Earpieces and headsets illegal when riding in Spain

It came to my notice via a thread on http://www.therevcounter.com 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 occured 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.