Exemptions

Article 119. Exemptions.
1. Despite the arrangements in Article 117, travelling without belts or other homologated retention systems may be done:
a) By drivers only, when parking or reversing.
b) By women having a medical certificate stating the condition or pregnancy and the approximate date of its conclusion.
c) By people with a certificate of exemption for serious medical reasons or by reason of disability.
The certificate referred to in paragraphs b) and c) must be presented/displayed when required by any traffic officer.
Any certificate of this type issed by the competent authority of a European Union member state will be valid in Spain when accompanied by an official translation.
2. The exemption will also apply in town, but never on autopistas, autovías or highways, to:
a) Taxi drivers, when in service.
b) Goods vehicle drivers, when they make successive loading and unloading operations in places located short distances apart.
c) Drivers and passengers of emergency service vehicles.
d) People who accompany a student or apprentice during driving tuition or aptitude tests and are in charge of the additional controls of the automobile, taking responsibility for traffic safety.
3. Exempted from the arrangements in Article 118,1 are people provided with a certificate of exemption for serious medical reasons, issued in accordance with paragraph 1.c) above. This certificate must state its period of validity and be signed by a practising qualified person. It must in addition carry or incorporate the symbol established in the current rules.

Helmets and other elements of protection

Article 118. Helmets and other elements of protection.
1. Drivers and passengers of motorcycles, motorcycles with sidecar, three-wheeled vehicles, quadricycles and mopeds must properly use protective helmets homologated or certificated according to the current legislation, when travelling both in and out of town.
When motorcycles, vehicles of three wheels, quadricycles or mopeds are provided with self-protection structures and have lap belts and thus subject to technical inspection or moped certification, drivers and passengers need not use a protective helmet, but must use the lap belt when travelling in or out of town.
Bicycle riders must use protective helmets homologated or certificated according to the current legislation, when travelling out of town, except when ascending long climbs, or for medical reasons established in Article 119,3, or in extremely hot conditions.
Professional bicycle riders when competing, and cyclists, whilst training or competing, will govern themselves by their own rules.
2. The installation, in any vehicle, of head supports or other elements of protection will be subject to fulfilling the conditions determined in the RGV.
3. Drivers of cars, buses, goods vehicles, mixed vehicles, non-agricultural vehicle combinations, as well as drivers and auxiliary personnel of vehicles accompanying supporting convoys must use a high visibility reflecting vest, certificated according to Royal Decree 1407/1992, of 20 of November, by which the EU Personal Protective Equipment directive is enacted, that must be provided in the vehicle, when they leave the vehicle and use the road or hard shoulder of interurban roads.

Lap belts or other homologated retention systems

Article 117. Lap belts or other homologated retention systems.
1. Lap belts or other homologated retention systems must be used, correctly fastened, whether travelling in or out of town:
a) By the driver and passengers:
i) Of cars.
ii) Of vehicles with a MAM up to 3,500kg that, keeping the essential characteristics of cars, are for the transport, simultaneous or not, of people and goods.
iii) Of motorcycles and motorcycles with sidecar, mopeds, vehicles of three wheels and quadricycles, when equipped with a protection structure and lap belts which are subject to technical inspection.
b) By the driver and passengers in the front seats of goods vehicles with a MAM not exceeding 3,500kg, and of passenger vehicles having in addition to the driver, more than eight seats, with a MAM not exceeding five tonnes and are required by regulation to have lap belts or arresting systems.
2. It is prohibited to travel with passengers under twelve years old in the front seats, unless they use homologated safety devices (LST Art 11,4).
People over three years old and less than 150cm tall must use a homologated fastening system adapted to their stature and weight or fastened with a lap belt or other homologated fastening system for adults in a back seat of the vehicle. Children under three years, seated in the back, must use a homologated fastening system adapted to their stature and its weight.
The use of lap belts, in the school vehicles, will conform to that established in the specific regulation and, in particular, to the dispositions contained in Royal Decree 443/2001, of 27 of April.
3. Not having lap belts installed in the vehicle is an offence (LST Art 67,2).

Obligatory nature of their use and exceptions

Article 116. Obligatory nature of their use and exceptions.
Drivers and occupants of motor vehicles and mopeds are required to use lap belts, helmets and other elements of protection in the cases and conditions set out in this chapter and the RGV, with the exceptions also set out in this chapter, in conformance with international recommendations on the matter and taking note of the special conditions of disabled drivers.