Maximum speed of 20 km/h in the city

In November the Council of Ministers approved the modification of the maximum applicable speeds in the city.

These measures are intended to reduce the accident rate and the number of accidents, which in the city is high. With the appearance and massive use by the population in cities of the so-called personal mobility vehicles, such as electric scooters, the number of serious injuries and deaths has increased.

These measures are included, together with other measures that we already told you about in our article "Reform of traffic regulations, does it affect you?", in compliance with the objective of reducing serious injuries by 50%. and deceased by traffic accident, established by the European Union and the World Health Organization, .

For all this, the Government has decided to establish a limit, already applicable in some European countries, but unprecedented until now in our country: 20 km/h.

This maximum speed is established only in very specific cases: It will only be applied on streets that have the sidewalk and the road at the same level, the so-called single platform roads.

Speed changes on urban roads also establish other limits that you should be aware of.

The maximum speed of 30 km/h is established on urban roads with a single lane in each direction of movement. This measure does affect the vast majority of the roads in our cities and perhaps it is the one that drivers should take into account the most when the law change becomes effective.

On urban roads with more than one lane in each direction, the well-known limit of 50 km/h is established.

Although the modification of the Traffic Law was approved in November, the same law establishes a period of six months before it becomes effective, in the case of the new speed limits on urban roads.

In these six months, until the beginning of May, the town councils, responsible for adapting the signage of their urban roads to the new speeds, will carry out the necessary work to inform drivers of the new limitations.

This reform of the Traffic Law comes to establish limits in a generalized way throughout the Spanish territory. Before it was approved, some of the most important cities had already taken the initiative, reducing the speeds allowed on their streets.

For example, Bilbao was a pioneer in September, establishing a limit of 30 km/h throughout the city. Other large cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Seville or Valencia, among others, have reduced the speed of certain roads in their cities with high accident rates in the last year.

In fact, although the limitations are always taken with some skepticism by drivers, who are usually always in a hurry, according to a study by the World Health Organization, mortality due to being run over is reduced by 80% if the vehicle that hits the pedestrian is traveling at 30 km/h instead of 50 km/h.

With this modification of speed limits, the amount of related penalties also varies.

Penalties are applied based on speeding with respect to the permitted speed, establishing bands based on the percentage by which said speed is exceeded. In other words, it is not the same to go 10 km/h above the permitted speed when it is 50 km/h as when it is 30 km/h.

Let's put this in numbers:

If the speed limit is 50 km/h, that is, you are driving on an urban road with several lanes in each direction, if you are penalized at a speed between 51 and 70 km/h, the penalty It will be 100 euros and there will be no loss of points. If you are sanctioned at a speed between 71 and 80 km/h, the sanction will already be 300 euros and you will lose 2 points. If the maximum speed is doubled, in this case from 101 km/h, the penalty will be €400 and you will lose 4 points.

On the other hand, on roads with a permitted speed of 30 km/h, the penalty of €100 without loss of points corresponds to the speed range between 31 and 50 km/h. The penalty of 300 euros with loss of 2 points corresponds to the range from 51 to 60 km/h. From 61 km/h, double the maximum speed is already exceeded and therefore the penalty will be €400 and will entail the loss of 4 points for the driver, provided that you do not exceed 70 km/h, which the penalty it would be higher.

There is no other option than to be attentive to the speedometer from May to avoid being penalized until we adapt to the new speeds. Without a doubt, if we reduce mortality in the city due to traffic accidents, it will be worth it.