To expats in Spain, the country’s driving laws and road signage are notoriously detailed and convoluted. The booklet given to prepare for the driver’s exam in Spain is four times as thick as that of the U.S., for example. It provides legal details such as the provision granted by the government that it is not against the law to swerve into the shoulder of the road in order to avoid colliding with another vehicle, just in case any driver should doubt what to do to avoid an accident.
Road signage, too, is abundant to the point that at least one sign whose meaning must be memorised for the test has never actually been placed on a road simply because it has not proven necessary. Its meaning is already covered by more common signs. And while some signs are fairly straightforward and self-explanatory, others provide very specific information in pictorial hieroglyphics worthy of the ancient Egyptians.
A pending update of Spain’s road signage has not simplified the system, either. In fact, the German car website, Auto Motor Und Sport, felt it should explain 13 of the new signs to Germans ahead of the busy summer travel season. Germans make up a significant proportion of the millions of tourists who visit Spain each year.
The most difficult-to-understand sign is P-35, a triangular sign outlined in red that shows two cars next to each other travelling in the same direction. Lines with arrows that then crisscross each other emanate from the two sedan-like silhouettes.
“Anyone who thinks of a toy race track from childhood with automatic lane change sections is not that wrong,” the website says.
The sign warns of an upcoming area with “braided lanes,” usually found at the intersection or junction of busy highways where many vehicles change lanes to enter and exit the intersecting motorways.
Another triangular sign shows a car half covered in uneven horizontal lines giving the impression that the car is being swallowed by a kind of moving bar code. No, it is not a warning that the driver is approaching a portal to a parallel universe but rather, as the German website explains, that there is upcoming “danger due to the proximity of a section where traffic is often affected by significant visual impairment due to fog, rain, snow, smoke, etc.”
It then notes that the sign was recently changed to avoid confusion with another sign that warned drivers to avoid possible falling objects.
Another of the 13 signs—a large blue rectangle with separate images of a car, an adult holding a child’s hand, a person on a bicycle, and a red circle with the number 20 inside—conveys no less than the following:
The maximum permitted speed of vehicles is 20 km per hour. The traffic in the area is shared by vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. Pedestrians have priority, are allowed to use the entire traffic area, and therefore there are no marked pedestrian crossings; Bicycles and possibly personal mobility devices such as wheelchairs may run in both directions, unless the competent authority specifies otherwise. Vehicles may only park in the places indicated by signs or markings. Games and sports are not allowed in this zone.
Other signs on the list include advisories that the area is monitored with aerial devices such as drones, or warnings about environmental hazards.
Perhaps Spain’s road signs are the reasons why simply relaxing on the beach or walking the Way of St. James are among the most popular tourist activities enjoyed by Germans.
