The government acted on Tuesday. An amendment to the General Traffic Regulations passed, bringing fresh obligations for users of personal mobility devices, mainly e-scooters. Two things stand out. You must now be 15 to ride one. And you need a helmet. Everywhere in Spain. This wasn’t just a whim; it was part of a wider safety push by the Interior Ministry and the DGT to protect “vulnerable users.”
A fancy term. It means people walking. Pedals turning. Motorcycles sputtering. Anyone without steel between them and a wall.
The rules get tighter too. Keep lights on at night or when fog rolls in. Wear reflective gear then too. Mess this up and the bill hits 200 euros. Not bad for a short hop to the grocery store. Why change? The Ministry argues the current rules are twenty years old, relics of a simpler, less cluttered traffic era. They need an update. Or so they claim.
One Set Of Rules To Rule Them All
Before now? Chaos. Or at least variety. Cities decided their own age limits and helmet mandates. Madrid might differ from Barcelona, which differed from Valencia. The government wants uniformity now. A single national framework.
It’s been brewing. The DGT has complained for years about the lack of uniform rules, citing rising urban usage and accident stats that no one likes to look at directly. They wanted clarity. Now they have it.
Not Just Scooters
Motorcyclists feel it too. Gloves are now mandatory. So is closed footwear. No more sandals on a bike. No bare hands gripping the handlebars.
Car drivers have homework as well. Overtaking cyclists is getting stricter. Slow down. Leave lateral distance. If there is more than one lane? Move fully into the adjacent one if traffic allows. No weaving. Just get out of their way.
Emergency situations need corridors now, for snow, for jams, for ambulances that cannot stop for traffic lights.
Does it solve everything? Probably not. Traffic is messy. People ignore laws. But the framework is tighter now, the fines sting more. The age limit is set. The helmet is on your head. What happens when you forget?
The road will tell.
