From 1st October 2026, Spanish traffic lights must show drivers a red light while pedestrians cross

Until now, many junctions have run the two signals together. A driver turning into a side street would see a flashing amber, meaning proceed with caution and give way, at the same moment the person stepping off the kerb saw green. The signals told both of them to go. On a wide road, or behind a bus that blocks the view, the turning driver meets the pedestrian in the middle of the crossing.

The DGT has wanted this fixed for years. In June 2022 its own magazine, Tráfico y Seguridad Vial, ran a piece under the headline "El peligro está en el ámbar", the danger is in the amber. Ana Blanco, the agency's deputy assistant director for traffic, described the overlap of a green pedestrian phase with flashing amber for vehicles as sending "mensajes contradictorios", contradictory messages. The same article counted the cost: in 2019, 47 pedestrians died and 317 were taken to hospital after being hit at a crossing with traffic lights. In 2020, a year with far less traffic, 35 died and 198 were hospitalised.4

The new rule

Most reports have paraphrased the decree. The change is one sentence, added to the part of the General Traffic Regulations that defines what each light means. It is short enough to quote in full.

Two phrases limit how far this goes. "As a general rule" means the decree allows exceptions without listing them. And the sentence only covers crossings that have their own pedestrian signal. A junction where cars get a flashing amber at night and there is no pedestrian head is untouched. The 2003 wording that gives flashing amber its meaning, take extra care and give way where required, stays as it was.2

For drivers

The meaning of each light does not change. Red has always meant stop. Flashing amber has always meant slow down and give way. The sequence a council may programme does change: while pedestrians have green, the vehicle head must show red, and an amber phase can only follow a red.

The practical effect is on habit. A crossing where you used to roll through on flashing amber while someone crossed will, once the council reprogrammes it, show you a red. Driving through it the old way is then a red-light offence.

And the fine for that has not moved. Failing to respect a red light is a serious offence under article 76 of the Traffic Act, punished with 200 euros and four points off the licence. Paying within 20 calendar days of the notification halves it to 100 euros and closes the case.3 Reports pairing the new rule with a "new fine" are describing this existing penalty.

Not in the decree

Press reports have added things the text does not contain.

• No deadline for councils. The decree has transitional periods for moped helmets, motorcycle gloves and daytime lights on e-scooters. It has none for traffic signals. Reports of a "gradual rollout" describe what councils will probably do, not anything the law requires.1
• No new offence and no new fine. The penalty provisions of the Traffic Act are untouched.
• Flashing amber is not being scrapped. It keeps its meaning wherever a pedestrian signal is not involved.
• No timing rule. The text requires red before amber. It does not say how long either phase lasts.

Also in the same decree

The traffic-light sentence is one line in a decree about vulnerable road users, and the rest of it takes effect on the same date. Motorcycle and moped riders and their passengers must wear protective gloves on interurban roads and closed footwear covering the whole foot on every road. A driver overtaking a cyclist outside a built-up area must drop at least 20 km/h below the road's limit for the whole manoeuvre, on top of the existing 1.5 metre gap. And motorcycles may use the hard shoulder when traffic is at a standstill, in single file and at no more than 30 km/h.1

Our Spain 2026 rule changes page tracks each of these, with the article of the regulations behind every one.

Key facts

Questions and answers