It has been a tough few months what with tax season but now that it is behind us here at the office, I can return my attention to Canary Bloggers as it has been pretty much abandoned lately. So much has been happening, regulations that have gone unnoticed in recent years are being discovered so plenty of reading and research is going on at the moment.
Well, this article brings what will hopefully be the start of great news for motorists in Spain. As we all know, Trafico engineers laws to their convenience and not always to the benefit of road users. Some of their campaigns are viewed as an easy way to earn a fast buck than actually creating road safety awareness. Anyway, the point of this article is that AEA, Automovilistas Europeos Asociados or European Motorists Associates has fought and won a long 5 year battle against traffic regulations established in 2010 in Madrid in which agents fine motorists without actually informing them on the spot of their alleged violation, rather, surprised road users receive the dreaded and familiar looking notification by post advising them of their “crime” way after time and the AEA has declared this type of action as completely illegal. According to the Supreme Court, agents must stop the offender at the time the offense has been committed as long as conditions and traffic safety allow it. If it is deemed impossible to detain the offender, the agent must fill in a detailed report explaining what impeded them from taking action.
Thousands of road users have denounced the way they have been fined since this law came into effect and the Law is finally on their side which means that article 99 has been modified to ensure that drivers are properly advised so as to give them as well as the administration guarantees in every fine that is issued. The AEA has also requested that more than 600.000 fines are thoroughly checked and then cancelled, even those currently being processed by the National Tax Office, a task that should also include refunding all monies illegally obtained as well as any points deducted from drivers licenses. Anyone who has been issued with fines of this nature since 17th December 2010 and 8th June 2015 can request the process is reversed.
This problem does not only affect motorists in Madrid, anyone who drives regularly in Fuerteventura knows that the same occurs here. I have also been the recipient of fines I was unaware of on the date, time and place stated on the document so it would be a massive feat if this ruling were to filter down to all Autonomous Regions so that those and similar fines could be reversed and agents made to do their job properly instead of taking the lazy way out. While they’re at it, laws surrounding the use of mobile radars should also be seriously reconsidered. They cheat us by placing mobile radars two metres before a sign that allows an increase in speed when they are fully aware that at that point everyone would have already begun to accelerate proving it is just another scam to collect as much money as possible at the expense of motorists and when you think about it, has nothing to do with road safety at all.
