Bike trailers and tow bars for kids: legal across Europe, in limbo in Spain

Bike trailers for the school run: legal across Europe, in limbo in Spain

A parent cycling their kids to school runs into an awkward question: can an officer fine them for towing a child in a certified trailer that is used every day in France but not even sold in Spain? The short answer is that nobody knows for sure, because the regulation that should settle the matter has been in limbo for years. The long answer runs to several pages of rules, contradictory municipal ordinances and an article 12 of Spain's General Traffic Regulations (Reglamento General de Circulación) which, read to the letter, bans almost any kind of trailer.

The starting point is domestic: petrol is no joke and cycling the kids to school saves money that doesn't go far. The doubt arises when the journey gets longer and the child gets tired. That's where tow bars like the Trailgator come in, allowing the child's bike to be hitched to the adult's and towed along when little legs give out. In France, the gadget works without fuss. In Spain, depending on who you ask, it's a tandem, a semi-trailer or a potential offence.

What article 12 says about bicycle trailers

The text at the centre of the controversy is article 12 of the General Traffic Regulations, approved by Royal Decree 1428/2003. Applied to a 15 or 20 kilo bike, its wording leaves a ridiculous margin: the trailer may not exceed half the unladen weight of the vehicle pulling it. In practice: about ten kilos for frame and load. Any aluminium trailer with a child inside blows past that by a wide margin.

Some read that article and conclude that any trailer carrying people is banned. Others argue the opposite: if the child's bike still touches the ground and the kid is pedalling, there is no trailer but a tandem, and cycles are not subject to vehicle type-approval. The discussion gets tangled up with CE marking, which certifies product safety but not legality on the road. A washing machine on wheels carries CE marking too.

The detail that complicates everything is the regulation's rider: municipal ordinances may regulate the matter independently. What is legal in one town is a fine in the next one over. Spanish coherence.

The legislative limbo nobody closes

In December 2009, at the request of ERC, Congress urged the Government to legislate on bicycle trailers for children. In February 2011 there was a second nudge. Since then, nothing. The result is a vacuum that some local councils have patched up on their own: according to a forum user who introduces himself as a trailer seller, Madrid and Barcelona included certified trailers in their ordinances, and several small councils have copied them at residents' request.

While the rule fails to arrive, the market moves. There are Spanish companies selling trailers and cargo bikes with room for two children, with electric assist from under a thousand euros. Bullitt-style cargo bikes, Danish and priced around 2,000 euros, sidestep the trailer problem because the passenger rides on the bike itself: they are vehicles built to carry more than one person, not trailers hitched on.

A fine and an appeal to Strasbourg?

The question hanging over the issue is what happens if you get stopped. The experience of those who cycle daily through Madrid with child seats is that the police make no fuss. Trailers are another matter. There is no clear case law there, and the officer's leeway depends on whichever ordinance applies.

The appeal to European institutions that is raised out loud has no easy path: CE marking does not shield use on public roads, and traffic regulations take precedence over the product label. European harmonisation exists for sales, not for local road use. For now, the traffic jam remains where it started.