One in ten cars in Iceland a rental, cause for worry?
Single-lane bridges are common on the nr.1 ring road. Rax / Ragnar Axelsson
With tourism booming, so is every sector that services it. One in each ten cars in Iceland last summer was a rental car and the total number of rental cars in Iceland was 20,847. The same year 42% of all new cars were bought by car rentals.
The amount of rental cars on Icelandic roads has gone drastically up over the last 10 years. Some worry about traveller’s safety.
The reason for the concern is the state of Icelandic roads, which is different from what many visiting the country are used to. There are a great number of single-lane bridges on the nr.1 ring road, and there are many gravel roads in Iceland. Manoeuvring a car on a gravel road is quite different than on a paved road, as they are more slippery and have a lot more holes in them.
Recently there has been a big debate in Iceland about road conditions, as the government decided to drop planned road repairs. This has sparked a protest in both the West Fjords and in East Iceland.
Inhabitants of Berufjörður flocked out to the nr.1 ring road that lies through the area and closed it as a protest. Berufjörður road was one of the roads with planned repairs
Locals worry that the road condition will affect tourism in the area, as tourist might not dare to drove on roads in such a bad state.
Condition of gravel roads can get pretty bad. Júlíus Sigurjónsson
