Traffic assumes the circulation penalties in San Bartolomé de las Abiertas

The Provincial Traffic Headquarters of Toledo has assumed the sanctioning authority for traffic regulation violations committed on urban roads within the municipality of San Bartolomé de las Abiertas, at the request of the City Council itself. The agreement, adopted on August 31, 2026, by the provincial chief, Francisco Javier Caparrini Soler, is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Toledo number 171, dated September 8, 2026, and enters into force the day following its publication.

The decision is a response to the insufficiency of municipal services to handle the exercise of this authority, a circumstance that traffic regulations contemplate as an exceptional case for assumption by the State Administration.

Legal Framework of the Assumption

Municipal sanctioning authority regarding traffic is framed within Article 25.2 of Law 7/1985, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime, which assigns municipalities the matter of “traffic, vehicle parking, and mobility.” Its scope is specified in Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of October 30, which approves the Revised Text of the Law on Traffic, Motor Vehicle Circulation, and Road Safety (LTSV).

Article 84.4 of the LTSV allows provincial Traffic chiefs to assume the authority of mayors when, for justified reasons or due to the insufficiency of municipal services, it cannot be exercised by them. The City Council of San Bartolomé de las Abiertas initiated the procedure on July 30, 2026, and forwarded the plenary agreement on August 5, 2026, certifying the impossibility of exercising the authority.

Scope of the Assumed Authority

The transferred authority comprises only the sanctioning of traffic regulation violations, as well as the instruction of the corresponding sanctioning proceedings, which always corresponds to the Administration that adopts the resolution. The organization and control of traffic on urban roads, as well as the surveillance and reporting of violations, will remain municipal competencies.

• The Sanctions Unit of the Headquarters will process the proceedings that are initiated.
• The assumption is carried out without financial compensation from the General Directorate of Traffic to the City Council.
• The exercise of the authority will be maintained as long as the circumstances that motivated it do not disappear.

Validity and Publicity

The agreement is published in the BOP of Toledo in compliance with Article 45 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure. The authority will be exercised from the day following publication and will continue until the City Council expressly declares its intention to reassume it or the Headquarters perceives the disappearance of the circumstances that justified the exceptional assumption.

The measure affects all drivers traveling on the urban roads of San Bartolomé de las Abiertas, who from now on will have their penalties processed by the Provincial Traffic Headquarters of Toledo instead of by the town council. This is a mechanism provided for by law to ensure that traffic discipline remains operational even when small municipalities lack sufficient means to exercise it.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Toledo, number 171, September 8, 2026, Administration section (official reference: No. I-3952, verification code 2026.00003952).