DGT changes from 1 October: what affects taxi drivers

In short: on 1 October 2026 Royal Decree 518/2026 comes into force, the reform of Spain's General Traffic Regulation. It is not just the seatbelt: it changes how you must overtake a cyclist, who has priority on single-surface streets and what to do in a traffic jam. Here it is from the point of view of someone who spends eight hours or more at the wheel.

The costliest one: overtaking a cyclist

This is the change with the biggest day-to-day impact on an urban taxi. From 1 October, overtaking a cyclist means meeting three conditions at the same time:

• 1.5 metres of lateral clearance, on any kind of road.
• Cutting your speed by at least 20 km/h below the road's limit. On a 50 km/h street, you overtake at 30 at most.
• Changing lane completely where there is more than one lane in your direction. Sharing the lane with the cyclist is no longer allowed.

And this is the part almost everyone reports badly: breaking just one of the three is enough to make it a serious offence. According to Motor16 and Xataka, that is 200 euros and 6 points. The fine drops to 100 euros if you pay within 20 days; the points do not.

There is a second rule that gets overlooked: in town, if you are driving behind a cyclist in the same lane, you must leave 5 metres. Same penalty.

Pedestrians rule on single-surface streets

A single-surface street is one with no kerb or step: pavement and roadway are at the same level. There are plenty of them in old town centres and in the pedestrianised areas you drive into for a pickup.

From 1 October, on those streets the pedestrian has priority and you must stop and give way even if there is no painted crossing, as Infobae explains. The priority applies anywhere on the roadway, not only at marked points.

The other way round, the regulation expressly bans pedestrians from crossing roundabouts along the roadway, so it is not all obligations for the person driving.

The seatbelt, now with no exceptions

The reform finishes off the long-standing exemption that let taxi drivers drive without a seatbelt on urban journeys. It costs 200 euros and 4 points, and we cover it in detail, with the DGT's own response, in our article on the mandatory seatbelt for taxi drivers.

Jams and snow: the two everyone forgets

Emergency corridor. In a jam on an interurban road it is no longer enough to pull over as best you can: you have to leave a central corridor for ambulances, fire crews and police. With two lanes per direction the gap is formed between them; with three or more, it is the one by the left-hand lane.

Snow. On interurban roads in snow, overtaking is banned and you must use the right-hand lane, leaving the rest for snowploughs and emergency services. This comes from Autopista, which goes through the articles of Royal Decree 518/2026 of 24 June.

If you do airport, station or interurban runs, these two affect you more than they look: they are exactly the situations where penalties pile up.

How Taxio handles it

A fine is not a deductible expense: it is money that leaves your pocket and does not come back. Two hundred euros is several fares worked for nothing, and six points is a bigger problem when your licence is your tool.

What Taxio does is make sure the hit does not get lost among the numbers: you log it the same day and it is still there when you close the month, without throwing your quarter out. As we saw going through deductible expenses for taxi drivers, real profit is decided in the details, and this is one of the expensive ones.

Frequently asked questions about the DGT changes