Ruben Fidalgo
Mark Diego
Karam el Shenawy
February 21, 2023
The director of the General Directorate of Traffic, Pere Navarro, has confirmed when the new driving license for people over 16 years of age will come into force. It will serve to promote both electric mobility and in rural areas.
It was an open secret and from 2024 the DGT will have the new driving license ready, as recently confirmed in an interview by the General Director of Traffic, Pere Navarro: «It will be after the closure of the new European directive on driving licenses in Brussels, but already in 2024 ». It will be called B1 and as contemplated by the 2030 Road Safety Strategy it will serve you to drive light vehicles up to 15 kW power (20.4 hp), up to 400kg weight (550 kg in the case of vehicles for the transport of goods) and with a maximum speed of 90 km/h (currently mopeds cannot exceed 50 km/h). To simplify, what will be the quadricycles included in category L7 of the Traffic Regulations.
Because there was a time when microcars like him iso isetta they were very frequent through the Spanish streets, a concept that is currently becoming the result of severe urban restrictions and the rise of solutions like the carsharing in which some companies already use this type of vehicle, as is the case of Free2Move with the Citroën AMI. Because the B1 driving license will help people from 16 years of age can drive this type of vehicle.
A new mobility
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As we said before, mobility is changing especially in the urban environment and the arrival of this B1 driver’s license, which is already in force in territories such as France or Italy with very good results “It will favor the mobility of the youngest in rural areas, where even with all the efforts, public transport obviously does not arrive in the same conditions”, according to what the Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska commented at the time.
In the same way, the implementation of this B1 card can help improve road safety Well, according to the Traffic Executive, it can serve as preparation for those minors who later want to take out the B and get behind the controls of a more powerful car. Without forgetting that in terms of safety they are a better mount than motorcycles and bikes.
Regarding differences between the permission that already exists at present, the AMwhich enables those over 15 years of age to drive vehicles with up to 7 kW of power and a maximum speed of 45 km/h, the new B1 is designed as an intermediate step between the AM and the B, increasing power and maximum speed of the vehicle that can be driven. The B1 permit is already contemplated in Europe in Directive 2006/126/EC and grants the license to drive those vehicles defined under article 1.3.b of Directive 2002/24/CE, that is, vehicles with up to 4 wheels with an empty weight of less than 400 kg (550 kg in the case of those intended for to the transport of goods) and without taking into account the weight of the batteries in the case of those that are electric propulsion.
Added to all this is the push for electric mobility as many of the vehicles that can be accessed are currently zero emissions. Among some of the vehicles that can be driven with this new B1 license are the Renault Twizy (which was anticipated a few years and now would have a better opportunity to be a commercial success), the future Microlino, inspired by the Isetta, the commented Citroën AMI, the Yoyo or the Silence S04, most of them also with a sale price of less than 10,000 euros if the MOVES III Plan is applied.
