New Spanish traffic laws.

[-Ralph-]

I received a letter from spain in September after my off, "nobody else involved "
Can't understand it. But I think that I was taken to court & prosecuted in my absence!!!

If you want to PM me a copy I'll get the wife to translate.

[-Ralph-]

Doh! TSB already offered. Still wife is mother tongue (well grandmother tongue), so if your struggling with anything send it across.

Andymac and TSB, were you on British registered bikes?

[Simon_100]

Doh! TSB already offered. Still wife is mother tongue (well grandmother tongue), so if your struggling with anything send it across.

Andymac and TSB, were you on British registered bikes?

Nope, I live here and so does my bike. My 'report' came about because I was hospitalised and this triggers a full investigation no matter what the circumstances. I crossed a concrete ford that was covered in algae with the predictable consequences . . .

The police did the full works, photos, tyre tread measured, i.e, skid marks on the surface, check the bike's roadworthiness, etc. etc.

The Beak's report stated that although the speed limit was 40 kph I should take into account prevailing conditions and moderate my speed accordingly - this comment was in bold text, whose meaningI took seriously :whistle:

Luckily my Satnav wasn't included in the evidence as, realising that I'd be separated from my bike, I'd asked my mate to stow it in the topbox while we were waiting for the ambulance - a few weeks later I checked the route - I 'hit' the ford at 70 kph (thumbs)

Regs

Simon

[andymac]

Mine is a British bike,

Tsb,,, that would be great, I have pics of the letter that I could email you?

I don't fancy being arrested at the border, lol

[Harty]

Sorry to crash this thread!

Can I ask I'd Simon knows what the law is regarding max numbers of riders trail riding? I read somewhere that in Spain if there's more than 6 of you in a group trail riding, then you need group insurance as its classed as an organised ride??

Cheers

[Tramp]

Yep 6 max according to the law...unless its a organised thing then insurance and authorisation etc needed...but can the spanish count and surely if folks are in fwo close groups it dont matter...have fun ..

[Simon_100]

Mine is a British bike,

Tsb,,, that would be great, I have pics of the letter that I could email you?

I don't fancy being arrested at the border, lol

PM sent Andy - as I said in that, I'll give the basics, but if you need special advice you're going to have to find it: AA RAC?

Regs

Simon

[Simon_100]

Sorry to crash this thread!

Can I ask I'd Simon knows what the law is regarding max numbers of riders trail riding? I read somewhere that in Spain if there's more than 6 of you in a group trail riding, then you need group insurance as its classed as an organised ride??

Cheers

It's a bit more complicated that that - NB Tramp!

Yep 6 max according to the law...unless its a organised thing then insurance and authorisation etc needed...but can the spanish count and surely if folks are in fwo close groups it dont matter...have fun ..

Most Spanish laws delegate the power to the autonomous regions to dictate and implement the details, so it's a bit dangerous to generalise.

Many regions have gone down the line of specifying numbers, others have gone for a blanket ban, either in total or by season and/or a mixture of both! And change this at intervals best known to themselves!

The reason I don't go into these details on my blog is that I haven't the resource to keep up with all these changes - even on the mainland there are fifteen autonomous regions!

But I do keep up to date in Catalonia and Aragón, where I hold my HISS events. Here they go down the 'rider limit' path, with groups of seven and five riders respectively. In Aragón they even go as far as to define that groups have to be separated by 30 minutes . . .

And to top it all the 'national law seems to ban trail riding everywhere by saying that unless trails are listed on the National Highways database then they're al illegal - but, 'What database? - it doesn't exist!

As it happens I was reading a 4x4 lobby group's advice on this just this morning on exactly this topic. apart form trying to resolve this they also list general guidelines for us all to be getting on with. So my advice would be to follow these:

Circular siempre a velocidad moderada. Se sale de excursión, no para competir en una carrera.
Asegurarse de que el silenciador se mantiene en perfecto estado.
Ceder siempre el paso a peatones, ciclistas, jinetes y animales.
Detenerse y apagar el motor ante cualquier imprevisto que lo requiera.
Denunciar todo delito contra el medio ambiente: vertidos ilegales, incendios, cierre de caminos públicos, etc.
No salir nunca en grupos numerosos. Si hay más de cinco vehículos, hay que dividirse en grupos pequeños y circular por sitios diferentes agrupándose al final del trayecto.
Ser un ejemplo de civismo; repercute en la buena imagen de todos los usuarios.

In English (my translation):

Always ride at moderate speed. Take it easy, it's not a race.
Make sure that the silencer is in perfect condition.
Always give way to pedestrians, bikers, riders and animals.
Stop and switch off the engine before any unforeseen event that requires it.
Report any offence against the environment: illegal discharges, fire, closing of public roads, etc.
Don't go in large groups. If there are more than five vehicles, these should must split into small groups and go via by different routes and meet at the end of the journey.
Be an example of civic-mindedness; It affects the good image of all the users.

But if you want specific I contact both the 'Diputación' of the region and the local office of SEPRONA, which is a special unit of the Guardia Civil that is charged with policing environmental issues. Both of these organisations are pretty high powered and professional and if you mail them in English you are at least likely to get an answer, even an authoritative one.

Phew - how complicated - maybe I do deserve a medal (thumbs)

Meanwhile I hope this helps . . .

Simon

[Nigel]

Doh! TSB already offered. Still wife is mother tongue (well grandmother tongue), so if your struggling with anything send it across.

Andymac and TSB, were you on British registered bikes?

Nope, I live here and so does my bike. My 'report' came about because I was hospitalised and this triggers a full investigation no matter what the circumstances. I crossed a concrete ford that was covered in algae with the predictable consequences . . .

The police did the full works, photos, tyre tread measured, i.e, skid marks on the surface, check the bike's roadworthiness, etc. etc.

The Beak's report stated that although the speed limit was 40 kph I should take into account prevailing conditions and moderate my speed accordingly - this comment was in bold text, whose meaningI took seriously :whistle:

Luckily my Satnav wasn't included in the evidence as, realising that I'd be separated from my bike, I'd asked my mate to stow it in the topbox while we were waiting for the ambulance - a few weeks later I checked the route - I 'hit' the ford at 70 kph (thumbs)

Regs

Simon

Hi Simon, interesting that you say if you are hospitalised it triggers a full investigation, I presume that also happens with stupid foreigners :whistle: had a bit of an "incident" descending a single track road in the Picos on my MTB in 1998, basically went around a blind left hand bend like a loony and hit a 4X4 head on, I do know the Spanish plod estimated I was doing 30 mph (45 top speed on digital speedo) and there were no skid marks (except in my shorts :whistle: ) so no brakes applied! don`t know the speed of the 4x4? heard that plod said it was 50/50 blame although I think it was more like 100% English nutter :whistle:

I must have heard the above from cycle holiday company as I don`t remember getting a report from Spain? did have scrambled brains for a few months though so who knows?

[Simon_100]

Hi Nigel,

The 50/50 thing is universal of single tracks. Things have changed a lot here since 1998 - and this may also depend on the region.

Sounds like you had a lucky break all round!

Regs

Simon
PS i always remember my Mums advice, "Always have clean pants on in case you end up in hospital!" Luckily I didn't do skidmarks, but I do recall the looks of 'interest' when the nurse in A&E pulled my biker suit trousers off to reveal my skin tight, jet black, lycra look, wicking layer . . . :whistle:

Regs

Simon