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From January 1 next year, the approved V-16 emergency beacon becomes the only legal device for signalling breakdowns and accidents on Spanish roads. That means that the 25 million cars registered in Spain, along with buses and certain other vehicles, will need to have one of these lights tucked away in the glove compartment.

 

At around €45 a pop, it's not a huge expense for individual drivers, but when you add it all up across the country, the Spanish government stands to collect roughly €300 million in VAT from this mandatory purchase, and the overall business generated by V-16 sales is estimated to hit approximately €1.125 billion in the coming year alone.

 

Not everyone has to join the party though. Bicycles, motorcycles, mopeds and personal mobility vehicles are all exempt from the requirement, which makes sense given their size and the way they're used on the roads. More surprisingly, some cars won't need the emergency beacon either, but this is where things get a bit more complicated.

 

Any vehicle registered outside Spain can continue using the old emergency triangles. The DGT simply doesn't have the authority to force drivers from other EU countries or those with bilateral agreements allowing them to use Spanish roads to buy V16 devices.

 

 

This covers a long list of places including Andorra, Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Japan, Morocco, Nicaragua, Peru, Dominican Republic, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, El Salvador, Philippines, Guatemala, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Tunisia, Ukraine, Monaco, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and New Zealand.

 

The reason, of course, is that emergency triangles are still the standard system used in those countries for warning other drivers about breakdowns and accidents. Spain is jumping ahead on its own here by mandating V-16 devices and while that might be a smart move for road safety in the long run, it does create an odd situation where foreign-registered vehicles can legally use triangles on Spanish roads while Spanish drivers cannot.

 

The whole V-16 rollout has been causing a fair bit of confusion and controversy, and many drivers still don't really understand what the device does, how it works or why it's necessary. That lack of awareness hasn't stopped the deadline from arriving though and come January, the Guardia Civil will be able to issue fines if a vehicle stops on the hard shoulder due to a breakdown and the driver hasn't activated their V-16 beacon.

 

Furthermore, getting out of your vehicle without wearing a reflective vest is classed as a serious offence and will set you back €200 and four points off your license. So even if you've got your shiny new V-16 beacon sorted, don't forget to keep that high-vis vest handy as well.

 

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Image: DGT