Riding/Driving laws in Spain.

[BaZa®]

May 20, 2008

Earpieces and headsets illegal when riding in Spain

Filed under: Tech Tips, What's New? — survivalskills @ 8:41 am

It came to my notice via a thread on The Rev Counter last week that it’s illegal to wear a earpiece or headset in Spain whilst riding. The original link came from an MCN letter from a reader, who was apprarently pulled over by the Guarda Civil near the Spanish/French border, and fined €105 on the spot for using a bluetooth earpiece to connect to his GPS.
A bit of digging by one of the other forum members came up with a website with rules for drivers and apparently the spanish rule is:
“It is forbidden to drive using any headpiece or telephone ear-piece connected to equipment for receiving or reproducing sound.”
So that would rule out not only GPS on an audio link but also all the mobile phone, MP3 and bike-to-bike intercoms riders use.
So if you are heading off to Spain this year, be warned!

EDIT!
It occurred to me today that there are a few helmets around now with built in bluetooth headsets. Presumably it’s not illegal to wear one, but would be if you were using the in-built speaker. Mind you, how they would tell, I have no idea.

[simonDyna]

It is also illegal in several European countries to have a SatNav showing "points of interest" or "speed camera locations" whilst on the move. Spain is not one of them but France, Germany are.