Just a heads up: my husband forgot he had an AirPod in his ear while driving in Spain. He was pulled over and fined 100euros by credit card on the spot. This was a legitimate traffic officer and vehicle. This is a law in Spain that we were not aware of. The rental car company did not warn us and there is nothing under the driving section in Rick Steves Spain book to alert the driver. Not all European countries have this law. This law should be added to the RS books. When we told the officer that we had no idea that it was against the law, he said that we should know the laws for driving in Spain. Be aware!
Posted by
London
2129 posts
Ooft. Unlucky. It's not hugely unreasonable that you didn't know. Well done for taking it on the chin.
I don't think it's reasonable to expect guide book authors to include this specific rule. The wider point about using electronic devices that this falls under might be worth a mention.
When you get down to the nitty gritty like this, you need to be studying each country's driving manual. I don't know what the Spanish equivalent of the UK "Highway Code" is. Whether it's a wholly reasonable expectation to know it inside out, that's debatable.
I think you make a good point that there's quite a bit of variation between countries. I'd guess it's the same between states in the US. I think with offences like this, there's quite a lot of variation in how and when it's going to be enforced as well as what's in statute. Seems a bit OTT in this instance, on the surface.
Worth thinking about anyway.