Traffic Department assumes urban fines for Los Guájares due to lack of resources

The Provincial Traffic Headquarters of Granada will assume the authority to sanction traffic violations committed on the urban roads of Los Guájares starting the day after the publication of the agreement in the Official Gazette of the Province of Granada. The decision, adopted at the request of the Los Guájares City Council itself, is justified by the insufficiency of municipal services to exercise this competence. The agreement is published in BOP number 189, dated September 30, 2026, with the official reference BOP-GRA-2026-189001.

The procedure began on September 16, 2026, when the Council agreed in a plenary session to propose the transfer of the sanctioning competence, and the plenary agreement was forwarded to the Headquarters on September 22, 2026. When consulted on the matter, the Sanctions Unit of the Provincial Headquarters reported that there was no objection to processing the files that might be initiated.

The legal framework is Article 84.4, third paragraph, of the consolidated text of the Law on Traffic, Motor Vehicle Circulation and Road Safety, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of October 30, which allows provincial chiefs to assume the competence of mayors “when, for justified reasons or due to the insufficiency of municipal services, it cannot be exercised by them.” The agreement was signed in Granada on September 23, 2026, by the Provincial Chief of Traffic, Juan Diego Ramírez Llorente, and is published in compliance with Article 45 of Law 39/2015, of October 1.

Exactly what the Headquarters assumes

The assumed competence comprises only the sanctioning of violations of circulation rules and also includes the instruction of the proceedings, as this always corresponds to the Administration that adopts the sanctioning resolution. The Headquarters will process the files without any economic compensation from the General Directorate of Traffic to the City Council.

The agreement includes four points:

• Assume the sanctioning competence for violations of traffic, circulation, and road safety rules committed on urban roads within the municipal district of Los Guájares, at the request of the City Council itself.
• Carry out the instruction of the corresponding sanctioning files, without economic compensation from the General Directorate of Traffic to the Council.
• Publicize the agreement through the Official Gazette of the Province, in accordance with Article 45 of Law 39/2015.
• Begin the exercise of the competence from the day after publication and maintain it until the Los Guájares City Council expressly states that it resumes the competence or the Headquarters perceives the disappearance of the circumstances that motivated the exceptional assumption.

What remains in the hands of the City Council

The organization and control of traffic on the municipality’s urban roads will remain a municipal competence, with the general exceptions provided for in current legislation. The surveillance and reporting of infractions committed on those roads will also remain in the hands of the City Council.

The agreement recalls that Article 7 of the traffic law attributes to municipalities the regulation, organization, management, surveillance, and discipline of traffic on the urban roads under their ownership, as well as the reporting and sanctioning of infractions “when not expressly attributed to another Administration.” Article 25.2 of Law 7/1985, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime, places traffic, vehicle parking, and mobility among the own local competences.

Impact for drivers

For drivers in Los Guájares, the change implies that reports of infractions committed in the urban center will no longer be resolved at the City Hall and will instead be processed by the Provincial Traffic Headquarters of Granada, following the sanctioning procedure and appeal channels specific to the State Administration. The measure is exceptional and reversible: the City Council may reassume the competence through an express declaration, and the Headquarters may consider it concluded if the reasons justifying it disappear.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Granada, no. 189, September 30, 2026, State Administration, pp. 4-6 (official reference: BOP-GRA-2026-189001).