driving fines - Driving, hiring, buying and owning a car in Los Alcázares - Los Alcázares forum - Costa Cálida forum in the Murcia province of Spain
ASSSA Insurance
Jennifer Cunningham Insurances SL
Los Alcazares car repair  service

Join the Los Alcázares forum

Join the Los Alcázares forumMy name's Alex and this is my website all about Los Alcázares in Spain. Register now for free to talk about Driving, hiring, buying and owning a car in Los Alcázares and much more!

driving fines - Page 2

rma44

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 10:27am

rma44

Helpful member

Posts: 709

406 helpful points

Joined: 2 Mar 2016

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 10:27am

Of course you'd be wasting your time. No copper in the world is going to accept that as an excuse, otherwise everyone would be saying it. It's the same with phones, you're either on it or not. Putting on a seat belt should be habit and not rely on memory.

They're rolling out speed cameras in the UK now which can detect phone use and seat belts, it's about time too.

Mags44

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 2:13pm

Mags44

Very helpful member

Posts: 917

790 helpful points

Joined: 1 Sep 2019

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 2:13pm

RichT wrote on Tue May 4, 2021 5:37pm:

To the best of my knowledge, fines don't change between municipalities.

Non-residents have to pay 'on the spot'; residents have 20 days to pay.

Speeding fines increase with the amount over the limit, but you would expect around €100-€140, plus points on your licence, again depending on the amount over the limit.

Failure to wear a searbelt is a €200 fine, reduced to €100 if paid promptly.

You need to carry your licence, car registration, insurance, proof of address in the car.

As with the UK, you have the right to contest a fine, however, in my personal opinion, your story versus that of 2 police officers or a speeding camera is unlikely to succeed with some substantial supporting evidence.

Hope this helps!

Surely that should be "points off your licence" as in Spain, we start off with points and then lose them for traffic infractions?

Mags44

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 2:15pm

Mags44

Very helpful member

Posts: 917

790 helpful points

Joined: 1 Sep 2019

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 2:15pm

rma44 wrote on Wed May 5, 2021 10:27am:

Of course you'd be wasting your time. No copper in the world is going to accept that as an excuse, otherwise everyone would be saying it. It's the same with phones, you're either on it or not. Putting on a seat belt should be habit and not rely on memory.

They're rolling out speed cameras in the UK now which can detect phone use and seat belts, it's about time too.
...

...

And the new speed limits begin on the 11th May, so we'll all be crawling along at 20 or 30kph everywhere there are no dual carriageways or autopistas. That will be fun to watch, with all those boy racers!

PeterC

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 2:45pm

PeterC

Super helpful member

Posts: 2233

1446 helpful points

Location: Los Alcázares

Joined: 10 Nov 2016

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 2:45pm

Any change in speed limits is completely useless without enforcement. Last night when I walked across Avenida de Los Narejos to go to the bins a black car passed me at speed, having swerved violently around the recently installed sleeping policeman on the carriageway - must have gone across the crossing at some 70+ kph...what are the chances of that person observing a 30 kph limit without CCTV and or speed cameras?

smileygeorgey

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 11:15pm

Posts: 76

24 helpful points

Location: Fortuna

Joined: 14 Aug 2019

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 11:15pm

RichT wrote on Tue May 4, 2021 5:37pm:

To the best of my knowledge, fines don't change between municipalities.

Non-residents have to pay 'on the spot'; residents have 20 days to pay.

Speeding fines increase with the amount over the limit, but you would expect around €100-€140, plus points on your licence, again depending on the amount over the limit.

Failure to wear a searbelt is a €200 fine, reduced to €100 if paid promptly.

You need to carry your licence, car registration, insurance, proof of address in the car.

As with the UK, you have the right to contest a fine, however, in my personal opinion, your story versus that of 2 police officers or a speeding camera is unlikely to succeed with some substantial supporting evidence.

Hope this helps!

Do not believe on spot fines are done and possibly not allowed now. I am non resident and have had 4 speeding fines but only the first 13 years ago was on the spot back in the totally corrupt Spain it has got marginally better but onto challenging a fine well good luck with that in Spain all you will do is go beyond the days of paying 50% in my opinion

Advertisement - posts continue below

Mags44

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 11:37pm

Mags44

Very helpful member

Posts: 917

790 helpful points

Joined: 1 Sep 2019

Posted: Wed May 5, 2021 11:37pm

smileygeorgey wrote on Wed May 5, 2021 11:15pm:

Do not believe on spot fines are done and possibly not allowed now. I am non resident and have had 4 speeding fines but only the first 13 years ago was on the spot back in the totally corrupt Spain it has got marginally better but onto challenging a fine well good luck with that in Spain all you ...

...will do is go beyond the days of paying 50% in my opinion

Wow.... for a non-resident, you seem to be very informed about the level of corruption in Spain!

RichT

Posted: Thu May 6, 2021 5:52pm

RichT

Super helpful member

Posts: 1134

1258 helpful points

Location: Lorca

Joined: 13 Sep 2019

Posted: Thu May 6, 2021 5:52pm

Boca J wrote on Tue May 4, 2021 8:41pm:

Or you forget.

In the UK, this is what would be called 'an absolute offence' - the offence is committed simply by the act of not wearing the seatbelt, with the only defence being the possession of a medical certificate of exemption. An absolute offence cannot successfully be challenged. The option would then be to contend that the punishment is excessive. However, as the level of punishment is set in the law, then this would fail.

The only other option would have been at the point that the fine was given - to hope that by being polite & apologetic the police would have used their discretion and just given you a warning. Retrospectively, this isn't going to happen.

Note that the fine in the UK is £100, rising to a max of £500 if taken to court (except Northern Ireland, where it is up to £500, plus 3 points on your licence).

The World Health Organisation commented that seatbelts had undoubtedly saved over 1 million lives since being introduced in 1959, however, despite being required by law in most countries, usage remained around 50%, so more lives could be saved. 

One method of improving usage is to enforce the law with penalties that are sufficient to persuade drivers & passengers to constantly use them...

Here endeth the lesson :-)

Boca J

Posted: Thu May 6, 2021 6:48pm

Boca J

Original Poster

Posts: 75

26 helpful points

Location: Los Alcázares

Joined: 30 Jun 2020

Posted: Thu May 6, 2021 6:48pm

RichT wrote on Thu May 6, 2021 5:52pm:

In the UK, this is what would be called 'an absolute offence' - the offence is committed simply by the act of not wearing the seatbelt, with the only defence being the possession of a medical certificate of exemption. An absolute offence cannot successfully be challenged. The option would then be...

... to contend that the punishment is excessive. However, as the level of punishment is set in the law, then this would fail.

The only other option would have been at the point that the fine was given - to hope that by being polite & apologetic the police would have used their discretion and just given you a warning. Retrospectively, this isn't going to happen.

Note that the fine in the UK is £100, rising to a max of £500 if taken to court (except Northern Ireland, where it is up to £500, plus 3 points on your licence).

The World Health Organisation commented that seatbelts had undoubtedly saved over 1 million lives since being introduced in 1959, however, despite being required by law in most countries, usage remained around 50%, so more lives could be saved. 

One method of improving usage is to enforce the law with penalties that are sufficient to persuade drivers & passengers to constantly use them...

Here endeth the lesson :-)

In UK this is absolutely no offence. I drove over 30 years there, never wore seat-belt, never received penalty. Police or cameras don't bother with this. You could only get penalty for speeding and for using mobile phone.

In Madrid I was stopped by police for not wearing seat-belt, but they only gave me a warning, no penalty.

It seems strange that penalty for not wearing seat-belt is 200/100 Euros, but for speeding which is a more serious offence is 100/50 Euros.

RichT

Posted: Thu May 6, 2021 7:51pm

RichT

Super helpful member

Posts: 1134

1258 helpful points

Location: Lorca

Joined: 13 Sep 2019

Posted: Thu May 6, 2021 7:51pm

Boca J wrote on Thu May 6, 2021 6:48pm:

In UK this is absolutely no offence. I drove over 30 years there, never wore seat-belt, never received penalty. Police or cameras don't bother with this. You could only get penalty for speeding and for using mobile phone.

In Madrid I was stopped by police for not wearing seat-belt, but they only gave me a warning, no penalty....

...

It seems strange that penalty for not wearing seat-belt is 200/100 Euros, but for speeding which is a more serious offence is 100/50 Euros.

I'll put it politely - you're wrong.

You may feel that "in UK this is absolutely no offence" if you believe that it is not enforced and you have not experienced it yourself. 

However the FACT is that it is the law, passed in 1983...

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1993/176/made

And your statement "You could only get penalty for speeding and for using mobile phone" is also totally wrong. For example, you fail to mention all the other driving offences - e.g. drink driving, dangerous driving, just to mention two.

You are entitled to your opinion, however, I would suggest you don't make assertions without fully understanding the facts...

It is, of course, possible, that this attitude, if used towards the police who issued you with the fine, is what led you to receive a fine instead of a warning. 

Ignore the advice provided on here and appeal the penalty. I hope you will update us with the outcome... 

Gem

Posted: Thu May 6, 2021 8:07pm

Gem

Helpful member

Posts: 278

172 helpful points

Location: Torre-Pacheco

Joined: 16 Jan 2020

Posted: Thu May 6, 2021 8:07pm

RichT wrote on Thu May 6, 2021 7:51pm:

I'll put it politely - you're wrong.

You may feel that "in UK this is absolutely no offence" if you believe that it is not enforced and you have not experienced it yourself. 

However the FACT is that it is the law, passed in 1983...

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1993/176/made

And your statement "You could only get penalty for speeding and for using mobile phone" is also totally wrong. For example, you fail to mention all the other driving offences - e.g. drink driving, dangerous driving, just to mention two.

You are entitled to your opinion, however, I would suggest you don't make assertions without fully understanding the facts...

It is, of course, possible, that this attitude, if used towards the police who issued you with the fine, is what led you to receive a fine instead of a warning. 

Ignore the advice provided on here and appeal the penalty. I hope you will update us with the outcome... 

Spot on RichT - and very politely put! :-)

Sign up for free or login to reply to this topic

Want to reply to this topic? Login or register for free to post your message:

Find more Driving, hiring, buying and owning a car topics from a particular area:


Register for free!

Login to your account

ASSSA Insurance
Jennifer Cunningham Insurances SL
Los Alcazares car repair  service
Advertise your business here
Advertise your property
Help with my computer