From 1 October, taxi drivers, freight vehicle operators, and driving school instructors must wear seat belts when driving in urban areas. This change follows the DGT's updated General Circulation Regulation, which was officially approved earlier this June.
The new mandate ends a decades-long exemption that allowed these professionals to drive without belts in cities. The Institut Metropolità del Taxi, which manages 14,000 drivers in Barcelona, will now use internal channels to communicate these legal changes.
Failure to comply with the new rules will result in a 200 euro fine and the deduction of four points from a driver's license. Antoni Servós, president of the Taxi Union of Catalonia and a driver since 1990, noted the significance of this regulatory shift.