No €200 fine for using your windscreen wipers

The €200 wiper fine: the penalty the DGT never announced

Picture the scene: you're driving on a motorway, a bird hits your windscreen, you press the wiper button and the spray splashes the car behind you. According to a warning circulating since August 2026, that gesture could cost you €200. The story sounds like yet another revenue-raising measure by Spain's Dirección General de Tráfico (the national traffic authority). But it's worth reading the fine print: there is no official DGT instruction that specifically penalises using the windscreen washer.

The alarm stems from a chain of press articles in mid-August 2026. The first one located, published by El Debate on 16 August, claims that officers "could end up fining us" if the water reaches the windscreen of the vehicle behind and reduces its visibility. It cites no specific article of Spain's General Traffic Regulations and no statement from the authority. In reality, the penalty doesn't exist for the gesture itself, but for the negligent driving involved in splashing another car. The difference is key: it can end in a €200 fine, but as a generic offence, not as a specific fine for using the wipers.

The real fines hiding behind your windscreen

The controversy has brought to light penalties that are indeed in the regulations. Driving with worn wiper blades — the ones that leave your windscreen a mess — costs €80. You also can't drive without washer fluid or with a faulty system: that's punishable too. So the next time a bird hits your windscreen, the expensive part won't be the water, but how you spray it. Meanwhile, the roads remain full of potholes that generate no fines for those responsible for maintaining them. And there it stands.

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