From today Spain requires an emergency corridor in traffic jams

What the rule says

Royal Decree 518/2026 rewrites article 32 of the Spanish traffic regulations. On autopistas and autovías, when a jam means vehicles are moving at walking pace or have stopped, they must pull aside and leave a clear space so that approaching emergency vehicles can get through. That space is the carril de emergencia. The duty is tied to the jam, not to hearing a siren – if you wait for the blue lights, you are already too late.

Two lanes: the gap goes down the middle

Where there are two lanes in the same direction, the regulation says the corridor must be formed in the centre of the road, between those two lanes. If you are in the left lane you move left; if you are in the right lane you move right.

Three lanes or more: between the first and the second

With three or more lanes, the corridor is formed between the leftmost lane and the one next to it. Only the leftmost lane moves left; every other lane moves as far right as possible. The hard shoulder is not the corridor – that is the mistake people make most often.

The same corridor as in Germany, but not on the same roads

If you drive in Germany you already know this one: § 11(2) of the StVO forms the gap in exactly the same place, between the leftmost lane and the lane immediately to its right. The difference is where it applies. In Germany it covers motorways and rural roads with at least two lanes per direction; in Spain only autopistas and autovías.

Approaching a jam: brake lights, not hazards

Article 109 of the same regulation requires you to warn of heavy braking, and it names the brake lights for that: short, repeated taps on the pedal before you brake hard. Using the hazard lights as you approach a jam is custom, not law. Once you are stationary it is the other way round: on an autopista, an autovía or in poor visibility they have to be on.

What about flashing left?

There is no rule that says you warn of a jam by indicating left. The indicator belongs to a different moment: moving aside to form the corridor is a sideways manoeuvre and is signalled like any other.

Snow changes the rules on the same road

The new article 32 adds a second case: if snow on the carriageway holds up traffic on an autopista or autovía, overtaking is banned and you must use the right-hand lane, leaving the lanes to the left clear for emergency vehicles and snow ploughs.