Iceland Speeding Fines and Speed Cameras in a Rental Car

What are the speed limits in Iceland?

Safetravel, the road safety service of the Icelandic search and rescue association, lists the default limits: 50 km/h in urban areas, 80 km/h on gravel roads and 90 km/h on paved roads in rural areas. It also gives 50 km/h for single-lane bridges. Posted signs override the defaults.

The 10 km/h gap between paved and gravel matters more than it looks. The same measured speed costs more on gravel because it sits further above the limit.

How much is a speeding fine in Iceland?

Fines are set by Regulation 1240/2019 on traffic fines. The version in force on 23 September 2026, published in a document dated 12 August 2026, still carries the table introduced on 1 January 2020. It lists the measured speed down the side and the posted limit across the top.

A few other entries from the same regulation that catch visitors:

• Using a phone or other device without hands-free equipment: 40,000 kr.
• Driving through a red light: 50,000 kr.
• Headlights not switched on: 20,000 kr. Safetravel reminds drivers that lights must be on at all times, all year.
• A vehicle's owner or keeper refusing to say who was driving: 40,000 kr.

Cameras and average-speed sections

Iceland uses fixed speed cameras and, since 16 November 2021, average-speed sections. The government's announcement named the first two: Grindavíkurvegur between the Blue Lagoon road and Grindavík, and the Norðfjarðargöng tunnel. A camera at each end of the section times the car, and signs mark where monitoring applies. The Road Administration runs the equipment and the National Police Commissioner processes the fines.

The 2021 announcement is not a live list of monitored sections, so rely on the roadside signs rather than on a route you remember as camera-free. If your trip starts at the airport, Keflavik Airport to Reykjavik covers the first drive.

Off-road driving is a separate, criminal offence

Driving off marked roads and tracks is not in the traffic fine table. It is banned by article 31 of the Nature Conservation Act, with narrow exceptions such as frozen ground or firm snow cover. Article 90 makes a breach punishable by a fine or up to two years in prison. If the driving causes serious damage to nature, the minimum fine is 350,000 kr, adjusted monthly for inflation, or the prison term can reach four years.

Rental contracts add their own layer. Hertz Iceland forbids off-road driving and can charge a fixed fee listed as 150,000 for a breach of that article, separate from any damage. The insurance side of this is covered in Iceland rental car insurance for gravel and F-roads.

How does an Iceland traffic fine reach a rental driver?

There are two routes, and they cost different amounts.

Hertz Iceland's terms make the renter responsible for all parking tickets and traffic fines, and allow an administration fee, charged to the card, when Hertz has to pay a ticket or inform the authorities about the renter. Its price list shows that fee at 4,000 kr. Hertz's own fines guide says it does not pay speeding fines for renters; the police send the ticket to the identified driver.

Once a fine is final and unpaid, collection passes to the District Commissioners. Ísland.is explains that enforcement starts 30 days after the collection letter if nothing is agreed, and that the fine carries an alternative prison sentence if it cannot be collected. Full payment cancels that alternative.

Worked example: a Ring Road day

You drive a rental car at 105 km/h on a paved 90 km/h stretch and pass a camera. The table puts 101-110 km/h in a 90 zone at 50,000 kr. Paid within 30 days, it falls to 37,500 kr. Add Hertz's 4,000 kr fee for handling the camera notice and the total is 41,500 kr.

Later the road turns to gravel and you keep the same 105 km/h. Now the limit is 80, and the same row costs 80,000 kr, or 60,000 kr with the discount. On a 50 km/h village road, 66-70 km/h already costs 30,000 kr.