Traffic updates for drivers: the DGT will change regulations to require drivers to create an emergency lane and will notify them in real time of the arrival of an emergency vehicle.

The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) is preparing a reform of the General Traffic Regulations that will require drivers to create an emergency lane during traffic jams on highways and motorways and will warn them to facilitate the passage of police vehicles or service vehicles such as ambulances or firefighters.

When a traffic jam occurs on a highway or motorway and an ambulance is traveling with its emergency lights on, the cars often move to either side to open a central 'aisle' allowing the emergency vehicle to pass, which has priority over the others.

The General Traffic Regulations will specify in 2026 how drivers should behave in these cases. According to the magazine Traffic and Road Safety , this regulation will establish the "obligation to move to the sides" on motorways and dual carriageways for all vehicles traveling very slowly (at the crosswalk) or stopped due to a traffic jam.

In this way, they will create an emergency lane for ambulances, police, and firefighters on emergency duty, something already implemented in a dozen European countries, including Germany, which pioneered the practice in the 1970s.

"It's about establishing proper behavior on motorways and dual carriageways to facilitate access for priority vehicles, expedite access and evacuation of accident victims, and restore traffic flow as quickly as possible," explains Francisco de las Alas-Pumariño, head of the DGT's Regulatory Unit.

In addition, the DGT will warn drivers about emergencies next year, allowing them to prepare in advance to facilitate the passage of priority vehicles before the audible and visual signals arrive.

This will be possible because ambulances, fire trucks, and police vehicles circulate with geolocation information and transmit their location to the corresponding management centers.

By 2026, these centers will be able to share this information in real time with the DGT 3.0 platform, which will send the alert to vehicles traveling near the problematic point on the road where an accident or other incident has occurred.

"The development of this technology will be completed by the end of this year. Furthermore, the cooperation of all administrations with emergency services will be necessary to upload this information to the platform," emphasizes Ana Blanco, Deputy Assistant Director of Traffic at the DGT.

The creation of an emergency lane during traffic jams on motorways or highways to allow priority vehicles to pass has the support of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and Sumar (Spanish Socialist Workers' Union), the parties supporting the coalition government. They are proposing this proposal through amendments to a bill submitted by the Socialists to Congress to reduce the current maximum alcohol limit by more than half and prohibit warnings to drivers about alcohol and drug tests.

In their amendments, reported by Servimedia, the PSOE and Sumar propose that vehicles pull over when there's a traffic jam on a highway or dual carriageway and proceed "at a pedestrian pace or stop," so as to "leave a clear space to allow passage when approaching priority vehicles." "This clear space will be called the emergency lane," they point out.

They also point out that, on motorways and dual carriageways with two lanes traveling in the same direction, "the emergency lane must be formed in the center of the road, between those two lanes."

If there are three or more lanes in each direction, they emphasize, "a gap must be formed between the leftmost lane and the adjacent lane." "Vehicles traveling in the leftmost lane must move as far to the left as possible, and vehicles traveling in other lanes must move as far to the right as possible," they specify.