Official documents translated into English.  Whilst titles are in Spanish, click on the title to open and the documents are in English. http://www.dgt.es/es/hojas-informativas/ingles/index.shtml

The legal alcohol limit for drivers is 0.5 grams per litre of blood. If you are driving and your blood alcohol content measures over 0.5 grams per litre, you incur penalties of different gravity, varying based on the registered levels of blood alcohol content. • You are liable to a fine from 250-1,250 euros and a prohibition from driving for a period between a month to a year, if your blood alcohol level is between 0.5…

We are receiving many questions about the new royal decree which was only published in the State Bulletin on the 30th of July 2018. Citizens should be aware that the various autonomous regions as well as the INSS (social security) are making preparations to put out their internal instructions to be able to implement this new law. You do have to consider that this is a huge undertaking and not something that they can do…

What is the speed limit on Spanish motorways? Do I need to wear a helmet when I cycle in Sweden? What safety equipment must I always have in the car when driving in Slovakia? From now on, holiday makers do not need to spend a lot of time searching for this information. They can have it at hand wherever they are with the European Commission’s new smartphone app “Going Abroad”. The app is available for iPhone…

Personal Injury claims will in future be based on English Law the Government has proposed in a recently published Bill. The Damages Act 2018 is set to give certainty in relation to the value of personal injury claims, as well as giving guidelines in assessing their value. There has been uncertainty for those defending personal injury claims locally after two Supreme Court decisions cast doubt on whether the ‘English Method’ of assessing such claims should…

A total of 59 drivers have lost their licences since the introduction of the points system two years ago. According to the national road safety association, a further 157 people have lost all the 12 points on their licences. Eight drivers who had lost all their points challenged the decision to remove their licences, with seven of them being successful in court. Overall, more than 20,000 drivers have lost points on their licences since the…

We are delighted to announce that Lloyd’s has been awarded Superbrands status again in 2018 for the 12th year. Showing positive momentum in the rankings for the third year running, Lloyd’s this year secured a position in the top 50 brands. The long-running annual survey has been identifying the UK’s leading business-to-business brands since 2001 and is managed by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA). To determine the Superbrands the TCBA questions over 2,500 individual…

During 2017 a number of changes have been proposed and announced by the DGT, which will affect all drivers on Spain ́s roads. With the main objective of reducing road traffic incidents and, reducing the risk of serious injury or death, many of the changes are already prepared and will start to come into force from the end of January. One of these changes is the Change to the Penalty Points System. The implementation of…

Accidents on Portugal’s roads have, during the first six months of this year, caused 237 deaths. This is 44 more deaths then during the first half of last year, according to figures from the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR). With regards to accidents, close to 61,000 accidents were registered between January and June 2017, which is several hundred fewer than during the same period of 2016. According to the Authority, the districts with the highest…

The Portuguese government has approved the National Strategic Road Safety Plan (PENSE 2020), which includes 108 measures focused on reducing road deaths by half by 2020.   PENSE was approved on Wednesday in a cabinet meeting following a public consultation. It’s targets include reducing the number of road traffic accident deaths by 56% and serious injuries by 22% by 2020, compared to figures in 2010.   PENSE 2020’s strategic objectives include “improving management of road…

The National Speed Control System (SINCRO) project has this week taken a firm step closer to being complete after more radars were installed on the country’s roads, including traffic hotspots such as the EN125, in Lagoa, Algarve. However, of the 50 radars that make up the €3.19 million project, around half (21) are in Greater Lisbon, and only 30 actually have fixed radars in them. Those that do have the speed-control apparatus in them, however,…

Portugal has continued its unrivalled improvement in road safety. Figures published this week by the European Commission show that Portugal has reduced the number of fatalities by the highest percentage of any European country, with road deaths plummeting by 40 percent since 2010. Brussels said that while Portugal saw fatalities on its roads drop by 10 percent between 2015 and 2016, it fell from 80 to 57 fatalities per one million inhabitants in the space…