Driving in Ukraine is controversial topic. It can be fun and easy or you might have a lot of problems caused by that.
First thing that many people think about Ukraine driving is local road police – DAI (ДАІ). There is a stereotype that if your car has foreign number plates you will be stoped in any case and asked for a bribe. That’s not exactly true. Most likely nobody will stop you unless you breach basic traffic rules.
Here are some Ukraine driving tips for you 😉
Speed limit
The first and the most important is not to exceed the speed limit. Note, driving speed limit in cities and villages is 60 km/h unless other is stated. They are is indicated by settlement name in black on white plates.
Yes, this sign indicates you are entering 60 km/h zone. Very often drivers don’t pay attention to it caused by nearby bush or more impressive advertisement. And this is the major catch. Police usually wait with radar in such spots. Don’t drive faster until you pass the same sign over crossed by thick red line.
Driving speed limit in villages along the roads (village name on blue plate) is 90 km/h; on roads outside settlements – 110 km/h; on highways – 130 km/h.
One more tip regarding driving speed limit on Ukrainian roads. According to the traffic rules breaching a speed limit is done only if you’ve exceeded it by 20 km/h or more. What does it mean? If you are in the city and speed limit is 60 km/h you still can drive up to 79 km/h. Better stick to 70-75 km/h safe zone and no policeman will stop you. The same applies to 90, 110, 130 km/h rules while driving in Ukraine.
Local drives are quite tolerant and always flash lights if there is a road police post on your way.
Roads condition
It’s a shame but roads Ukraine are in very poor condition. Major roads like Chop-Lviv-Kyiv, Kyiv-Odessa, Kyiv-Kharkiv, Kharkiv-Dnipropetrowsk-Simferopol (Crimea) are fine but local ones in many cases are just terrible. Wheel sized holes on important roads are not occasional. Roads condition in Eastern Ukraine is generally better than in the West.
