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Greece supposedly has the highest rate of traffic fatalities of any European country.  This article is about how to not become one of them and other driving related facts. To begin with you have to bear in mind that unless you understand the culture and thinking of Greek drivers you have little chance of anticipating their moves.   So let's begin with some simple facts. Most of the fatalities happen on the mainland so if you are living on an island you cut down the odds.  Most fatalities on islands involve tourists and alcohol so if you stay out of those categories you cut down the odds.  Most Greek men drive as if they owned the whole road.  Around half of the Greek women driving cars on the islands don't have a license.  Most have no insurance.  Keep these points in mind. Now to understand why a Greek would behave in a way you consider insane, unreasonable or whatever, consider the following.  Greek drivers generally are following Greek logic not your logic so you have to come to grips with that.  For example, a stop sign means stop if there is traffic approaching from your right or left.  Why would you stop if there isn't?  The same rule often applies to a red light.  Yield signs (which are rare) always mean the other guy should yield to you.  Every 2 lane road in Greece has 3 lanes.  The one in your direction, the one in the other direction and the invisible one in the middle that you use for passing a bus uphill on a blind corner.  When you stop at a traffic light and a car is in front of you, you blow your horn when the light turns green, before you even touch the throttle.  When you see a friend in the street you stop in the middle of the street to chat.  If someone behind you is blowing their horn and screaming for you to move, you ignore them or tell them you will only be a few minutes.  Parking in the middle of the street also follows this rule.  Why are they in such a rush that they can't wait for you to finish your business?

Ron Ferguson was born in Scotland, grew up in Canada and has lived in the USA, France and Greece. He is now living in Scotland. After retiring at 43 he spent a few years travelling and sailing. In 1993, he went to the island of Rhodes intending to spend a week to ten days seeing the island. He stayed for 7 years. . Additional Resources Classified Ad Section - Expatriate Search Tools - Submit an Article - Travel Links - Moving to Europe - Maps Of The World - Moving & Living Overseas - Articles on Living Overseas - Another Article by Ron Ferguson - Contact author Ron Ferguson - ..

Are you getting the idea?  The logic is simple and combined with the principle that you can do as you please but no one else can, explains Greek driving.  If you just think in the same way, you'll have no problems driving.
 

Now for a few words on buying a car or bike.  Remember Chapter 1 on Bureaucracy?  If you don't, click on the link to my other article in the Additional Resources table above.  That will give you some idea of what is coming.  For starters we have to divide vehicles into 3 categories.  Bikes under 90cc, over 90cc and cars. A scooter under 90cc is pretty straightforward.  You and the owner go to the appropriate office (usually in the Police Station), sign a few cards, stick on some stamps, pay a small fee and it is done.  Shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 visits. A bigger scooter or motorcycle gets more complicated.  Your best bet is to hire someone with experience to do the transfer for you.  You can do it yourself but be prepared for some interesting visits to various government departments.

Now a car is where it gets really interesting!  First you have to understand that a car denotes a certain level of income.  Makes sense doesn't it.  So in order to buy a car you have to have an Income Tax number.  How could you afford to buy a car if you don't earn enough to pay Income Tax?  There is that simple logic again.  Now watch this logic.  In most countries people try to avoid paying income tax and feel they should pay as little tax as possible.  In Greece every Greek believes they should pay no tax at all!  Accordingly, they don't just fudge their income a bit, they fudge it a lot.  I have known businessmen who have been in business for 10-15 years and have yet to make a profit!   They might own 4 big hotels and still not declare a personal income of much more than the cleaning lady.   Now the Greek government isn't stupid so they thought of this brilliant and perfectly logical way to determine what the real income was.  They look at what car you drive!   Sneaky huh.  If you are driving a brand new Mercedes, they take the value of your car, multiply it by some magic factor and extrapolate your real income from that.  They then send you a tax bill for the income they say you have rather than the income you declared.  Pure genius.
 

Here are a few others points about cars.  If you bring your car with you from another EU country, according to EU law you should be able to easily transfer the registration.  Should be is the operative phrase.  There are 4 things you have to know about the law in Greece.  There is EU law; Greek or Athens law since ALL laws are decided in Athens;  Island law or what laws the local government decide Athens has passed that should be applicable to the islands (they ignore any law Athens passes that they think are stupid) and there is commonly accepted island practice.   So the EU says you must wear helmets on bikes and seatbelts in cars.  Athens has passed that same law.  The island government has also adopted it since it is a good way to raise some cash.  The police can't be bothered with it though and agree with the Greek people that it is silly so they only enforce it on Rhodes for example every April to raise some cash for the summer.  For about a month everyone is riding around with helmets on and seatbelts fastened.  The rest of the year no one bothers.  I think it also has something to do with the local Mayor's cousin owning a bike shop that sells helmets but I could be wrong. You can transfer an EU driving license to a Greek one without much trouble other than the usual several visits to various offices.  If you have a license from some other country though you have to do written and practical tests to get a Greek license.  This is not that difficult provided you speak, read and write Greek.  No you can't do it in English and no you can't take a translator with you.  Anyway why bother, you can drive on your US, Canadian, etc. license for as long as you like.

If you bring a car from the EU as mentioned above you could try to register it in Greece if you are planning to live there.  In fact you are required to register it.  Up to 6 months is no problem and you can get extensions up to 15 months but after that it must be registered.  The problem is that registering it costs a fortune.  This is of course illegal according to EU law.  But you are in Greece.

So what do you do?  Well you can just ignore it and continue to drive your car registered in the UK or wherever.  If you do, one of 2 things will happen.  One day you will be stopped and the car confiscated to be sold at auction.  Happens all the time to the poor unsuspecting.  Interstingly, the more expensive the car the more likely it is to happen.  Hummm.   Or you can never be stopped or bothered about it.  I drove a bright red 1976 MGB convertible in mint condition for 5 years and was never stopped once.  Now it isn't as if the police wouldn't notice a little red MG on Rhodes Island.  In fact there are only 2 on the island so it pretty much sticks out.  Why didn't they stop me?  Because the police in my village were also people I bought drinks for in my local Taverna.  Besides what could an old car like that be worth at auction?  Classic, what is a classic?  It is just another old car.

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