If you’re cycling or driving in Spain (including the Canary Islands) any time soon, you’ll need to get up to speed with a series of updates to the country’s General Traffic Regulations which will come into effect from October 1.
Perhaps most strikingly, helmet exemptions for long climbs, extreme heat and on medical grounds are being removed. Failure to wear a cycle helmet can attract a fine of up to €200 for any cyclist under the age of 16, on any type of road.
Cyclists will also be encouraged to ride in the centre of the lane – one of a series of changes intended to discourage motorists from attempting dangerous overtakes.
We first reported on proposals to change cycling related road rules in January 2025. However, it took until June 2026 for these to be approved, as they were only one part of a much larger package of changes that also includes amendments relating to e-scooters and motorcyclists.
The Majorca Daily Bulletin reports that many of the rule changes relate to motorists overtaking cyclists.
While the minimum 1.5m passing distance remains unchanged, drivers will now be required to overtake at a speed at least 20km/h below the speed limit. The Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) previously explained that this is because, “the speed difference between the two is already large, so the protection of the weaker forces the speed to be reduced and not increased.”
On a 90km/h road, this would mean passing a cyclist at no more than 70km/h. Furthermore, on roads with more than one lane heading in each direction, drivers will also be obliged to change lanes to pass.
If a driver is unable to meet all these requirements and therefore cannot pass, they will be required to maintain a minimum distance of 5m from any cyclist riding ahead of them in the same lane.
Meanwhile, in urban areas, cyclists will from now on be permitted to overtake stationary or slow-moving vehicles on either the right or the left – whichever is safer.
Local authorities also gain the right to permit two-way cycling on one-way streets, although this will require signs for both drivers and cyclists and only roads with a speed limit of 30km/h or lower will be eligible.
Delivery riders and others who cycle as part of their work are also now required to wear a helmet and hi-vis vest at all times.
Editor’s note: Un paso adelante, dos pasos atrás
The new rules coming out of Spain have left me a little confused: Schrödinger’s traffic laws, if you will.
On one hand, the regulations that drivers must pass at a speed 20km/h below the speed limit – and maintain a safe distance behind of at least five metres until it’s safe to pass – seem like genuinely useful additions to the 1.5m passing distance rule, and would undoubtedly improve cyclists’ safety if the rate of compliance was good. The Spanish will have to do a better job of broadcasting the information than the government has in Great Britain, where knowledge of several Highway Code changes made in January 2022 remain depressingly low.
On the other hand, there is little evidence that compulsory helmet wearing makes cycling safer overall – and there have been studies that suggest it might have a negative effect.
> Study (still) indicates that drivers give cyclists wearing helmets less room when overtaking
I’m imagining a hypothetical scenario where the Spanish version of Chris Boardman (who has been promoted to transport secretary in a further hypothetical scenario) had to get his vision past the Spanish version of Ian Duncan Smith, so they chucked a couple of nuggets in there from the anti-cyclist bingo card to appease. Helmets and high-vis made it in, but they drew the line at number plates or insurance…
But if the theoretical compulsory wearing of helmets is what it takes for Spain to pass laws that could actually make cyclists safer, some might say it’s worth it. Let’s just hope Spanish traffic cops don’t go for the low-hanging fruit – i.e. getting a few easy fines in each day for helmet violations – while turning a blind eye to the trickier and more dangerous stuff.
Will you be doing some extra reading on Spain’s traffic laws before your next cycling trip? Let us know what you make of these changes in the comments.
41 thoughts on “Ride in the centre of the lane and always wear a helmet – Spain has new cycling rules coming later this week”
Interesting that the pictures you’ve used are the road to Famara beach and the Tabayesco climb, both in Lanzarote.
On that climb 20km/h below the speed vehicles can actually go in some places (rather than the speed limit – don’t know what it is) would potentially mean cyclists needing to overtake them!
“potentially mean cyclists needing to overtake them!”
Surely there is never a ‘NEED’ for anyone to overtake, only a desire
@EK Spinner You miss the point.
@Surreyrider Most interesting of all is that the cyclist in the photo is me, taken by my wife, and the ‘original’ is on the wall in my house! How the heck has this ended up in a Road.cc article?
It says ‘Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson’. Who is that and why have they a photo of me!?
@Zermattjohn Wow – I bet that was a bit of a shock to say the least! You should be demanding a freelance photographer’s rate!!!
I do love the Tabayesco climb and always start from the beach at Arrieta.
All your bike shots are belong to road.cc
@Zermattjohn It says ‘Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson’. Who is that and why have they a photo of me!?
Contrary to what Lancashire Constabulary tries to force people to accept (that you must carry a ‘I am filming’ notice on your bike, car, scooter or legs) you don’t, and neither do you have any control of any image taken of you when you’re out in public (children, commercial use etc. excepted). The publisher of road.cc need not fear your question.
@wtjs so a photo taken by my wife on her Iphone doesnt belong to her?
Looks like one or other of you uploaded it to Twitter and tagged it for some promotional type thing run with Decathlon several years ago, which would probably have given them ‘fair use’ to use it in connection with that event. I doubt it gave them rights to add it to their image library in perpetuity, though, and they certainly ought to be crediting it properly (the last bit seems to get overlooked quite a lot).
https://road.cc/content/news/144582-mycyclingweekend-4-it-may-be-march-spring-hasnt-sprung-just-yet%E2%80%A6
[NB – Farrelly Atkinson is the official name of the company that runs road.cc – see the bottom of the page.]
@Zermattjohn It does, until she publishes it on some aspect of the Internet. Then, it’s gone.
@wtjs Practically speaking that may be true, but legally speaking she still owns the copyright unless she explicitly surrenders it, and a reputable publisher ought to respect that.
@wtjs Uploading an image to any “aspect” of the Internet doesn’t change the creator’s ownership of the image. If it is uploaded to certain platforms their terms of service may allow them to use it themselves for publicity on their own network, and fair dealing/fair usage laws allow others to use it for certain purposes such as comment, criticism, education et cetera, but ownership remains with the creator and it may not be used commercially without permission.
@Zermattjohn Hi John, I believe Dave has got back to you on email. It’s just credited road.cc reader for now but if you want that changed again let us know. Or we can change the image – we’ve got a lot of riding shots from Spain and the Canaries on file!
Shouldn’t that be ‘road.cc reader’s wife’? We don’t know that she’s a reader…
@mdavidford ‘reader’s wife?’ Isn’t that some other dubious image publishing from the 80’s and 90’s?
No – you’re getting confused – this is road.cc reader’s wife – *much* more niche.
I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.
However I’ve just remembered where I parked my bike.
@Jack Sexty its fine was just a strange thing to see, me from about 14 years ago on here!
@GMBasics Reminds one of the old joke (stop me if you’ve heard it) about the vicar who complained to his verger one Sunday morning that he couldn’t find his bike and it must’ve been stolen. “Well, we’ll soon find the miscreant,” said the verger, “the whole village will be in church this morning, so what you do is, during your sermon read out the Ten Commandments very slowly and when you get to number eight, ‘Thou shalt not steal’ you look around and see who looks guilty and that will be the person who stole your bike.”
After the service the verger went up to the vicar and said, “Well, your reverence, did you find the culprit?”
“Oh,” came the reply, “it turns out I made a silly mistake – I got to number seven and I suddenly remembered where I left it.”
“But number seven is ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ isn’t it, your reverence?”
“That’s right. Could you be a good chap and pop along to the widow Jackson’s house and pick my bike up? It’s just inside the front hedge.”
@Rendel Harris that was my train of thought: well done.
> Perhaps most strikingly, helmet exemptions for long climbs, extreme heat and on medical grounds are being removed.
What about the exemption for urban areas? That stays?
I’ve never had police in Spain bother me about my lack of helmet outside urban areas though TBH.
@Paul J Spanish police seem to be relatively lenient when the only potential harm from a dangerous behaviour could happen to yourself.
What you’re describing might be similar to how they react to crossing the street while there’s a red light. While (AFAIK) technically it’s illegal, usually nobody will bother you – unless something happens. In fact, I’ve even seen police officers doing that!
I’ll be pleased but amazed if there’s anything but enforcement ON cyclists by the police, while they just don’t happen to notice offences AGAINST cyclists. That’s certainly the way UK police would thwart and sabotage any such legislation here.
Spanish bullfighters: always wear a crash helmet.
If I’m reading this article correctly, this new law only applies to cyclists under 16 years old. Is that correct ? If so, then it makes perfect sense.
@goodolfin No, it could have been phrased more clearly but Spain already had a law mandating helmets for under-sixteens at all times in all areas; helmets for adults were only mandatory outside urban areas and could be removed for long climbs, in times of extreme heat or if the rider could produce a medical exemption. Now those exemptions have been removed. For U16s it’s status quo, helmets everywhere without exemption as it was before, for adults no more exemptions outside urban areas though they can still ride helmetless in towns.
@goodolfin And if *I* understood the article correctly, if the speed limit is 20km/h, cars can only overtake when stationary…
@arowland Which again makes sense, given that such limits are for where vehicles are ‘guests’ in pedestrian spaces, and you’re not going to be able to go much faster than a cyclist anyway, so attempting passes would be both pointless and inadvisable.
@arowland This would also mean that if you can do 30kph, nothing should be overtaking you in a 50kph zone. Unless this only applies to higher, out of town speed limits
I have cycled in many countries and found the Spanish to be the most considerate road users to cyclists, whatever their laws say.
@Psi163 yeah, I rode on Tenerife at Easter and have never experienced such amazingly considerate drivers. Morocco is also good, if chaotic.
@Psi163 Agreed, the Spanish drivers are generally excellent with respect and safety for cyclists, certainly the best I’ve experienced having ridden in 30+ countries. These new rules should continue to reinforce that.
@Psi163 The bus drivers in Mallorca are the ones that scare me. They do not seem to care for cyclists.
Schrödinger’s traffic laws? Is there something fundamentally unknowable about them?
@AidanR Agreed, I was also struggling to see how Schrödinger’s cat was relevant here. It’s okay, the writer is only a journalist, we shouldn’t expect him to use language/words correctly.
Nothing to do with the cat – it’s the quantum entanglement of rules that affect cyclists and drivers.
@mdavidford I like that, and I think it applies to a lot of political compromises: political entanglement, if you will. If road rules are tightened for drivers around cyclists, they must also be tightened for cyclists so that there’s no “bias”. No matter that the safety evidence that compulsory helmet wearing is weak at best.
@AidanR it’s a quantum “conversation law” then – conservation of “relative annoyance”.
If motorists must be more vexed by having to pay more attention, not being able to vent their frustration at cyclists or having to not stick to a slightly lower speed limit 😉…
… then relative annoyance must also increase for cyclists. If you’re no longer in fear of dying so often something else must get worse – so you have to always wear safety gear (possibly uncomfortable, definitely uncool).
Dunno why they don’t just mandate actual clown shoes * or riding bikes without saddles.
* The more “technical” cleat systems actually fulfil this when you’re off the bike…
These new (Spanish) rules sound good… providing all road users learn them and choose to abide by them.
Quote “Failure to wear a cycle helmet can attract a fine of up to €200 for any cyclist under the age of 16, on any type of road. ”
So its just under 16s then
@bikeman01 I agree the article is a bit garbled, but having checked various sources:
Adults (>=16) must wear a helmet at all times on interurban roads. Previous exemptions for long climbs or extreme heat no longer apply. Within urban areas, helmets are still not mandatory for adults.
Children (<16) must wear a helmet on any type of road (urban or interurban), which has not changed.
Breaches carry a €200 fine (paid for by parents/guardians in the case of children).