Next Monday, March 21st, the new ‘Traffic Laws for Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Safety’ come into force in Spain, including the Canary Islands, which update the current ones from 2015, with a new range of fines and penalties for various different reasons, such as “the use of mobile phones when driving or misuse of vehicle safety and protection features”.
Among the new rules included in the reform, is the penalty of six points off your driving license for holding your mobile phone whilst driving, whether you are using it or not; four points for not wearing a seat belt, or not using child restraint systems (child seats), or not wearing helmets on “personal mobility vehicles”, such as electric scooters.
There is also a new fine from Monday for driving without keeping the minimum safety distance from the car in front, since driving too close to people is the main cause of car accidents in Spain, and there is a fine of 200 euros if you speed up when someone is trying to overtake you.
However, the situation changes regarding reckless driving or when the safety of others is endangered. Driving too close and flashing the vehicle in front to move out the way now carries a fine of 500 euros and six penalty points off your licence, remembering that in Spain you start with 12 points and lose your licence when that gets to zero.
20KM/H TO OVERTAKE SOMEONE:
The DGT (Department of Transport) has given itself another year to evaluate whether or not to cancel the rule allowing vehicles to go 20km/h quicker than the speed limit to overtake on conventional roads, so this will not be cancelled as of Monday.
