🇪🇸 Spain V16 Beacon: Do you need one?

Do you need one of these if you are going to Spain or not? Last year the motorhome world was going crazy because the Spanish government have decided to change the laws regarding using warning triangles on their roads, and they said that if you are visiting Spain or live in Spain or drive any vehicle in Spain, instead of using a warning triangle when you break down, which was apparently causing A ridiculous number of deaths. I think the stat I heard was something like 50 people a year were killed on Spanish roads just for putting out the warning triangle. So obviously walking down the road behind wherever their vehicle had broken down to put the warning triangle out to warn other people was causing people to be killed, which is awful. So they have decided to change that law and insist that instead of having to put a warning triangle out, 40 meters or whatever the law— I think it was 50 meters actually in Spain— behind that, all you need to do now is put one of these on your vehicle instead, which is fine except that they have communicated who it actually applies to and how the system works so badly, and not only have they communicated it badly, they literally, like a week ago, changed their mind on who it applies to. So the answer now is if you are a UK-based person, or indeed anyone who is not a Spanish resident or driving a Spanish-registered vehicle, you do not need one of these. That's the short answer. They've changed the law. So there have been videos that I've put out, and indeed lots of other people have put out, saying that you do. The definitive answer now from the Spanish government as of February 2026 is you do not need one of those. However, should you still have one? Well, I actually think these are really, really good bits of kit. I'm not going to activate this in case anybody watching this has some sort of aversion to strobe light, although if you do, expect quite a few of these in Spain. But there are a couple of reasons that I think it's worth carrying one of these in any vehicle that you're driving Wherever you happen to be, whether that's in the UK, in Europe, or indeed in Spain. So the best thing about these— if you can hear scratching, Mac is desperately trying to get in, but I'm going to leave him outside for 2 minutes while I finish this video— the best thing about these is that they are so much more visible and obviously can be seen, especially in the dark, from a lot further away than a little warning triangle can. There are no rules restricting Restricting you putting these on in the UK. I did check just to make sure you weren't going to break any laws, but no, it's perfectly okay for you to put one of these on or just behind your broken-down vehicle. Obviously a car, you put it on the roof. On a motorhome, you're unlikely to be able to reach the roof, but if you've got a back box, or indeed to put it on the floor like next to the vehicle, but obviously from the side that the traffic will be approaching the vehicle. It will be bright enough to show up and warn other drivers that you are broken down. They are particularly useful if you happen to be unlucky enough to break down on one of these smart motorways, which don't have a hard shoulder. If you break down and hopefully, obviously, have pulled over onto lane 1, the smart motorways have been notoriously bad at not always activating the big red X, and sometimes, especially if you're in a smaller car, Sometimes they can't even pick up, the cameras cannot even pick up that your vehicle has stopped, so by able to get out of the vehicle, obviously on an appropriate side, and put one of these on and walk away and go behind the barrier, but this will hopefully then warn other drivers that your vehicle has stopped and broken down and give them time to see you, so I still recommend getting one of these, but thankfully the Spanish— I say thankfully, annoyingly, the Spanish government have now confirmed that you do not need to have one of these if you are just visiting Spain, so you can continue to use your warning triangle in Spain and indeed all the other countries in Europe. If you are a Spanish resident or if you are using a Spanish registered car, so perhaps you're flying in and renting a vehicle, you do need to have one of these. It does need to be the one, I think it's DGT 3.0, it has to have a SIM card that is activated, and that means that when you turn this on in Spain, it will connect to the Spanish authority network, and they will immediately be able to see exactly where your vehicle is, know that it has broken down, and then I assume there will be some sort of recovery thing in place. The other reason that I would recommend these in Spain— in fact, there are 2 reasons. One, this law has literally just changed, and it has been promoted or communicated incredibly badly. I do not know how well it's been communicated to the law enforcement agencies In Spain, and my Spanish certainly is not good enough to explain to the nice policeman who has stopped me and is trying to fine me that I don't need one of these as a visitor. So for the sake of— I mean, this hasn't got the SIM card in, so it's a lot cheaper. I think it cost me like £15. I'll leave the link to the one that I purchased. I've actually got 2 because when we tour on our motorbikes, I think they're a fantastic addition if you are a motorbiker as well, just from a safety point of view. So I've actually got a couple of these of different types. I wanted to try them all out. But yeah, I still going to carry one of these just in case when I'm visiting Spain. But the other thing as well is obviously the law has changed in Spain, so Spanish drivers will be expecting to see these on a broken-down vehicle. Now obviously, if they've been driving for a while, they will understand what the warning triangle is, but more and more new drivers especially— but people will get used to seeing these and not looking for the little warning triangles. So I, if I'm still— when I'm visiting Spain, which will hopefully be next year, I'm still going to be carrying one of these with me, but I just wanted to make a really quick video to update you on the rule changes. You do not need to carry one of these if you're visiting Spain with your UK or other country in Europe registered vehicle. If you would like to get a complete checklist of everything you do need when you are touring in Europe, I will leave the link for that below, and I'm also going to be running my Touring Europe workshop later in this month. That is a fantastic workshop that I do, even if I say so myself, that goes through everything that you need to think about and do and prepare and plan and have with you when you take your vehicle across into Europe to tour it with a motorhome or a campervan. It is one of these ones that sells out every time I run it. Spaces are limited because I do it on Zoom and I want to be able to talk to people and answer your questions face to face. So if you would like To get a ticket to join the workshop when it comes up in March, or indeed get access to the replay. So you don't have to join live, but you do have to get a ticket in order to get access to the replay. I will leave all those details below in the notes for you, and I hope that I can see you there. As always, if you found this video helpful, a thumbs up and a follow is always very much appreciated. I'm so close to 50K, and it'd be lovely to be able to reach that this year. So if you're not already following me, It would be lovely if you could, please and thank you, and I hope that I will see you on another video on the channel soon, perhaps this one, which has got more about what you need when you are touring in Europe. See you there. Take care. Bye.