The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) usually uses some channels such as its social networks or the digital magazine Tráfico y Seguridad Vial to educate drivers and remind them of some of the rules of the road. This task, which is carried out throughout the year, is intensified during large traffic campaigns, such as Christmas, Easter or summer. For the current campaign, the public body has prepared a special test, a tool to test novice and expert drivers before embarking on their journey.
Coastal destinations continue to be preferred by Spaniards to spend their holidays, but some continue to choose to spend a few days in the towns where they have their roots. If you are also one of them, you will surely have to travel one or more conventional roads to reach your old home. On this type of road, population centers can be several tens of kilometers apart and finding a service area or gas station along the way is almost an exception today. So, in the event of a breakdown or accident, is it possible to park the car on the shoulder?
The General Traffic Regulations are quite clear regarding the places where stopping and parking of vehicles is allowed or not. In its article 90 it establishes that:
“The stop or parking of a vehicle on interurban roads must always be done outside the road, on the right side of it and leaving the passable part of the shoulder free.”
This rule makes all the sense in the world. In the event of a breakdown or accident, the fact of remaining stopped on the road only endangers the occupants of the vehicle and poses an obstacle for other drivers. As for the shoulders, we must remember that bicycles, mopeds and animal-drawn vehicles can travel through them on a conventional road.
The traffic regulations, however, contemplate how drivers must proceed in the event of a breakdown or accident on an interurban road. For this, the text refers us to article 130, which urges the vehicle to be removed from the road in the shortest possible time. If after an accident, the vehicle can continue its march, it will have to leave the traffic lanes and go to the first available exit or, in the worst case, stay on the shoulder or in the place where it causes less obstacle until it arrives. Crane.
On the other hand, if the vehicle cannot continue driving, the occupants must exit on the opposite side to the flow of traffic and go to a safe place off the road, whenever traffic conditions allow it. In any case, conventional road users must fill out the accident report outside the circulation platform. In addition, they will have to place the obstacle warning triangles as soon as possible.
