Warning Spanish Stop Signs

JJ1

Guest
Hi All,

Did the 'Serious Riding in Northern Spain' tour with BM last month, came across a few spanish police patrols on their silver 850 BM's with no problems, until I got pulled over by one :augie .

The Policeman couldn't speak any english and as I could best translate, my crime was not putting my one foot down at a stop sign??, ie not coming to a complete halt :( !

Whilst I fully understand rules are rules, what gets me is that I wasn't riding dangerously, fast, or carelessly and I did come to an almost standstill on a clear and unobstructed junction [the large sweeping types you get on main roads]. But, instead of giving me a slap on the wrist, the guy gave me a 105 euro fine,:eek: luckily I had the cash on me otherwise it would have been 150 euro's.

So the warning is, 'when in spain', at stop sign junctions, come to a complete stop & put your one foot down or risk a ticket.......

Irronically I took this picture a few Days before I was pulled over. :confused:
 

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Same rule in the USA....stop means "come to a COMPLETE stop and proceed with caution"...I could see them using the foot down as a guide ...Cautioned several times (never ticketed) for the rolling stop in my youth. I assume it measn the same thing here, but since stop signs are so rare, different riding/driving culture.

...this is a good warning to UK drivers.....
 
Yep, anywhere in Southern Africa too.

It's the easiest way for the local cops to boost their coffers, all they need is a charge book, a shady tree and a deck chair! Even if you think you're a million miles from anywhere, they do mean STOP!

In fact I suspect that it's we in the UK who are unusual in treating a stop sign as stop/give way as you think fit.

PG
 
Same in France. My father in law got a ticking off for not coming to a complete halt. Stop means stop end of.:mmmm
 
I have a wonderful story about this... Push Bikes, but still....

One summer evening, I was late for the shops, and needed something at a particular book store that I'd never been to before... I jumped on my mountain bike and charged into town... blowing every single red light (we have lots in Canada =) along the way because I was running late. I eventually got into the vicinity and while scanning around for the shop, the pedestrian light went green, and I proceeded through a red lit intersection :eek: Cop was right there to make me feel the criminal and issued me a ticket...

I was confused at this point because of the "different' intersection which went 4 way walk before going green, and in my distraction I triggered off the pedestrian signs... Anyway, even though I knew I deserved a ticket for half a dozen earlier blown red lights, I decided to fight it out of pure spite... Much to the derision of the Wife who also knew how I rode and figured I deserved the fine.

Several months later, after a couple of postponments... the nice officer pleeded no evidence:clap I walked... fine free!...

Now the funny bit.

My Wife, who rides like a granny, ever so low, obeys every sign... (nags me constantly when I drive).. came upon a 4 way stop sign with clear vision in all directions... in the middle of nowhere.... came to a stop, but didn't put her feet down... (we both can stop for a couple seconds with feet up)... and continued... she always stops... Anyways Plod was there and issued a ticket (but mentioned that if she's had toe-clips, she'd have been ok???!!!)... which she contested!... which a month or two later she had to pay because the judge agreed that she should have put her foot down...:tears

Al...
 
Riding through Poland last week on a fast open road the traffic suddenly came to a complete and seeming explicable stop, with a queue forming at a small railway level crossing. The line looked unused , there were clearly no trains coming, there were warning lights present that were not on or flashing . Why was everybody stopped and what was the hold up!??

Its was because there was also a stop sign at the crossing and every vehicle, including the lorries, waited in turn to arrive at the junction, made a complete stop and then accelerated away. This happened 3 times.

As said its only over here where we seem to think 'almost' stopping is OK.
 
I reckon the 'stop' means 'stop' is much better than the UK 'keep going if it looks clear'. If you come to a stop then you can pause whilst taking a GOOD look to check it is clear. The UK version gets people into the habit of trying NOT to stop if at all possible, resulting in the 'roll up to a junction, microglance each way (look but don't see) and keep going'. How many times have you seen someone come close to pulling out on a biker because they didn't look properly as they were trying not to stop? :(
 
British Stop Signs

Yeh, its a fair comment.

But that's the problem, in the UK we're not used to actually stopping at stop signs, or the police enforcing such misdemeanours :rob . Yet the irony is that on some of the junctions in spain, you can clearly see for miles each way & nothing's on the road, so you stop and put your foot down for what, just to avoid getting a ticket :spitfire ?
 
JJ1 said:
Yeh, its a fair comment.

But that's the problem, in the UK we're not used to actually stopping at stop signs, or the police enforcing such misdemeanours:spitfire ?
Click to expand...


Only a recent thing (ie since cameras took over the policing), in the 70's & 80's old bill would target stop signs as a reason to pull you over for a chat.

Shep
 
Quite right too ...

Shep said:
Only a recent thing (ie since cameras took over the policing), in the 70's & 80's old bill would target stop signs as a reason to pull you over for a chat.

Shep
Click to expand...

... my favourite one as a young plod was Queens Drive j/w Brownswood Road, N4. Easy place to fill my quota :popcorn
 
I was on a safety organisation run observing an associate with a senior observing me. I stopped at the stop sign, one foot down, as had the associate and the senior ran into the back of me:yelrotflm

We both stayed good side up and a broken number plate nylon bolt was the only damage. One very emabarassed senior needless to say:D
 
STOP

Define STOP.
In my understanding if there is no forward motion at a particular moment in time then by any reasoning a stop has occurred. Yet again this application of the "Law" is only to boost police coffers. What about the guys who can balance on a bike for many mant seconds at a time whilst stop and without putting a foot down. Cops like this suck.
 
Mac in Fife said:
Define STOP.
In my understanding if there is no forward motion at a particular moment in time then by any reasoning a stop has occurred. Yet again this application of the "Law" is only to boost police coffers. What about the guys who can balance on a bike for many mant seconds at a time whilst stop and without putting a foot down. Cops like this suck.
Click to expand...

I think Stop signs are there to advise you that the Junction may not be as straight forward as it appears and so advises you to stop and take your time doing observations rather than a quick glance while balancing and then rolling through, its just a traffic control measure somewhere between a Give Way sign and traffic lightsand so seems sensible to me:nenau

Shep
 
Why are so many of you assuming that a STOP sign in the UK simply means slow down and proceed with caution?

There is no ambiguity about STOP.

It means just that.

However, there's nothing in the Highway Code that tells you how long you have to stop for.

So, if you're able, it's quite possible to bring your bike to a momentary stop before rolling on again.

But, most STOP signs are at awkward junctions, possibly with limited view, so it does make sense to stop and peer about cautiously.

I did get pulled years ago in the car when the complaining police person insisted that I didn't actually stop. When I pointed out to him that I had actually rolled back a little (the STOP line was on a slope), and therefore had actually stopped TWICE, he got a bit snotty.
 
JJ1 said:
Hi All,

Did the 'Serious Riding in Northern Spain' tour with BM last month, came across a few spanish police patrols on their silver 850 BM's with no problems, until I got pulled over by one :augie .

The Policeman couldn't speak any english and as I could best translate, my crime was not putting my one foot down at a stop sign??, ie not coming to a complete halt :( !

Whilst I fully understand rules are rules, what gets me is that I wasn't riding dangerously, fast, or carelessly and I did come to an almost standstill on a clear and unobstructed junction [the large sweeping types you get on main roads]. But, instead of giving me a slap on the wrist, the guy gave me a 105 euro fine,:eek: luckily I had the cash on me otherwise it would have been 150 euro's.

So the warning is, 'when in spain', at stop sign junctions, come to a complete stop & put your one foot down or risk a ticket.......

Irronically I took this picture a few Days before I was pulled over. :confused:
Click to expand...

Another "slight" discretion that you can make is to overtake a vehicle with less than 1.5 metre between you and the vehicle that you overtake.

I supposedly did this last year in Spain and a bike cop stopped me. He could speak some English though and proceeded to rip the shit out of me for my crude Spanish. I asked him if he could speak French or German (which I can to some extent) but he couldn't.

Anyway, 105 Euro fine. I then asked him if he could measure the distance with some gadget as I told him it was more. Write in to the court to complain was the wnkers reply. :mad:

In Spain I almost go over to the other curb when overtaking now. Oh and BTW you MUST signal when overtaking, even on the Motorway or dual-carrageway.
 
Failing to stop (and clearly demonstrate this) at a STOP sign on a m/c Test or advanced (IAM) observed test will result in a fail. In an attempt to enforce this throughout the EC and beyond 'enthusiastic' police can enforce fines as they see fit - bit of a lottery but we are all unluckly from time to time - waiting for my turn!!

Cheers
 
Interesting - I came across a stop junction in Ireland a few days ago, couldn't see the point of it as there was a clear view for miles - nevertheless, I couldn't help but make sure my wheels stopped turning completely before carrying on - I could hear my driving instructor warning me that the wheels had to come to a complete stop whenever I saw that sign. In the old days (whenever they were) in the UK you had to put your handbrake on in a car to demonstrate that you'd observed the sign when doing your test.
 
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