6 points for using mobile while driving – and four more Tráfico updates you need to know

Texting or calling while at the wheel will now cost you six points on your licence in Spain, under new measures to become active in January 2021.

Distractions at the wheel have been the biggest cause of road deaths in Spain since 2016, according to an announcement by Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande Marlaska today.

The doubling of the punishment comes alongside a package of new amendments to the Reglamento General de Circulación, approved today.

A list of major updates includes:

• One extra point has been added as punishment for not using a seatbelt – you now lose 4 points on your licence.
• Speed limit reduced to 30 km/h on one-way streets (down from 50 km/h).
• Speed limit reduced to 20 km/h on roads where asphalt and pavement at same height (cota cero in Spanish).
• The presence of ‘radars’ or detectors in a car will be punished by 3 points lost.

The measures are designed to reduce road accidents in major cities.

In 2018, a total of 386 pedestrians were killed – 21% of all traffic accidents that year.

A whopping 69% of all fatalities happened in big cities in broad daylight, Interior figures show.

According to experts under Grande Marlaska’s department, the probability of an accident turning fatal is reduced five times when speed limits are reduced from 50 km/h to 30 km/h.