Road sign P-23: Livestock crossing

What it means

«Peligro por la proximidad de un lugar donde frecuentemente la vía puede ser atravesada por animales domésticos o ganado.» RD 465/2025, Annex I of the RGC (BOE-A-2025-12199), Spanish original.

It warns that livestock or domestic animals often cross the road at that place. As a general rule you have priority over animals, but there are exceptions worth knowing.

Where you meet it

It appears before the place where livestock usually cross the road.

What you must do

Moderate your speed. As a general rule you have priority over animals; you only give way in three cases: the signed droving route, turning into another road with animals crossing it, and crossing a shoulder along which they are walking (RGC art. 66.1).

Details that count

On properly signed droving routes priority is reversed: you must give way to the livestock, and the shepherd's signal is not a legal requirement. And when turning into another road with animals crossing it, the animals' priority does not depend on there being a signed droving route; scaring them with the horn increases the risk rather than solving it (RGC art. 66.1.a and 66.1.b). As a warning sign (code P), it flags a risk that is hard to see in time and does not regulate (RGC arts. 144 to 146). The livestock triangle neither gives you priority nor takes it away: article 66 shares that out, with its three exceptions.

What it is confused with

It is confused with P-24, «Free-roaming animals crossing». P-23 is for domestic animals or livestock that often cross at one place; P-24 is for animals roaming free. What changes is the kind of animal you expect, and with it what may happen on the carriageway.

Related signs

• P-24: Free-roaming animals crossing
• P-20b: Pedestrians
• P-22b: Cyclists

Studied in topic 3: Pedestrians and cyclists.

Source: RGC arts. 66.1.a, 66.1.b, 144 to 146; RGC Annex I, sign P-23 (RD 465/2025).