24 May.

It won’t be quite as disruptive as it has been but some roads in the north west of Italy will be closed between then and when the race finishes in Milan on Sunday 31 May.

Stage 15 on Sunday 24 May sees the bikes heading from near Vicenza to the ski resort Madonna di Campiglio via ‘La Fricca’, SS349 Carbonare-Pian di Pradi, and later on, SP53 Passo Daone Preore-Spiazzo.

The next day the riders head west along SS42 Passo del Tonale and Aprica before looping back on Passo del Mortirolo which, according to Lance Armstrong, is the most demanding climb in all road racing with a maximum incline of 18%.

First to the top wins Cima Pantani named after the flawed but still legendary Marco Pantani.

The next two days are spent around the lakes near Lugano (Switzerland) before they head up the Aosta Valley on 29 May with a loop around SR36 Saint-Barthelemy, and a climb up to Cervinia and the Matterhorn via Col Saint-Pantaleon.

On the penultimate day, Saturday 30 May, the race heads south to the Sosa Valley ending with the Colle delle Finestre.

For more information see the official Giro d’Italia website, Alpenstrassen at ADAC or Alpenpasse at ACE-Online. Opening dates can only be approximate; passes can and do close at short notice due to the weather, even at the height of summer. See our PassFinder page for alternatives nearby.

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Aprica (1176m), along with Tonale and Mendola, see below, makes an east-west link between Tirano – at the bottom of the Bernina Pass from St Moritz, east Switzerland – to Bolzano.

Tonale, the central section of the Tirano-Bolzano pass chain, crosses the bottom of the fearsome Gavia (2621m) – another regular Giro stage – at Ponte di Legno. Gavia links with the bottom of Stelvio (2757m) at Bormio. Neither Aprica or Tonale are spectacular mountain roads though the heavy-wooded scenery from high on the valley side certainly is beautiful and the route is very handy.

Fondo on Mendola Pass (1363m), the last stop until Bolzano. Not used on Giro this year but popular with bikers just the same.

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Austria and the Netherlands vow to fight the now certainly upcoming German ‘foreigner toll’.

Also, police appeal for information on Belgium truck driver murder. This year’s Liege-Sofia-Liege Rally is actually Liege-Bucharest. Driving licences can only be withdraw EU-wide by driver’s resident Member State says new judgement. New road rules come into effect on 30 June in France (plus a swingeing fine for dropping fag butts in Paris from September).

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LEGAL ACTION ON ‘FOREIGNER TOLL’

Austria and the Netherlands vow to stop German road charge as it clears final domestic hurdle.

Transport minister Alexander Dobrindt faces journalists’ questions after successfully negotiating the ‘foreigner toll’ through the Bundesrat upper house on Friday. Photo BMVI

Theoretically the President could refuse to sign it onto the statute book but otherwise opponents of the German ‘foreigner toll’ are left relying on legal action from the Netherlands and Austria.

At a session of the upper house Bundesrat on Friday, state representatives declined to refer the new law to the Arbitration Committee.

The Committee could not have prevented the new toll coming into force since it is administered by the national federal government but it would have slowed the implementation.

As it is, the new road charge comes into force next January.

A triumphant transport minister Alexander Dobrindt said he expects the charge to raise €2 billion during an election period, figures hotly disputed by national motoring club ADAC.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Austrian transport minister told AFP, ‘Austria continues to consider the German move contrary to EU law and has sought legal advice. Once the toll becomes law in Germany, expected in June or July, we will launch a complaint with the European Commission, which has three months to respond. All else failing, we will take legal action.’

The Dutch transport ministry has also reportedly said it will work with other countries to stop the toll while the l’Association des Frontaliers d’Alsace-Lorraine in eastern France, and the l’Automobile Cub Association in Strasbourg, both told Le Parisien they were also opposed.

The European Commission previously said it had to wait until the law was on the statute books before responding though it is known to have worked with the German authorities behind the scenes.

According to a statement from the German transport ministry the next steps include an EU-wide tender for an operator to administer the system.

The ‘foreigner toll’, to use motorways and national main roads, will cost up to €130 per year depending on emissions. Ten day and two month tolls will also be available at up to €15 and €30 respectively. German drivers will have the charge discounted euro for euro through road taxes. See more here (German only).

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This year’s ‘Liege-Sofia-Liege Rally’ is actually between Liege and Bucharest. Leaving on Friday 21 August, the entrants – in cars built before 1970 – have one week to reach the Romanian capital via Nuremberg, Graz, Budapest, Oradea, Sibiu and Brasov. Photo: Olivier Gendebien and Pierre Stasse, winners of the 1955 Liege-Rome-Liege, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. More at Liege-Sofia-Liege.org.

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roundup: BELGIUM. Police are appealing for information after a truck driver was found dead at a truck stop between Gent and Antwerp. The man was discovered at 16:00 on Friday at the Waasmunster truck stop on the A14 towards Antwerp. He is believed to have suffered a violent death. According to the appeal (via Deredactie.be), his vehicle – a blue Lithuanian-registered Scania in R.B.I.I. livery – was parked at the E40 Brussels-bound Drongen services on Wednesday night before driving to Waasmunster early on Thursday. Police can be contacted on freephone (00 32) 0800 30 300 or by email at opsporingen@police.belgium.eu. DRIVING LICENCES. Only the Member State in which a driver is resident can withdraw entitlement to drive throughout the EU says a new judgement from the EU’s Court of Justice (via Croner – read the judgement in full, case C-260/13). Other countries can suspend licences but only on their own territory it says. FRANCE. The new road rules announced earlier this year in response to last year’s increase in fatal accidents will take effect from 30 June the National Council for Road Safety announced today. They include a lower blood alcohol level for novice drivers, a ban on headphone telephone hands-free kits and mandatory hi-viz vests for bikers (from 1 January 2016). The sections of accident-prone main road where the speed will be lowered from 90kmh to 80kmh as an experiment are: 23km of N79 and N145 between Chemilly and Dompierre (central); 13km on N57 between Roiz and Vesoul (east); and N7 between Tain l’Hermitage and Valence (south). The minister assured campaigners 80kmh will not become the new norm. Finally, from September, dropping a cigarette butt in Paris is subject to a €68 fine.

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The Week Ahead: Thursday’s Ascension Day holiday will see heavy traffic from Wednesday throughout the weekend. The 1,000 Brescia-Rome-Brescia Mille Miglia re-enactment kicks off on Thursday while Milan opens its major eastern bypass on Saturday.

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Italy doesn’t celebrate Ascension Day but Thursday does see the start of the 2015 Mille Miglia re-enactment, the 1,000 mile ‘race’ Brescia-Rimini-Rome-Parma-Brescia, finishing on Sunday. Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar (above) field high profile teams among the 450 entrants. See 1000miglia.it for more.

Ascension Day will mean some very heavy traffic this week.

Thursday 14 May is a public holiday in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium.

The worst of the traffic will be on Wednesday in Germany and again on Sunday, but less so.

Wednesday will be busy in France as well, especially Paris, and on Thursday, but the busiest day will be Sunday as everybody returns home.

Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday are all Black Days in Switzerland, heading predominantly south the first two days and in both directions at the weekend.

Overall traffic will be heavy in Switzerland from Wednesday to Monday.

The only busy day in Austria however is Thursday.

Finally, Saturday sees the opening of TEEM, the Tangenziale est Esterna Milano, the eastern Milan outer ring road.

It links the Milan-Venice A4 in the north with the A1 Milan-Naples in the south via the new A35 Milan–Brescia (BreBeMi) motorway and Linate airport with three lanes in each direction.

There are already fears that drivers will be as slow to take to the new road as they have been, so far, to the A35 – see this video of the locals holding an impromptu football match in the fast lane – but the combination of the two new motorways should surely bring some relief to the ultra-busy A4.

See this week’s list of truck bans, starting Wednesday night, at TrafficBan.com

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A high speed convoy of supercars gets pulled over at a peage in south west France, but not because police timed them between toll stations.

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A convoy of British supercars – a pair of Porsche 911 GT3s, a Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder and two others – was nabbed by the French police recently at ‘tres grand vitesse – very high speed’. The cars were pulled over at the southbound exit of the Peage de la Negresse on the A63 near Bayonne, within 35km of the Spanish border (having presumably driven the length of France). All photos @Gendarmerie

Bad luck or poor judgement, you decide, but it does serve to highlight a common belief – known as ‘the Peage Problem’ – that police time drivers between toll booths. It’s wrong. In order for it to be true, they would have to monitor the computers of the – privately owned – motorway operators in real time, and be ready to instantly catch transgressors as their tickets are stamped at the booths. It’s just not feasible.

If you don’t believe that simple logic, read what the Sunday Times wrote on the subject last year, or consider the hand-wringing debate about privacy in France due to new terror surveillance laws. Police do stop drivers at toll booths – having clocked them earlier – because it is easier and safer to do so.

The only consolation in this case is that the drivers couldn’t have been going that fast or the cars would have been confiscated (of which there is no mention). As it is their licences were almost certainly taken away, to be returned weeks or months later via the British Embassy in Paris and the DVLA.

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An impressive new toll station opens at Austria’s Timmelsjoch mountain pass this summer with exciting additions due this winter and next spring.

Also, a famous footballer loses his licence for speeding in the Mont Blanc Tunnel; Slovenia aims to plug the gap in the Maribor-Zagreb motorway; and, Denmark looks to tone down its harsh stoner driver laws.

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Timmelsjoh’s new Top Mountain X-Point. Photo Oetztal.at

The rest of the development is still some way ahead but the futuristic new toll station at the bottom of Austria’s Timmelsjoch alpine pass will be ready for when the road opens for the summer on 31 May.

As well as a peage, the 6,000m² new building will feature a gourmet restaurant with panoramic terrace and the base station for the new Kirchenar cable car, both of which open this winter.

A third of the floor space will be given over to a new motorbike museum which will be Europe’s highest when it opens next spring.

The ground breaking ceremony last October was performed by fifteen times world champion bike racer Giacomo Agostini.

Called Top Mountain X-Point, the €23m building at 2175m was designed by Innsbruck architect Michael Brötz in a style described as ‘curved-organic’ to fit the landscape.

Timmelsjoch runs across the border between western Austria and Merano in north east Italy, topping out at 2474m. On the Italian side it is ‘Passo del Rombo’.

Tolls start at €12 for bikes and €14 for cars.

See more at Timmelsjoch.com or PassFinder, or catch up with the Austrian Alpine pass summer opening schedule here.

Timmelsjoch’s new Top Mountain X-Point. Photo Oetztal.at

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roundup: SPEEDING. Former Man City and Man United football player Carlos Tevez has reportedly lost his licence after breaking the 70kmh speed limit in the Mont Blanc Tunnel says thelocal.it. The 31 year old striker, now with Juventus, was heading back into France on Wednesday, the day after scoring at a Champion’s League match against Real Madrid in Turin. SLOVENIA. A loan of €140m from the European Investment Bank (EIB) will go towards filling the final missing link in the motorway network says The Slovenia Times. Just a 20km gap remains on the A4 Maribor-Zagreb A4-A1 between Draženci and Gruškovje near the Croatian border. DENMARK. The zero-tolerance of stoner drivers is under fire from MPs reporst Copenhagen Post. Even a trace of cannabis in the system is enough to see a driver banned and thousands have been despite the drug being detectable for between three and eight weeks after the driver last smoked, i.e. long after the effects have worn off. The Legal Affairs Committee has asked the government to find a ‘more sustainable’ solution.

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Winter locks thrown off with increasing frequency in Austria; all expected to open by the beginning of June.

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The west side of Silvretta Hochaplenstrasse. Photo @DriveEurope. More photos below.

The vast majority of Austria’s sixty-odd mountain pass roads are now open after the winter.

Just a few stragglers remain though they should all open by the beginning of June.

Next up, tomorrow (Friday 8 May) is the 1930m Maltatal Hochalmstrasse, just to the west of the A10 Salzburg-Villach ‘Tauernautobahn’ in central Austria.

Legend has it that this is where slave labourers mined the granite used to build the A10 during WW2.

Gmund, at the bottom of Maltatal, is where Ferdinand Porsche set up in 1944. A private museum marks the spot.

The day after, (Saturday 9 May) the 1740m Pitztal road up to the Pitztal Glacier south west of Innsbruck is back on track after a reconstruction.

The last day of May (Sunday 31) sees a rush spate of openings.

Most exciting – for James Bond fans – is Timmelsjoch down to the Italian border. It marks the 2015 season with a brand new, futuristic toll station.

B186 Timmelsjoch is south through Solden where part of Spectre was filmed earlier this year.

(Much of the action takes place on the resort’s Otztaler Glacier Road, the highest paved road in the Alps, at 2830m).

Also opening on the same day are Furkajoch (1761m) near Lake Constance in the west; Hahntennjoch (1884m) a handy way in high summer to avoid the queues on B179 Fernpass to Innsbruck; and, Staller Sattel, another cross-border road with Italy, the scenic route between Lienz (at the bottom of Grossglockner), and Brunico, near the top of the A22 Brennero autostrada.

Solk Pass, opening on 1 June, at the eastern edge of the Austrian Alps, is an outlier in all respects.

Reputedly quiet most of the year, and topping out at 1790m, it comes into its own during events at the nearby Red Bull Ring, host of this year’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Finally, toll road Silvretta Hochaplenstrasse, one of Austria’s blue chip alpine roads, host of first order classic rallies – three separate cascades of ever higher hairpins in the west, gentle, beautiful long-valley ascent in the east – also opens for summer on 1 June.

Find these roads, and open times and prices for the toll roads, on PassFinder. Sources ACE-Online AlpenPasse and ADAC Alpenstrassen.

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The east side of Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse.

The outlier Solk Pass in eastern Austria. Photo @Audi

Timmelsjoch on the Italian side of the border, aka Passo del Rombo. Photo Wikipedia

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MEPs have mixed feelings on the proposed new ‘Road Agency’ as the Transport Commissioner updates on the EU road tolling scheme for cars, and the German minimum wage for truck drivers.

Also, a quick look at the legendary Targa Florio circuit in Sicily; a sustained spate of major accidents on the A67 at Eindhoven triggers a range of theories; and , Norway winds back on electric car as Oslo faces a ‘traffic nightmare’.

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EU’s NEW ‘ROAD AGENCY’ UNDER FIRE

Lively debate on road haulage regulation in Brussels; enforcement a big issue.

Photo via @GuardiaCivil

The European Commission’s proposed new ‘Road Agency’ came up against immediate opposition from some MEPs.

Many in yesterday’s Transport and Tourism Committee were supportive of a new body to police the European road haulage industry – first revealed by Politico Europe at the weekend – but the European Conservatives and Reform Group (ECR) ruled it out entirely.

Latvian MEP Roberts Zile said, ‘Honestly speaking I don’t think ECR will support any idea of a road agency.’

His British ECR colleague Jacqueline Foster said, ‘I certainly wouldn’t support the idea of a road agency. I think we have enough challenges with some agencies already. Definitely good co-operation is the answer, and cross-border co-operation, but you wouldn’t know where to start and where it would end up quite frankly.’

Whether the minority group can halt the plan remains to be seen. Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc stressed that nothing had been decided yet but did say there was a role for such an agency in training, auditing and enforcement.

Speaking about existing regulations in general she said, ‘The more I look at this the more I realise we have pretty much everything we need, it’s just not enforced.’

This seemed to sum up the tone of the earlier lively, passionate and even emotional debate between MEPs, panels of industry experts and the Commission. Watch it here.

Swedish MEP Peter Lundgren said to relax cabotage rules – which govern the number of jobs hauliers can do in other member states – would be ‘insane’ and show the Commission ‘had lost touch with reality altogether.’

The issues will be further addressed at a conference in Brussels on 4 June.

Called ‘A Social Agenda for Transport’, the event will be addressed by both Violeta Bulc and Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs Marianne Thyssen.

Also: Violeta Bulc said the results of the Commission’s investigation into new German minimum wage rules for truck drivers would be revealed ‘shortly’. She also said initial reaction to the Commission’s proposal for an integrated pan-European road tolls system for cars had been ‘very encouraging’ with one Member State offering to conduct trials.

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Targa Florio: named after its founder Vincenzo Florio, the legendary Sicilian road race used several courses, including a 670 mile lap of the entire island. Latterly the event settled on the 72km Circuit de Piccolo delle Madonie – through the Madonie mountains – starting and finishing in Cerda, 60km east of capital Palermo, taking in Caltavuturo, Collesano and Campofelice. In 1964, the winning Porsche 904 GTS completed the ten lap course in 7h10 (an average speed of 100kmh through 900 corners in total). Modern sports car racers are too fast but the circuit still hosts a round of the Italian Rally Championship. The 99th event will be held on 28-30 May, alongside a historic rally, with the Targa Florio Classica on 15-18 October. Photo @PorscheNewsroom

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roundup: NETHERLANDS. The accident between two trucks on the A67 at Eindhoven this morning – shutting the westbound carriageway for most of the day – was the twenty third incident on that road this year according to local reports. A traffic expert at Breda University thinks cruise control is to blame and that speed limit matrix signs should remotely disable cruise control units. Others say the road should be widened from two lanes as a priority, and that the situation worsened since the truck overtaking ban was lifted six years ago. The A2 westbound to Magdeburg at Burg and Hannover at Lehrte/Peine in Germany has also been very accident prone recently. There have been regular major incidents with hours-long delays throughout the winter period, and almost daily in recent weeks, though it is yet to trigger the same kind of debate. NORWAY. As expected, electric cars will lose their right to drive in bus lanes reports thelocal.no. Sheer numbers on the streets – the target of 50,000 EVs has now been achieved, the country took 20% of all European sales last year – has led to increasing complaints about congestion in priority lanes. However, other subsidies like the purchase price tax break will remain for at least the next two years. Meanwhile, drivers in Oslo face ‘a traffic nightmare’ says NewsinEnglish.no as ten tunnels are closed under the national rehabilitation programme. Tunnel safety has been high on the agenda following poor results in the last EuroTAP test, and the Gudvanga fire last year.

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A politician complains bitterly about the state of an important road in northern Bulgaria as the government promises to repair the motorways in time for summer, and open the Sofia-Istanbul link in stages from the end of May.

Also, controversial plans are unveiled to completely pedestrianise the Seine in the central Paris. The Czech Republic wants to complete link roads to Germany and Poland, and new queue stress at the Gibraltar-Spain frontier.

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BULGARIA ROADS ROUNDUP

Repairs in time for summer; Sofia-Istanbul road fully open in September.

Photo Mikhail Mikov, Facebook

Politician Mihail Mikov is not happy with the state of an important road in northern Bulgaria.

On Facebook on Sunday (via Novinite.com) he said, ‘I am not in Kathmandu as you might think but on an international road linking Bulgaria and Serbia.’

National road 14 runs between Vidin and Zajecar in Serbia via the Vrashka Chuka border point.

It suffered major damage due to a landslide earlier this year and is yet to be repaired.

Mikov says the government is ready to spend money on the motorway network but is ignoring main and regional roads.

Meanwhile, transport minister Lilyana Pavlova said last month that no more delays were expected on construction of the Maritsa Highway, between capital Sofia and the Turkish border.

Of the two lots which remain, the first is 70% complete and the second 85%.

Lot 2 should be completed by the end of May reports Novinite with the remaining section, the link to the Sofia-Burgas Trakiya Highway, open by the end  of October.

Also, repairs to the Sofia-Burgas Trakiya and Sofia-Varna Hemus motorways should be finished by 1 July says Sofia Globe – with the exception of two bridges – and the speed limit restored to 140kmh along the repaired sections.

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More anti-car controversy in Paris today when Mayor Anne Hidalgo proposed a new pedestrian zone on the right bank of the Seine. When joined with the existing pedestrian zone on the left bank, the car-free area could stretch ‘from the Place de la Bastille to the Eiffel Tower’ though there are two proposals: the first, a 3.3km stretch from Tuileries Garden to the Port d’Arsenal, and the second, shorter, from the Place du Chatelet to Pont de Sully. Both are out for consultation this year. Driver campaign group ’40 Million Automobilistes’ has already launched a petition opposed. Artist’s impression LUXIGON.

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roundup: CZECH REPUBLIC. After a meeting with Angela Merkel yesterday, Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka promised to open the D8 Prague-Dresden by the end of 2018 says Prague Post. The road is almost complete save for a 10km gap at Teplice near the border. Last month Poland and the Czech Republic also agreed to submit a joint application to the EU next year to inter-connect the Czech expressway R11 and the Polish S3 says Ceske Noviny. It will link Prague to Baltic port Szczecin via Hradec Kralove and Zielona Gora. GIBRALTAR. After some relatively quiet months, delays at the Spanish frontier have topped one hour on several occasions recently. Yesterday evening however, drivers waited up to three hours to cross according to the Gibraltar Border Agency (and maybe even longer than that according to Tony Lara, @ph08nix). They were among the worst queues since last summer’s seven and a half hour delays says GBC News.

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