Enduro and off-road motorcycles in general are unregulated sports, so they are outside the law to practice them, but not to establish fines, as explained by the Moto de Campo Sostenible platform.
One of the main fears when we go out to do enduro is that some authority stops us, be it the Civil Guard or Environmental Agents, because being an unregulated sport, we are doing something prohibited in most cases and the administrations spend disproportionate resources to chase us.
Although the legislation is different in each autonomous community when it comes to traveling on roads, going on a path with a motorcycle is prohibited throughout the national territory.
Traffic fines and environmental fine for doing enduro
Once they stop us with the enduro motorcycle, two possible avenues of sanction are opened. On the one hand, the circulation area, where they will check if we have all the documentation in order like any normal vehicle. Here they will check MOT, insurance, mirrors, turn signals, approved exhaust, etc.
Everything that we do not comply with translates into light fines or thousands of eurosbeing the same as if we were stopped with any other vehicle on the road, since, even if we drive through the countryside, we must comply with all traffic regulations.
On the other hand, adding this new amount to the previous possible fine, an administrative file is opened by the Environment of the corresponding community, in which a technician will evaluate where he found us circulating.
If it is a path of more than three meters you can normally circulate, unless it is in a protected place, it is a livestock track or it is expressly prohibited, on a narrow path you cannot normally circulate, and on a path it is always prohibited as we said. . For this reason, the fines are higher depending on where we are stopped, the fine being higher when driving off-road.
Unprotected areas and environmentally protected areas
In addition to the type of road where we are, it also depends on whether it is an unprotected area or a protected area. Within protected areas there are many types, Regional Parks, National Parks, ZEPA zonesetc., all grouped in the Natura 2000 Network areas and public utility forests, where there are also more restrictions.
In summary, it could be said that the more environmental protection the area has, the greater the fine will be, and the further inside the protected area we are, the greater the amount. Getting lost and brushing against a protected area is not the same as riding in the center of a National Park.
The final amount of the environmental infraction is imposed by the technician to whom the file is received based on the Forestry Law and the location data and the report provided by the agent who gave us the stop.
Environmental fines
In the environmental fines established in the Law of Montes The damage caused to the natural environment and the time required for nature to recover from that damage are taken into account.
This is where assessments come in, just like the fines that can be imposed on large companies for dumping waste into a river, for example, so each case is assessed separately.
Classifications range from mild to very severe. Taking these two factors into account, normal use of a dirt bike does not, in any case, cause damage to the natural environment such that it is more than minor.
- Mild: Damage caused to the mountain or when the replacement costs are less than 10,000 euros or the period for its repair or restoration does not exceed six months. Fine for minor infractions, from 100 to 1,000 euros.
- Serious: when the facts constituting the infringement have caused damage to the mountain with replacement costs equal to or greater than 10,000 euros and less than 1,000,000 euros or whose repair or restoration period is less than 10 years and more than six months. Fine for serious violations, from 1,001 to 100,000 euros.
- Very serious: when the facts constituting the infringement have caused damage to the mountain with replacement costs equal to or greater than 1,000,000 euros or whose repair or restoration period is greater than 10 years. Fine for very serious violations, from 100,001 to 1,000,000 euros.
When establishing the sanction, in addition to the damage and the recovery time of the natural environment, it is taken into account whether the offender is a repeat offender, the intentionality, and whether he or she is profiting from it. If it is a protected area, these fines increase, varying according to the specific legislation of each area, so the amounts may be higher.
In environmental matters, these fines and sentences are often disproportionate to the damage. Very famous was the case of Hugo Arriazuin which they requested a sentence of 4 years in prison for making a motocross circuit for their son on their plot, since they considered that the damage caused was serious and it was a protected area.
But as we say, this would have been the same, regardless of whether instead of making a circuit I would have moved dirt for anything else. Just like the €100,000 fine for a person who cut down a diseased tree on his plot that could fall on her house.
Or the €250,000 fine Sergio Ramos for cutting holm oaks on his plot as well. Finally, Hugo Arriazu did not go to prison after appealing to the Supreme Court and having no criminal record, the final sentence being one year in prison and 5,960 euros.
This issue becomes even more evident when we verify that committing a robbery with force is punishable by sentences of 1 to 3 years in prison, a reckless homicide 3-4 years, prevarication 4 years or a robbery with violence by shooting a gun at the neck 3 years . A complete dystopia.
Examples of possible fines doing enduro
If we go with a motorcycle without papers, without insurance, without ITV, without mirrors and without turn signals, we will surely have a few thousand euros in fines just for the traffic part. If we go with everything in order, the traffic fine in that case will be zero.
And, on the other hand, if we go along a marked path of more than 4 meters, outside a protected and marked area, depending on the autonomous community, it will be legal and the fine will also be zero.
But if we go cross-country in the center of a natural park, opening a new trial with many attempts, they will assess it as an environmental crime of a certain value, which could also be a fine of thousands of euros.
If, for example, we are riding the motorcycle with everything in order, but on a path in unprotected terrain, the fine can be around the €300 depending on the autonomous community, with a 50% discount for prompt payment.
