Whether you’re driving your own car, borrowing a friend’s car, or renting one, you should always have three things with you:

1. Driving license
2. Insurance papers
3. Vehicle registration papers.

Plan, plan, plan. While adventure is fun, it is also practical to have some idea of your route. You know, just to have a fallback in case you find yourself lost in the middle of nowhere. Oh, and bring your GPS with you – it just might save your life.

Make sure you have headlamp beam deflector strips and warning triangles. Also know that in some European countries, the law requires you to dip your headlights during the day. Some of these countries are Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland.

Know the blood alcohol limits in each country you plan to visit. While drinking and driving is a NO NO, we know that you might find yourself behind the wheel after having a glass of wine with dinner. Just make sure that you know exactly what is legal and safe.

Tom Riall, however, is not just any person. He is, in fact, a senior executive at Britain’s biggest speed camera firm. Now, you see why it is such a big deal! The Times Online has this story:

Tom Riall, 49, was apprehended by police officers when they recorded him driving at 102.92mph on the A14 near Newmarket, in Suffolk.
Mr Riall is head of Serco’s home affairs division, which has installed and managed speed cameras at more than 4,000 sites around Britain since 1992.

He was fined and banned from driving at Sudbury magistrates court today after his third speeding offence in two years. “I accept the decision of the court. I recognise that speeding is not acceptable and regret what I did,” he said outside court. “My speed was excessive and I’ve made a full apology.”

Apology notwithstanding, the executive has been banned from driving on the roads for the next six months. I think that it is such a simple “punishment” for an act that goes beyond breaking the law. Then again, he is only human.

The moral of the story? Walk the talk!

Traveling to foreign destinations has never been easier than it is today. Worldwide tourism has experienced a boost in the recent years and more and more people are finding it commonplace to visit a country outside of their home country. One of the best ways to discover a strange land is to get a vehicle of your own and drive around the city streets or country roads. Yet one thing is important – you have to know what the requirements of the country are with regard to driving permits or licenses.

More often than not, the common perception is that once you hold an international driving license, you are good to drive anywhere in the world. This is normally true, but in some cases, the local government might as for some additional paperwork.

Case in point: Michael Elliott of Cleveland, Tennessee bought an International Driving Permit from AAA for $15 for a trip to Grenada. He got there, confident that he had everything he needed to drive in the country. However, the local government required him to buy a Grenadian driving permit.

According to Christopher Elliot, the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveller, this case is not uncommon. In fact, many foreign destinations have their own particular rules when it comes to visitors driving in their locale. As such, the responsibility lies in the motorists’ hands – you have to do research of your own to determine what you need to do in order to be able to drive. A little work to get the right information will save you a lot of trouble.