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Driving in Spain: The five new fines traffic authorities want to roll out in September

Spain’s DGT traffic authority is putting the finishing touches to a set of new fines for drivers in the country which could be approved in September 2021. 

Published: 31 August 2021 16:56 CEST
Updated: 4 September 2021 08:45 CEST
Driving in Spain: The five new fines traffic authorities want to roll out in September
Spain's traffic authority is looking for approval from the Spanish Parliament to introduce five new fines from September 2021 onwards. Photo: Miguel Riopa/AFP

Spain’s General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) is looking for approval from the Spanish parliament to introduce five new fines as well as other amendments to the country’s traffic code. 

One of the main purposes of these changes is to find ways to reduce the environmental impact of the 29.4 million vehicles in circulation in the country. 

Article 2 of Spain’s traffic code would therefore include as punishable offences actions considered of “unnecessary damage or inconvenience to the environment”, whereas the previous wording only addressed negligence towards humans and property. 

One of the new penalties that could come into force relates to this reinforced protection for the environment, although as we will see now, all other new fines (multas in Spanish) are focused primarily on improving road safety. 

Not switching off the engine when the vehicle is stationary or parked 

The DGT wants to prevent unnecessary emissions by requiring drivers to switch off their engine while the vehicle isn’t moving. 

After parking or temporarily stopping, drivers will have a maximum of two minutes in which they can keep their engines running if they want to avoid a €100 fine. 

This would apply even if the drivers and passengers remained inside the vehicle. 

The DGT hasn’t clarified yet if this new rule would apply when vehicles are stuck in traffic. 

Holding a mobile phone even if you’re not using it 

Spanish traffic authorities keep looking for ways to dissuade drivers from getting distracted by their mobile phones.

Last May, they announced their intention to start fining drivers who have their phones close to them even if they’re not technically using them.

The DGT now wants to widen the criteria of punishable mobile-related offences to include holding a mobile phone while driving, even if it’s not being looked at or used. 

The proposed penalty is the loss of 3 to 6 points off drivers’ licences, as well as €100 fine. 

This summer, drivers in Spain were warned by the DGT that using mobile devices (including GPSs and headphones) while driving is already considered a punishable offence which leads to a €200 fine and the loss of 3 points off one’s driving licence.  

Photo: StockSnap/Pixabay

Surpassing speed limit when overtaking on secondary roads 

This has been the plan by Spain’s DGT since it toughened penalties and speed limits in late 2020. 

Now it seems increasingly likely that from September, vehicles in Spain won’t be able to surpass the speed limit at all when overtaking on secondary roads, whereas currently it is still allowed by up to 20km/h when safe to do so.

Although the fines have not yet been mentioned, penalties for speeding on carreteras convencionales currently range from €100 for surpassing the limit by between 21 and 40km/h to €600 and the loss of 6 points for surpassing the speed by 71km/h. 

Carreteras convencionales, high-capacity single-carriageway roads which are a step down from motorways (with lanes in both directions, with or without separating barriers) are where 77 percent of fatal road accidents take place in Spain, according to DGT data. They often run parallel to the motorways and connect different urban areas.

Photo: Juanecd/Flickr

Back in May, DGT head Pere Navarro suggested that there will also be a speed limit drop on carreteras convencionales, the country’s secondary roads, where the current speed is 90km/h in most cases.

“It should be 70km/h on these roads, that would be the ideal speed,” Navarro said at the time, although there is no evidence this will be included in this latest proposal of new fines and changes to Spain’s traffic code.

Having a speed camera detector in your vehicle

It is already illegal to use a speed camera detector in your car in Spain, with fines of €6,000 and the loss of 6 driving licence points for those caught red handed. 

What the DGT is now proposing is that simply having one of these devices installed in your vehicle should be enough to be handed a fine, even if police don’t catch offenders in the act. 

The proposed penalty is the loss of 3 points of one’s licence and a €500 fine. 

Not wearing a helmet while riding an e-scooter

The proliferation of electric scooters and similar micro-mobility devices across Spain keeps forcing the DGT to keep adjusting its legislation for this new and still relatively unregulated means of transport to be accounted for. 

Photo: Juan MABROMATA/AFP

Since January 2021, e-scooter users have been banned from riding on the pavement, have a maximum speed limit of 25km/h and require a driving certificate, not that the evidence suggests that these measures are being policed properly across Spain. 

Now the DGT wants to make it compulsory for these e-riders to wear a helmet or face a penalty of €200.

Member comments

  1. Good intentions, no doubt. However, the problem is enforcement. Here in Marbella, speeding on AP-7 as well as on secondary roads is the norm. I have never seen police doing speed control. Driving while holding a mobile phone in one hand is common. Few drivers bother signalling when turning. Parking next to a no parking/stopping sign especially on roundabouts as well as double parking and blocking the lane is standard practice. Police often just pass by without bothering to issue tickets. Introducing new “punishable offences” is purely an academic exercise and looks good on paper but is pretty useless in practice.

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PROPERTY

BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Though many people hang laundry, plants, and flags from their balcony, in Spain the rules on what you can and can't do on 'el balcón' are not well-known.

Published: 8 May 2024 17:13 CEST
Updated: 11 May 2024 08:31 CEST
BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Imagine the scene: you’ve just bought or signed the lease on your dream apartment. It’s bright and airy, with plenty of space, and even has a nice-sized balcony to get some fresh air on. You can do whatever you want there, right? 

Not exactly. In Spain the rules on what you can and can’t do on a balcony (even if it’s private) depend on a few factors, namely the regional and local rules, as well as getting the approval of the building’s homeowner’s association – known in Spain as la comunidad.

Some of them might just surprise you.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

There are four main things or activities on balconies that could potentially put you on the wrong side of the local rules and even get you fined: barbecues, plants, laundry, and flags.

In all cases (even if you don’t think you’re breaking any rules) you’ll generally need to consider two things: firstly, does this affect or change the building’s façade? And secondly: will la comunidad allow it?

Barbecues

In Spain there is no national law prohibiting barbecues on private property, so in principle it is legal as long as the barbecue is lit in a private space such as your own balcony, garden or terrace, and not a shared space.

Often in Spain, the roof (usually referred to as la terrazza) is a shared space people use for storage and hanging their laundry, so be sure to check with the comunidad.

In terms of your own balcony, however, although there’s no law saying outright you can’t have a barbecue, you’ll need to take into account the rules and regulations in force in each locality or region. There may also be specific rules within the building that long-term homeowners have developed over the years.

As we will see, many of these low-level regulations are delegated to local governments and town halls in Spain, so the answer to these sorts of questions is usually: it depends where you are.

However, according to Article 7 of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law, “the owner and the occupant of the flat or premises are not allowed to carry out in it or in the rest of the property activities prohibited in bylaws, which are harmful to the property or which contravene the general provisions on annoying, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illegal activities.”

This basically gives your neighbours the right to complain about noise, smells, smoke and any possible fire risk in or around their building, which barbecues could plausibly fall under.

As with co-living anywhere in the world, regardless of the regional or local rules, employ some common sense: be reasonable, listen to neighbour’s concerns and take up any disputes with the President of la comunidad.

READ ALSO: What you need to know before having a barbecue in Spain

Plants

Again, with plants the responsibility falls on each local authority to set the rules. In Spain, most regions and town halls state that, as long as the architectural or structural elements of the building are not changed or weakened in any way, putting plants on your balcony is permitted.

However, note that many terraces and balconies do have maximum weight regulations that must be respected in order to guarantee their safety, which is 200kg per square metre. If this figure is exceeded (and it can be proved) you could theoretically be fined.

Laundry

Laundry lines criss-crossing the streets might be one of the more picturesque images of Spanish life, but the people doing it might actually be breaking the rules.

How do you know? You guessed it, it depends where you. You’ll need to check with your local authority on this one, though municipal regulations in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia all regulate hanging laundry from your balcony, which is again outlined in the Horizontal Property Law.

This principally seems to be because it affects the façade of the building (a common theme when it comes to balcony rules in Spain).

In places with rules about hanging laundry from balconies, you could be fined up to 750 euros if you don’t comply with the rules.

However, according to Foto Casa, even if you live in an area where there are no bans or penalties against hanging laundry on the balcony, you’ll still likely need the permission of la comunidad.

READ MORE: Spain’s weirdest laws that foreigners should know about

What about flags?

Whether it be the Spanish flag, the Catalan, Valencian or Andalusian flags, or LGBT, trade union or football team flags, flags proudly hanging from balconies is another mainstay of Spanish life.

It’s also one of the more controversial ones too, especially within comunidad meetings. Hanging flags on the balcony, as well as allegedly altering the aesthetics and security of the building (the same concern as with laundry) often has ideological connotations that can cause conflict.

Again, as with laundry, hanging flags on the balcony will require the approval of all the owners within the community, something that must be agreed at a meeting, as per the Horizontal Property Law.

However, if the flag is placed inside the property, as it is a private property, fellow homeowners cannot oppose it, even if it is visible from the street, according to Foto Casa.

Nudity 

Article of 185 of Spain’s Penal Code only considers being naked at home to be obscene exhibitionism and sexual provocation if it affects minors, in which case it is punishable with a fine or up to a year in prison.

Therefore, you could technically sunbathe shirtless or naked on your balcony in most cases without getting into trouble, although it won’t necessarily go down well with your neighbours and/or flatmates and you be reprimanded for it.

READ ALSO: Can you go shirtless or wear a bikini in the street in Spain?

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