1. Documents.
Make sure you have your driving licence and insurance documents with you at all times while driving in Crete. The police will stop you on a whim and expect to be able to examine your documents.
2. Speed limits.
These are not as easy to understand as in the U.K. There are lots of speed limit signs but they do not all apply to the road on which you are driving. For example, when driving along the main north coast road you will see limit signs that refer to your road but also signs placed near side roads that refer to the limit on the side road. On open main roads outside the towns, such as the north coast main road, the limit may be 100 or 110 kph but when passing junctions, especially where traffic is allowed to turn left across the oncoming traffic, the limit may be only 80 or even 60. On minor roads passing through villages or small towns the limit may be 40, 30 or even 20.
3. Speeding.
The police are quite happy to stop tourists for speeding but, away from the main roads, it is quite rare to see them. Many tourists get stopped and fined for speeding, especially on the north coast main road. Strangely, the speed limits do not seem to apply to the locals, especially coach and taxi drivers.
4. Overtaking.
Cretans are usually keen to overtake and happily cross solid centre marking lines to do it. They will even overtake when approaching or even going round blind corners. If you are in a queue behind a slower vehicle, waiting for an opportunity to overtake safely, the locals will overtake you and cut in, expecting you to drop back to allow them back in. Taxi drivers are the worst. They expect everyone to get out of their way. This attitude is not just the result of confidence due to superior local knowledge. They seem to have a supreme disregard for the potential consequences of an accident. As a result, the accident rate in Crete is much higher than you might expect given the relatively low traffic density. The answer is to always drive defensively and expect the unexpected.
5. Driving on country or mountain roads.
Most roads in Crete are not straight. They also lack roadside fences or hedges that are common in the U.K. As a result, it is often possible to see oncoming traffic from a great distance by looking across the bends, particularly on mountain roads. Use this facility. It's much better to know that something is coming the other way before it appears just in front of you round a bend on a narrow road. On roads with hairpin bends you may even have to look over your shoulder or get your passenger to do that on their side of the car to see whether something is coming the other way. When descending on such roads, give way to the traffic going uphill round tight corners as they may find it difficult to re-start if they have to stop in the middle of the corner where it is steepest.
6. Driving on the right.
If you have not driven a left hand drive car before, you will find it difficult to judge where the right hand side of the car is in relation to the kerb or the side of the road. Take an early opportunity to practice this while you are somewhere safe. Don't leave it until you are on the outside of a mountain road with a drop on your right and no barrier with a tipper lorry full of stone coming the other way.
7. Insurance.
It is common for the less reputable car hire companies to supply insurance which does not cover everything you might expect. It is not many years since most country roads were unsurfaced and, as a consequence, damage to the tyres or the underside of the car was common and excluded from most insurance cover. We have heard of people being charged 60 Euros for a simple puncture. If you are not prepared to cover the risk yourself, make sure you get full insurance, including cover for damage caused by the renter, third party damage, collision damage waiver (CDW), full damage waiver (FDW), no excess, tires and underside cover, personal accident cover for driver and passengers, theft cover and fire cover. Beware of companies that say their insurance covers everything without being specific. I recommend
Pangosmio.
8. Driving at night.
It is common for rented cars to have dirty windscreens, both inside and out. This is not a problem in daylight but at night or when driving towards a low sun it can be lethal. Avoid getting into this situation at all costs.
If all this makes you fearful of driving in Crete, don't be. If you take reasonable precautions you'll be safer driving yourself than sitting behind the typical lunatic taxi driver. Just take your time and keep calm. Let the lunies take care of themselves.
