Last updated 18:10BST.

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The Grossglockner High Alpine Road, the highest in Austria at 8,215ft. Runs 48km north south through the centre of the country on the B107 between Heiligenblut and Bruck. Closer to Salzburg but pretty much between there, Villach and Innsbruck. Named after the 12,460ft Grossglockner mountain to the west. It costs €33 for a car. It’s Austria’s second most visited tourist attraction with a million annual visitors and 300,000 vehicles, all compressed into the six months of the year when it’s open: May to November. There were traffic jams yesterday morning. Go early or late: it opens at 5am and closes at about 20:30. See www.grossglockner.at for more, and for details of the other spectacular mountain roads in Austria.

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Channel delays: none reported currently.

Weather alerts: Amber: high temps, heavy rain central east Spain, forest fire Slovenia, high temps Montenegro.

Weather: hot and sunny apart from the UK and Scandinavia, again.

Traffic: The busiest day so far, some delays remaining, see @DE_Traffic.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

News: AA fuel discount – Russia/Georgia border reopens – Belarus first EV points.

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Fuel – buyers of the AA’s European Breakdown Cover get a 3 cents per litre discount at Shell petrol stations across the Continent. The offer applies to purchases made before 15 September, and other terms and conditions apply – like 30 litre minimum in France – but it seems fairly straight up.

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Georgia/Russia – the two countries will finally reopen border crossings for regular traffic. The move will be a significant step towards normalising relations following the war in South Ossetia at the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Agreement was reached in Moscow in early August but is yet to be implemented.

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Belarus – the country’s largest fuel retailer Belorusneft will install the first electric vehicle charging points by the end of the year, in capital Minsk and second city Gomel in the south east.

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Last updated 18:00BST.

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Coming from the Baltic coast you can avoid it, but otherwise for those headed north, all roads lead to Hamburg. Nestled at the narrow base of the Jutland Peninsula – the top of which is Denmark – Hamburg is the first place you can cross the River Elbe, about 65 miles upstream from where it empties into the North Sea. The A1 autobahn from the west, the A7 from the south and the A24 from the east all run through Germany’s second city, the first two within a few hundreds yards of the centre. What all this means is that Hamburg is a bottleneck. It’s been fearsomely busy all summer. There’s not much you can do about it apart from avoid the rush hours, mid morning, afternoon and lunchtime.

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Channel delays: Condor 16,18-19.8.

Weather alerts: Amber: storms north east Spain, forest fire Slovenia.

Weather: hot and sunny apart from the UK and Scandinavia.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic from 09:00BST.

Notes: Condor.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

News:

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Last updated 19:30 BST.

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Channel delays: Condor.

Weather alerts: Amber: Slovenia, Montenegro.

Weather: hot and sunny south; cloud/showers central; rain north west+north east.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic.

Notes: Condor.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

News: Drug threat Belgium border – AMG tours – Aston at Boxberg – Oghuz – TISPOL speed week – Road safety Russia & Portugal/Pet safety scare – SICK award Karawanken – Tesla cult Europe.

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Belgium/Netherlands – the mayor of a Belgian town has threatened to close the border with the nearby Netherlands if plans to relocate ‘coffee shops’ go ahead. There’s been a long running dispute in picturesque Maastricht over drug tourism. The city is in the very south of the country very close to both Belgium and Germany. The Maastricht mayor prevented the coffee shops from selling cannabis to anybody without a local residence permit but the move has been subject to a protracted legal battle. Now a compromise solution has been worked out: moving the cafes to ‘coffee corners’ on the outskirts of the city to which the owners have agreed, and will pay for. The mayor of Voeren in Belgium also says if the plan goes through every car coming from Maastricht will have to undergo checks.

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We were wrong. A few weeks ago we were surprised to discover Mercedes didn’t offer organised tours over and above a couple of days in Ireland and Austria, see Daily Brief 5 August. It turns out, actually, that under its AMG performance brand Mercedes does offer a range of set tours, from three to five days, of Alsace, Piedmont in Italy and Cannes on the Cote d’Azur (plus tours of the AMG factory and trips to DTM races, etc). The tours last from 3-5 days with prices from €1,500-3,000pp, including full board, drinks and car hire. See www.mercedes-amg.com/driving-academy/ for more.

Never heard of it before but Aston Martin has been at Bosch’s Boxberg Proving Ground, half way between Wurzburg and Heilbronn in southern Germany, near the A81 autobahn. The 24 hectares of various test tracks are ringed with a 3km long banked oval. There’s a film of events due out tomorrow.

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Police – a week long Europe-wide crackdown on speeding starts on Monday 19 August. Co-ordinated by TISPOL the pan-Europe police road safety and law enforcement organisation with members in 25 different countries. They say they will be using ‘a number of speed detection methods across all types of roads’. TISPOL carries out a number of these action weeks each year concentrating on particular offences, from seatbelts to drugs and alcohol. Last August’s speed week nabbed over half a million motorists.

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Heading north from Oghuz a city in northern Azerbaijan, nestled in the foothills of the Southern Caucasus, a few miles from the Russian/Dagestan border. Above are definitely foothills BTW, part of the Shahdag National Park. The highest mountain, Bazarduzu, nearby, is over 14,500ft. The road doesn’t look too bad considering. Photo via @AzerNewsWeekly.

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Road safety – good news from both Russia and Portugal on efforts to reduce killer road accidents so far this year. Fatalities have been cut by 5.8% in Russia reports Natalia Agre (via @AGRE_RoadSafety). On an annualised basis (27,991 people were killed on the roads last year) that’s 1,620 lives saved. Meanwhile in Portugal, deaths are down 20% – from 349 to 277 – according to The Portugal News.

Separately, Subaru-sponsored crash tests in the US – conducted on behalf of the Centre for Pet Safety – found a 100% failure rate for dog harnesses. See the horrible video.

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SICK has won an innovation award for its hot spot detector at the Karawanken Tunnel between Austria and Slovenia. The system uses lasers and thermal imaging cameras to identify vehicles at risk of catching fire and prevent them entering the 8km long tunnel. The first system of its kind, it has been in operation since May on the Austrian side. The award was given by German trade mag Gefahr/Gut (Dangerous Goods). Sensor manufacturer SICK was established in 1946 in Munich, named after its founder Erwin Sick, and now operates around the world, including the UK. See http://www.sick.com.

Trucks – Scandlines and Stena say the recent price cut for trucks to cross the Oresund Link between Denmark and Sweden amounts to illegal subsidy according to the Copenhagen Post. They have complained to the European Commission. Even with the new discount, trucks between 9-20m pay €126.40 per crossing.

Also, after three days of meetings between the two sides, the IRU has reiterated its call for Russia’s Federal Customs Service (FCS) not to withdraw from the TIR scheme (see Daily Brief 8 August). FCS has already postponed its leaving date by a month to 14 September.

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Tesla. As much cult as car maker. In the States the fan forums buzz with evangelical zeal. There are signs it is taking hold over here too. The Norwegians are smitten, as are the Dutch. This Belgian buyer keeps two Roadsters in a minimalist, liveried garage. The question is, will the UK take to Tesla too? The first Model S has been spotted in the Autocar car park. Photo via @TeslaMotors.

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Last updated 19:15 BST.

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Channel delays: Stena Harwich-Hook. Condor.

Weather alerts: Amber: Italy, Slovenia, Montenegro.

Weather: thunder north; cloudy central; fine west and south.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic.

Notes: Condor.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

News: next gen Audi lights – Russia bribe fine – traffic dips Spain, Portugal, Italy; flat France – Mercedes GLA.

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Audi’s new indicators, debuting on the updated A8 next week.

Headlights – is Audi about to open a new front in headlight wars? Now even Hyundai has done away with fairy light LEDs and adopted ice white DRL strips the pressure is on to pull something really fresh out of the bag. We’ve known about Audi’s new matrix lamps for a while, those that can dim individual LEDs to avoid dazzling anything in the way while illuminating either side. They’re great obviously, but who’s going to be able to tell you’ve got ‘em?! Not so with the new indicators which will debut alongside on the facelifted A8 next week: ‘During flashing, the blocks are sequentially activated at 20 millisecond intervals, from the inside outwards in the desired turning direction. After 150 milliseconds, all segments are bright; for another 250 milliseconds they illuminate with full intensity. Afterwards, the turn signals go dark before repeating the lighting sequence.’ Gaudy or great? Not long to wait now.

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Russia – a Chinese driver in Sakhalin was fined £12,000 for trying to bribe a traffic policeman says Interfax.

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Traffic – no statistical sampling and super computer analysis needed in countries with tolls, they just count the receipts to see what’s happening with motorway traffic. For the first half of 2013, according to figures from the Financial Times, traffic is down 9% in Spain, 6.3% in Portugal and 2.8% in Italy. The paper analysed the results of the leading operators in each country: Abertis Infrastructuras, Brisa, and Atlantia respectively. This is distressing news in Spain especially where several operators were already under severe financial pressure. None as yet however have gone bust. Motorway traffic in France is reportedly broadly flat.

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Mercedes’ Evoque-fighter, the GLA is revealed today ahead of its debut at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The launch GLA250 4MATIC features an inline 4-cylinder 208bhp petrol engine mated to the 7-speed double clutch transmission. UK prices start at £25,000. Compact, 4x4s with fancy badges have clear go-anywhere-do-anything appeal so it’s a sector we keep an eye on. Happily the GLA does have the all-important full length panoramic sunroof. Hopefully Range Rover has an appropriate response waiting in the wings. The GLA looks decidedly sportier even though it’s a fair bit down on power compared to the 240bhp Evoque, so far.

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Last updated 18:30 BST.

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Channel delays: 2hrs Eurotunnel Freight UK.

Weather alerts: Austria, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia.

Weather: mixed north; hot+sunny south.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic.

Notes: Condor.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

News: Italy fuel fraud – Turkey toll worsens – Germany ponders road charging – Thumbs up Liber-T – Ireland crash concerns – Athens parking chaos – Norway taxi scam.

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Guardia di Finanza officers on a raid in Palermo.

Italy – a nationwide swoop on 1,216 filling stations saw 174 irregularities discovered. In one case, fuel samples taken in Naples saw 15% contamination with water. The scam was discovered after cars broke down soon after re-fuelling according to a statement from the Guardia di Finanza. The garage had another 20,000 litres of doctored fuel ready to sell. Another garage altered the flow meters and diverted 1.2m litres of fuel to the black market. An outlet in Regio Emilia in the north of the country set its pumps to over-read by 10%. In all eleven arrests were made, fifty nine pumps were seized and another 78 managers cited for price manipulation or tampering with equipment. GdF did not say what kind of petrol stations these were – urban, rural or mainstream brands, nor how customers could tell if fuel was diluted, or worse. It makes you wonder how many other countries suffer this problem..

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Turkey – even worse news than feared yesterday. The latest figures show in fact 86 people were killed over the three day Eid holiday this weekend and an incredible 4,711 injured, in 2,199 separate accidents.

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France road tolls – the increasingly popular Liber-T automatic toll tag – used by 20,000 UK motorists even before this summer – gets the thumbs up from DriveEurope follower, and Mini-lover, Roberta Howell, @bobbiejaneh. She says, ‘Can really recommend the liber-t tag if you are driving in France life was so much easier driving past the queues for the tollbooth.’ Make sure the batteries are fresh though. McLaren press officer @DaveEden tweeted this week, ‘Arriving at the first of many busy French toll booths with a tele-peage tag that might have run out of battery #nervous.’ You have been warned.

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Journalist Chris Harris – www.pistonheads.com, @Drive – shoehorns his recently purchased Ferrari 512TR ‘Testarossa’ onto the Eurostar last night. Sigh. Photo via @HarrisMonkey

Read more about this g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s car here.

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Germany – more fallout from the Bavarian president’s plan to charge foreign cars to drive on the southern state’s roads. Tolls are being considered nationwide to tackle long term underinvestment in transport infrastructure. Half the country’s bridges, 20% of the autobahns and 40% of federal highways are in need of repair says public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Meanwhile, there’s a sophisticated electronic toll system for trucks already in place.

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Republic of Ireland – like their counterparts in Luxembourg, Irish police are concerned by an increase in road fatalities this year: 119 so far compared to 111 in the same period in 2012. ‘Excessive or inappropriate speed’ is said to be a common factor.

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Athens – with the municipal police force suffering severe cuts in the austerity – over 1,000 laid off – traffic police are now fielding over 1,000 calls per day from irate residents over illegal parking says ekathimerini.com. The city previously prided itself for orderly parking.

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Norway – it turns out PM Jens Stoltenberg’s man-of-the-people act – he did a shift as a taxi driver to find out what real people thought – ‘you’re a terrible driver,’ said one – was faked. Half of them were paid. Normal people don’t take taxis anyway.

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Russia – the existing emergency telephone numbers – 01 police, 02 ambulance, 03 fire – will be augmented by 112 in all major cities by the end of 2013, bringing the country into line with the rest of Europe.

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Last updated 18:15 BST.

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in brief:

Channel delays: none reported currently.

Weather: rain north, fine central, hot south.

Traffic: n/a.

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News: Weekend carnage Turkey – Norway tunnel row – Model S Euro road trip – Bavaria vignette.

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Random shot via @AstonMartin of a Vanquish in action. Styled the ‘ultimate grand tourer’ and packing a six litre V12 inside a carbon fibre body. Prices start at £189,995.

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WEATHER.

Meteoalarm weather risk alerts – Amber alerts: storms, high temps and heavy rain central east Spain; for forest fire westernmost Slovenia, high temperatures southernmost Montenegro and thunderstorms Latvia.

Weather – thunder later Spain and central France, otherwise hot and sunny across the south. Switzerland/Austria/Hungary dry and sunny. Heavy rain northern Germany and Scandinavia.

TRAVEL.

No operators currently reporting any delays.

TRAFFIC.

See @DE_Traffic from 09:00BST tomorrow, or Traffic/Travel/Weather.

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NEWS/PHOTOS:

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Strangest stretch of the week, from Moscow, photo via @paulgypteau.

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Road safety – understandable headlines in France this morning after ten people died in road accidents over the weekend. Two of the dead were involved in a bus crash allegedly caused by a passenger grabbing the steering wheel off the driver, and another five people died in a single car crash near Carcassone. Even this death toll pales however next to the 73 killed and 431 injured over the short end-of-Ramadan Eid al-Fitr holiday in Turkey.

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Norway – last week’s fire in the Gudvanga Tunnel has sent tunnel safety to the top of the agenda, especially after the Byfjord Tunnel near Stavanger was evacuated this morning after smoke was seen billowing out of a truck. PM Jens Stoltenberg tried to reassure worried citizens on Thursday quoting stats that say driving in tunnels is safer than driving on Norway’s roads. Two survivors of the Gudvanga incident took high profile issue with that however in an open letter published Sunday. It is generally accepted however that safety improvements do need to be made in many Norwegian tunnels. Gudvanga remains closed today with no estimated opening date.

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The first European Tesla Model S has been on its first road trip. The new owner drove his car almost immediately from Oslo to Nordkapp, Norway’s most northerly point, 2009km away. According to http://www.openchargemap.org there are 959 EV charge points in Norway, the vast majority in the south, but there are 71 in the north west, and three in the very north. Tesla says it will open its first European ‘supercharger’ in Oslo imminently, giving a 50% charge in 20 minutes, for free. UK cars are due next spring, prices still to be announced.

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Germany – Minister-President of Bavaria Hans Seehofer has long form in calling for foreign drivers to pay for using German roads. Most recently  in May, in an interview with Die Welt, he said it should be a vital constituent of any collation agreement he might sign following upcoming elections (which he’s expected to win). An annual cost of €80 has been suggested. Now however the pledge has picked up pace because in a public meeting last week the idea met with ‘huge applause’ and was repeated in an interview with Bild am Sontag yesterday. Seehofer’s toll has now run into ‘fierce headwinds’ with other political parties in Bavaria, and even he has doubts as to its legality under EU law but let’s not forget the £10 per day fee the UK levies on foreign truck drivers. We will be watching the Bavarian election, and its aftermath, with interest.

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Last updated 18:30 BST.

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in brief:

Channel delays: Eurotunnel France.

Weather: rain far north; hot and sunny central/south.

Traffic: Avoid A6/A81 intersection Heilbronn, Germany. France quiet.

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The Millau Viaduct, on the A75 between Clermont-Ferrand and the Mediterranean coast, France. A stunning piece of infrastructure, spanning the valley of the River Tarn. Nearly 2.5km long, with the road deck 270m (890ft) off the ground. It’s relatively cheap to cross too, just €8.90 each way in the summer, and you can pay with the Liber-T tag. Millau can get busy, they recommend to avoid between 10:00-15:00 on Saturdays. Check current traffic conditions via the website www.leviaducdemillau.com

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WEATHER.

Meteoalarm weather risk alerts – Amber alert for high temperatures south west and north west Spain. Amber forest fire warning west Slovenia.

Weather – cloud in north west, heavier rain Scandinavia but hot and sunny across central/south.

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TRAVEL.

Eurotunnel passenger, UK and France terminals: ‘incident now resolved’ but still 60mins delay at the French terminal, no delay at UK.

Eurotunnel Freight: two hours delay at French terminal. No delay at UK terminal.

No other operators currently reporting any delays.

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TRAFFIC.

18:00 – Quiet in France and Italy all day. Very busy in Germany. Remaining delays: Berlin ring A10 clockwise from J15 (now down to 30mins); southbound A31 into Essen delay 40mins. The worst is the A6/A81 intersection at Heilbronn, busy all afternoon, long delays on west (40mins) and north (1h20) inbound roads, feeding into southbound A81. Switzerland: no southbound queues to Gotthard Tunnel all day but northbound busy. Currently 3km, 30min delay. See @DE_Traffic for more.

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See Traffic/Travel/Weather for more.

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NOTE:

Crossing the Channel – All operators are warning passengers to leave plenty of time for journeys to the port. With availability often limited at this time of the year, late passengers may have to want considerable time for space, and/or be liable for extra charges.

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Last updated 18:30 BST.

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in brief:

Channel delays: P&O D-C 20h35.

Weather: fine + sunny, rain north.

Traffic: final jams resolving.

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Driving in Rome. No better or worse than any other great city, though of course you can’t drive past the Colosseum anymore.

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WEATHER.

Meteoalarm weather risk alerts – Red alerts for high temperatures in east Hungary and east Poland.

Amber alerts for storms and high winds east coast Italy and for storms Serbia.

Weather – Fine and sunny apart from showers in north Germany; heavy rain Scandinavia.

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TRAVEL.

P&O Dover-Calais: ‘The Calais/Dover 20h35 service is approx. 30 minutes late. Please check in as normal.’

No other operators currently reporting any delays.

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TRAFFIC.

18:30 – a very busy morning with a final flurry late afternoon. Remaining queues: A29 westbound to A28 at Rouen, A9 southbound Perpignan-Spain and northbound Gotthard Tunnel (Switzerland). See @DE_Traffic for more.

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See Traffic/Travel/Weather for more.

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NOTE:

Crossing the Channel – All operators are warning passengers to leave plenty of time for journeys to the port. With availability often limited at this time of the year, late passengers may have to want considerable time for space, and/or be liable for extra charges.

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