Finding the right place to park a motorhome can be quite a challenge. The fine line between legal parking and camping on public roads and crossing that border can carry penalties and fines. For motorhomes, differentiating between camping, staying overnight and parking is crucial to avoid legal problems and enjoy a smooth trip.
The fundamental difference between parking and camping lies in the purpose and duration of the stay. Parking simply means leaving the motorhome in one place for a limited period, generally to rest, make a short stop or carry out some specific activity. On the other hand, camping involves setting up a temporary camp, setting up awnings, chairs, and tables.
Even so, the ambiguity of the regulations that regulate the use of motorhomes and campers in force for the last 15 years has given rise to “some problematic situation” for drivers in “some municipalities that continue to be against motorhomes”, denounces the Spanish Association of the Caravaning Industry and Commerce, in statements collected by the Efe agency. From the group, they regret the lack of a “specific regulation” of these vehicles in the General Regulations of Circulation.
To put an end to this lack of definition that has been the source of multiple conflicts between motorhome drivers and municipal authorities, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) approved on Tuesday the update of instruction 08 V-74. This instruction has served as the basis for the last decade and a half for the autonomous communities to develop their regulations for the regulation of overnight areas for motorhomes. These rules had not always been well defined in municipal ordinances.
The new instruction comes to solve this problem by clearly differentiating parking, a maneuver regulated by the General Traffic Regulations, and camping, an activity regulated by Tourism regulations.
Basically, if the vehicle is with the engine stopped and in contact with the ground only through the wheels (it does not use stabilizing legs or any other support device), it does not occupy more surface than it invades when it is closed and it does not emit fluids No outside noise, it’s parked. And therefore, in this case, it does not have “other obligations than those of other cars with the same technical characteristics.”
The Spanish Association of the Caravanning Industry and Commerce has thanked the DGT for its collaboration in recent months to achieve “this important instruction for the entire motorhome collective”. And he recalled that he will continue to negotiate the achievement of “specific and more concrete regulations” for these vehicles within the General Traffic Regulations, already with the new team that is formed after the general elections.
The ambiguity of the regulations that have been in force until July 11 have given rise to different interpretations. Precisely this lack of specificity is the origin of most of the claims of motorhome drivers. On March 5, nearly 150 campervan drivers staged a slow march between Cunit beach (Tarragona) and Gavà (Barcelona) to claim the right to park and spend the night in the streets of Catalan cities.
