Driving a car
In all European countries you need a driver license to drive a vehicle. Special licesenses are available for scooters, motorbikes, cars, trucks and busses. The minimum age for driving a car is in most countries 18 years. The license must be taken along when driving as well as the registration document of the vehicle.
In all countries it is mandatory to have the vehicle insured. The insurance certificate must be taken along with the vehicle.
Each vehicle in Europe must have a country designation at the back, which indicates the country where the vehicle is registered. In the next column the country designations are given.
In mainland Europe all countries have righthand traffic. The islands of England, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta however have lefthand traffic.
It is mandatory to wear a safety belt. This is applicable to all the passengers in the vehicle.
The speed limit on most roads is 50 kilometers per hour. The speed limit on highways varies from 100 to 130 kilometers per hour, except in Germany where some Autobahnen have no speed limit at all.
It is only permitted to make handsfree phonecalls. If you don't, you will be fined heavily.
It is forbidden to drive a vehicle after the consumption of alcohol or drugs. If you do, your car will be confiscated.
In most European countries the large and comfortable 4 or 6 lane highways have toll booths or automatic toll systems. In most countries lorries must pay toll via an electronic system or via stickers. In Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakija also cars need a sticker when driving on highways.
Car rental can pose problems if you want to drive to East European countries. This because the theft of West European cars is high there. Some rental companies require special deposits or they don't rent you a car if they know you want to drive e.g. to Poland.

Petrol availability and pricing
In all European countries petrol is available at petrol-stations. You can find them along the highways and mostly somewhat outside the cities. In larger cities there are also petrol-stations in the city but very seldom in the center.

Petrol prices varies wildly. The most expensive is the Netherlands with over EUR 1,50 for 1 liter. The cheapest are East European countries - like Poland - where less then 1 Euro is asked for 1 liter.

Country designation
Albania - AL
Andorra - AD
Armenia - AM
Austria - A
Azerbaijan - AZ
Belarus - BY
Belgium - B
Bosnia Herzegovina - BA
Bulgaria - BG
Croatia -
Cyprus - CY
Czech Republic - CZ
Denmark - DK
England - GB
Estonia - EE
Finland - FIN
France - F
Georgia - GE
Germany - D
Greece - GR
Hungary - H
Iceland - IS
Ireland - IRL
Italy - I
Latvia - LV
Liechtenstein - LI
Lithuania - LT
Luxembourg - L
Macedonia - MK
Malta - M
Moldova - MD
Netherlands - NL
Norway - NO
Poland - PL
Portugal - P
Romania - RO
Russia - RU
Serbia - YU
Slovakia - SK
Slovenia - SLO
Spain - E
Sweden - S
Switzerland - CH
Ukraine - UA