The motorways in Spain are pretty much free-flowing, except if you are travelling during the rush hour or near a major city.
The usual limit on a motorway is 120 kilometres per hour unless otherwise indicated. Sometimes, when approaching a slip road, for example, the speed limit may be reduced to 100 or less and also when crossing bridges. It is then promptly increased again after the hazard.
You may also see the yellow-backed road signs which are put in place whilst works are being undertaken. However, being undertaken can be used loosely as some I have seen have been concreted in and show signs of fading. Nonetheless, they need to be obeyed.
Although motorways can be fairly free of traffic motorists need to remember the correct way of driving on one. Around towns and cities, they become notably more congested and it becomes even more important to remember the rules of the road.
For example, you should always respect the road markings and circulate in the farthest lane to the right. You will often see people driving in the middle lane for kilometres whilst not overtaking anyone. This is not correct.
If you come across someone hogging the middle lane then do not be tempted to overtake them on the right. As you approach they may become aware of their error and start to move across into your path. Besides, overtaking on the right is prohibited in the Spanish highway code.
Do not overtake on the right
Despite someone hogging the middle lane, you must overtake on the left so will have to move across two lanes to pass them.
Of course, this is what causes frustration because the driver in the middle lane is effectively blocking two lanes.
Remember when you change lanes you must always use your indicator. That means when you start your manoeuvre from behind the car in front you need to indicate. Then once you are in the lane to overtake you turn your indicator off. You put it on once again when you are a safe distance ahead of the vehicle you overtook to indicate you are moving into the right-hand lane again. You are using your indicator, in these circumstances, to show a change of lane. Once you have changed lanes you should turn off the indicator.
To sumarise, the right-hand lane is for circulating on the motorway the two lanes to the left are for overtaking.
The enthusiasm for motorcycles in Spain is not that surprising given the climate and the problems parking in some of the most populated areas.
In the south of Spain many cities are crammed full of motorbikes, scooters and mopeds. They are often squeezed into every available space. This mode of transport is more environmentally friendly than a petrol or diesel guzzling car, is cheaper to run and takes up less room in the city centre.
Three of the first four towns for most motorbikes per inhabitant are in the province of Málaga. Rincon de la Victoria tops the table with 71 per inhabitant whilst Mijas has 62 per inhabitant. Velez Malaga was fourth with 55 behind Ceuta.
Gerona has the most scooters with 100 per inhabitant in Blanes, 90 in Sant Feliu de Guixots and 83 in Lloret de Mar.
When it comes to mopeds then Cipiona and Rota in Cádiz are one and two with 76 and 66 mopeds per inhabitant respectively.
In the summer riding a motorcycle can be much more comfortable and fun. With such little annual rainfall you can also use them almost year round. If you have a larger machine, you can also get out of town and enjoy the fairly traffic free motorways and it is a great way to get out into the countryside.
Insurance prices for two-wheeled vehicles vary significantly from company to company and for different models too. For the larger sports bikes for example, it can be harder to find competitive prices but they are out there. For the lower powered scooters there are many more insurers but it pays to shop around.
By using an independent broker, they will search the market for you making it easier for you to find a suitable deal.
You will also have someone to help you in the event of a claim. Whilst an independent broker obvious cannot change an insurance company’s policy conditions to suit your claim, they can work with you to see that you are being treated fairly within those conditions.
If you would like a no obligation quotation, then please ask for a quotation form by completing the quote form with as much detail as possible.
This week will see the introduction of blue lights for emergency vehicles, such as ambulances and fire engines in Spain. It is the start of a programme that will run for two years.
Currently, many emergency vehicles have orange lights, the same as agricultural vehicles, dust carts and road sweepers.
The plan is that with all emergency vehicles carrying blue lights then there will be less confusion for motorists. With slow vehicles and roadside maintenance vehicles no longer using the same colour flashing lights as an ambulance or fire engine, motorists will be able to identify more easily an emergency vehicle.
The blue lights will only be used for emergency vehicles. Many other countries have adopted the use of blue lights for emergency vehicles and this new regulation will bring Spain more in line with its neighbours.
Image: DGT
What should you do when you see an emergency vehicle with its lights flashing?
Continue in your lane and slow down gently.
Don’t brake suddenly and make sudden changes of direction. Drive calmly.
If it is necessary, move to the side of the road to make it easier for the emergency vehicle to pass. Use your mirrors and signal clearly.
Respect and follow the instructions of emergency personnel or police officers if they are there giving instructions.
Despite what you might see, especially in some smaller towns, there are rules for parking in Spain and a series of signs and road markings to help you avoid getting it wrong. Fines are high and the inconvenience of marching from one building to another to settle up with the police and then the compound will ruin your day.
You will often see people double parked, hazard lights on whilst they drop the children off at school, visit the cigarette shop or in some rare cases actually sit in a nearby restaurant and have dinner. As you would expect this is illegal, as is parking on a zebra crossing or too close to a junction.
There are a number of road markings and signage that help you understand where you can park in Spain. Here we will attempt to point out some of those rules to help you avoid unnecessary traffic fines in Spain or perhaps worse having your car towed away to the municipal compound.
Let’s start with some basics. A large white letter “P” on a blue background or a variation is pretty common worldwide and means you can park your vehicle. You may be asked to park side by side with either the nose of the vehicle or the rear of the vehicle up against the kerb. This is known as “estacionamiento en bateria”.
The alternative is “estacionamiento en linea” where you park with the nose of your vehicle behind the rear of the car in front.
However what about the signs below? What do they mean?
fig.1
fig. 2
fig.3
fig. 4
fig. 5
fig. 6
fig. 7
fig. 8
fig. 9
A round sign with a red border, blue background and a red cross (fig.1) means that you cannot park. It also means you can’t stop and drop someone off or pick someone up.
The version with just one red line also means you cannot park but you can drop someone off or pick someone up (fig. 2).
These signs can be accompanied by an array of words or numbers which alter the meaning. For example, if it has what looks like a capital letter “I” in the middle then means that you cannot park in this area on odd days (fig.3). If the sign has what looks like the capital letter “I” twice then you cannot park on even number days. So if it is the first of January you cannot park on a street with the sign shown in fig.3. However, you could park there on the second or the fourth or sixth.
There are other variations on this theme. You might see “Mes Par” written on the sign in white writing (fig.4). This means that you cannot park in the zone when a month is an even number, that would be February, April, June etc.. Alternatively if it says “Mes Impar” (fig. 5) then that indicates no parking in January, March, May etc. Fig. 9 tells you that you cannot park in the zone from the 15th to the 31st of the month. Maybe there is one on the other side of the road marked “1-14”.
Other signage indicates that you cannot park in a zone on certain days, between certain hours. This sign (fig. 6) indicates that you cannot park to the left of it between 08:00 and 14:00 or between 16:30 and 20:30 on working days, unless you are loading or unloading. So, you can park in this area on Saturday or Sunday or public holidays. You can also park here at 21:00 at night or at 15:00 in the afternoon.
I cannot speak for all of Spain but the sign shown in fig. 7 has become prevalent in the area where I live. This sign is restricting where you can park your scooter or motorbike. It is usually put at the entrance to a street and states that scooters, mopeds and motorbikes can only be parked in designated zones. That means you cannot park them anywhere else in the street. If you choose to ignore it and park in the street outside of the designated zone you could be fined and/or towed away. The designated zones for these vehicles are usually painted with white lines or yellow lines. The word “moto” is also painted on the ground.
The “prohibido estacionar or vado” (fig. 8 click on the image to see full size) are often erected outside the entrances to car parks underneath blocks of flats, entrances to businesses or private garages. They are purchased from the local town hall. Basically, they give the owner of the sign the right to call the police and have your vehicle towed away if you are blocking their entrance.
In Spain a single solid yellow line near the kerb also means no parking.
There are other road markings that will help you stay the right side of the parking laws. Parking bays painted with white paint usually mean that the parking is unrestricted. If the bays are painted with blue paint then there is normally a limit to how long you can park and/or there may be a fee to pay in the nearby parking meter to. If you exceed your time in the blue parking zone you may be fined. The penalty can be settled immediately, using the same machine you bought your ticket at. This will result in a reduced fine and is far more convenient. The ticket machine will have an option to pay the fine.
You can also appeal against the fine you have received. However, if you pay a fine promptly you receive a 50% discount. If you decide to contest the fine and lose you will also lose the right to the 50% discount and will have to pay the full amount.
If you wish to provide evidence against the fine this must be done within 20 days after receiving the notification.
What do you do if you receive traffic fines in Spain but you weren’t the driver?
Assuming you don’t want to be held responsible for the offence and fine then you will need to provide the details of the driver of your vehicle to the authorities.
There is a list of necessary information you will need to provide to the authorities about the driver of your vehicle. You must provide this within 20 days of receiving the notification of the traffic offence.
It is also possible to pay the fine in person at one of the Provincial Traffic department offices or in cash at Caixabank in Spain. If using the bank please make sure the correct and full reference details etc are included in the payment.
What are the first thoughts that go through your head when you think about driving in Spain?
For some, there is a perception that it is a dangerous place to drive a vehicle.
Photo: Pexels
I have lived in Spain for many years and I admit I still get frustrated by double parking, especially when there is a space available a few metres ahead. Also if you find that the person is sat in a café having dinner and has blocked you in your parking space. This also infuriates a lot of Spanish people but I’ve become more relaxed about these things. Someone stopping on a zebra crossing and chatting to their neighbours with the back half of the car protruding into the main road would have made me throw my hands up in despair about the potential danger to people trying to cross and the inconvenience I now have in trying to negotiate the rump of someone else’s car to continue my journey. Now it just provokes a sharp lift of the head and a slightly frustrated tutt. Then there is stopping to let someone out of the car without any indication and no intention to move to the side of the road to make it easier for other traffic to pass. This also receives a similarly much more composed response from me these days. But don’t be mistaken into thinking that only the natives drivers do this in Spain.
Whilst we all see things that seem to be dangerous and unnecessarily so, the statistics for Spanish roads are not all that bad. Perhaps it is because the things I’ve described happen in busy towns where traffic is unable to travel very fast and you come to expect the unexpected. But what about out of town?
Only this week a client was explaining to me how a flat-bed lorry sped round a country lane too fast and deposited its cargo on top of his car. Its cargo was a large cement mixing machine. It hadn’t been secured in the back of the lorry and the client was lucky to escape injury or even much worse. His car was not going anywhere after that accident though.
So what do we know about Spanish roads? All countries have black spots and most people can recall lanes or streets from years ago, from their own countries, notorious for close shaves or a series of terrible traffic accidents. Perhaps people had been calling for a road sign to warn drivers but nothing was ever done until a week after some poor soul had been killed.
What do the figures say about Spanish roads?
The latest figures I could find were from the Ministerio del Interior department Dirección General de Trafico and related to the year-end 2016. After the initial introduction by Gregorio Serrano López the Director General for Traffic the document states, with no time wasted “… a total of 1,810 people were killed at the time of the accident or within 30 days after its occurrence…” This is how road deaths are measured throughout Europe. If someone dies within thirty days of the road accident they become a road death statistic as their death would probably be as a result of the initial incident. It is a uniform measure used throughout Europe.
2016 was not a good year. The number of road deaths increased by 7% and the number of people that were hospitalized grew by 3%. The summer months of July and August are the most dangerous on Spanish roads, which is pretty logical bearing in mind the huge number of people going or coming back from holiday, national and international tourists alike.
Whilst 2016 saw an increase in road deaths in Spain the trend from 1989, the worse year since records began has been very positive. In 1989 there were 9,344 fatalities on Spanish roads but by 2013 the figures had plummeted to 1,680. In 2016 it was 1,810 people.
The number of vehicles on Spanish roads had surged by more than one million in the last decade. Possibly as a result of having suffered years of recession and austerity the average age of a car on Spanish roads has now reached 11 years whilst motorcycles are nine years. Back in 2007 when the financial crisis first bit in Spain the averages were 6.5 years for both cars and motorcycles.
So how does Spain compare?
Photo Pexels
In 2010 the Spanish mortality rate from traffic accidents was 53 deaths per million inhabitants whilst by 2016 the figure was down to 39 per million. The European average in 2016 was 51.
In fact, Spain has the fifth lowest fatality rate in Europe. It’s mortality rate is as good as that of Germany and better than France, Italy and Belgium. It only lags behind Sweden, the UK, The Netherlands and Denmark in terms of road safety.
The safest roads are Spain’s motorways. Clearly, with everyone going in the same direction on a wide piece of tarmac this is not really that much of a surprise. Nor is the fact that traditional two-way roads between towns are the most dangerous. It is also not a shock that speed, alcohol and drugs are predominant factors in road fatalities.
To summarise
Spain’s roads are nowhere near the worst and despite double parking, stopping in the outside lane on roundabouts to nip in the shop and buy cigarettes, and blocking zebra crossings outside schools to drop off your children, it seems these actions are irritating, dangerous even, but likely to only involve an inconvenience in most cases, a possible injury in other cases, a fatality rarely but probably a loud tutt from me.
That doesn’t mean I recommend you start doing those things but perhaps continued vigilance and a laid-back response, if any, is all that’s needed, but pay particular attention on inter-urban roads, please.
You may also see the yellow-backed road signs which are put in place whilst works are being undertaken. However, being undertaken can be used loosely as some I have seen have been concreted in and show signs of fading. Nonetheless, they need to be obeyed.
