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DRIVING

Penalties, speed limits and prohibitions: Spain’s tougher driving laws for 2021

Spain's new Traffic Code came into force on January 2nd 2021, an updated rulebook which includes new speed limits for urban roads, harsher penalties overall as well as limitations to where e-scooters can be ridden.

Published: 10 November 2020 17:44 CET
Updated: 4 January 2021 10:20 CET
Penalties, speed limits and prohibitions: Spain's tougher driving laws for 2021
Photos: AFP

On November 11th, Spain's Cabinet of Ministers approved a new draft of its Traffic Code, a decree which stands out for featuring harsher penalties for common driving offences and changes to speed limits on many of its roads.

Although the new rule book became official on January 2 2021, Spain's Directorate General of Traffic has announced that only the clauses relating to e-scooters and similar mobility devices will be applicable from that date, whereas those relating to speed limits and other general road offences will be properly implemented six months after November 11, on May 11.

Points off licence

Drivers in Spain caught using their mobile phone while at the wheel will lose 6 points off a total of 12 on their licences, rather than the current penalty of 3.

Any driver caught using their mobile device a second time will lose an extra 4 points off their licence, instead of 3.

This is part of a stricter approach to the point system for drivers in Spain, “for behaviour which causes the biggest risk while driving”.

“Since 2016, distractions are the main cause of serious accidents,” Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska said in a press conference on Tuesday, pointing to messaging app WhatsApp as one of these primary disturbances at the wheel.

The penalty for not wearing a seatbelt (or not wearing it properly) in cars and other four-wheeled vehicles will go from 3 to 4 points, as will the penalty for motorcyclists caught not wearing a helmet, or when young children aren't sat in a proper booster or car seat in a vehicle.

Having a device to detect speed cameras installed in a vehicle will incur fines of €500 and the loss of 3 points off the driving licence.

Drivers will be able to recoup two points by carrying out a ‘driving safety course' which is currently being developed.

Lower speed limits

The Spanish government is aiming to reduce road deaths and serious injuries caused by traffic accidents by 50 percent with this new bill.

In order to achieve this, it will limit the speed on one-way roads to 20km/hour, when there is no height difference between the sidewalk and the road.

For roads with one lane in each direction the speed will now be a maximum of 30km/h.

Many provincial capitals across Spain have already rolled out their own legislation limiting the speed on urban roads to 30km/h rather than 50km/h given the long wait for this amendment of Spain's Traffic Code by the national government.

READ MORE: Why you will soon have to drive more slowly in Spanish cities

On roads with two or more lanes of traffic in each direction, the limit remains at 50km/h.

Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska has said that these new speed limits won't apply to main roads in Spain's big cities.

Vehicles won't be able to surpass the speed limit at all when overtaking on secondary roads, whereas before it was allowed by up to 20km/h when overtaking.

E-scooters banned from pavement

Personal mobility vehicles such as electric scooters or Segways will now have to follow most of the road rules that already exist for four-wheel vehicles in Spain.

The standout change is that riders will no longer be allowed on sidewalks or on pedestrianised areas, nor on motorways, inter-city roads or in urban tunnels. 

The new laws also enshrine earlier proposals by Spain's Directorate General of Traffic such as not being to ride while using a mobile phone, headphones or under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

These types of electrically-powered mobility devices that have taken over many Spanish cities in recent years will now require a driving certificate to be used and have the speed limit has been set at 25km/h.

All the above rules for e-scooter and similar mobility devices will be applicable across Spain from January 2 2021. 

READ MORE: Spain plans crackdown on electric scooters

New rules for beginner drivers

Spain’s updated Traffic Code also has tougher penalties for budding drivers caught cheating with a mobile phone or another device whilst sitting their theory test: a €500 fine and a six-month ban before being to sit the exam again.

It’s also now possible for anyone over the age of 18 to get a driving license for trucks and coaches. In the case of trucks, the license can be obtained from the age of 18 as long as the 280-hour Certificate of Professional Aptitude (CAP) has been passed

For coaches, it will be possible to drive from the age of 18, but without passengers and in a radius of less than 50 kilometres. From the age of 21, with the CAP certificate approved, they will be able to carry passengers.
 

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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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