Carrying Your Shopping on the Back Seat Can Result in a Fine

Carrying your shopping on the back seat of the car is never a good idea. In the event of a collision, or even sudden braking, the items can become projectiles and shoot forward, causing any amount of personal or material damage.

That is why, according to the DGT, leaving loose packages in the rear seats of the vehicle can lead to a fine of 200 euro, which includes your supermarket purchases, which many people, oblivious to the danger, do on a daily basis.

This infraction is reflected in article 14 of the General Traffic Regulations (RGC). It says that the cargo transported in a vehicle must not “drag, fall totally or partially or move in a dangerous way.” In that same section it is specified that the load cannot “compromise the stability of the vehicle” or it can involve a fine of 200 euro.

That is the reason why whatever you are transporting in your vehicle, it must be secure. The boot is the best place for carrying goods of course, although you can also benefit, at times, from a mesh in some vehicles.

In the most simple of terms, everything you carry in your vehicle must be secure.

Similarly, during the summer months in particular, we often see passenger-carrying vehicles overloaded with items for that exciting day out at the beach, perhaps.

This can also lead to a fine, as your vehicle cannot be overloaded, not only for the considerations of weight and stability, but limiting mobility or hindering the driver’s vision also carries a fine of 200 euro. This is what the regulation says: «The driver of a vehicle is obliged to maintain their own freedom of movement, the necessary field of vision and permanent attention to driving, which guarantee their own safety, that of the rest of the occupants of the vehicle and that of other road users. For these purposes, you must take special care to maintain the proper position and that the rest of the passengers maintain it, and the proper placement of the objects or animals transported so that there is no interference between the driver and any of them ».

For the reasons of “maintain the proper position”, you must also be seated correctly in the vehicle. Just having an arm out of the car can be seen as failure to maintain that proper position, as, quite clearly, it is the case when you see passengers with their feet up on the dashboard.

In addition, carrying a heavily loaded car also carries other risks, such as an object falling onto the road. The fine for this amounts to 500 euro, since it poses a danger to other users.