Road sign R-1: Give way

What it means

«Obligación para todo conductor de ceder el paso en la próxima intersección a los vehículos que circulen por la vía a la que se aproxime o al carril al que pretende incorporarse.» RD 465/2025, Annex I of the RGC (BOE-A-2025-12199), Spanish original.

It obliges you to give way at the next junction to vehicles on the road you are approaching, or on the lane you want to join. It is a regulation sign, of the priority class: here there is an actual order.

Where you meet it

You meet it on the minor road as you reach a junction, and also at the entrance to a roundabout, before you join the ring (RGC art. 58.1). It makes no distinction between right and left: article 56.5 says «whichever side they approach from».

What you must do

Give way, which is not the same as stopping: it means not forcing others to change their path or speed (RGC art. 145.2.a). Stop only if needed so as not to force the priority traffic (RGC arts. 58.1 and 56.5). If the priority road is clear, you do not have to stop.

Details that count

Give way applies regardless of the geometry of the merge: it is no lighter because your lane ends, nor reversed because the other road joins from the right (RGC art. 56.5). And giving way is not just spotting a gap: you must not start or continue the manoeuvre if you force anyone to react abruptly (RGC art. 58.1).

What it is confused with

It is confused with R-2, the stop sign. Unlike the stop, give way does not demand a full halt in every case; the stop obliges you to stop completely every time, whether or not traffic is visible, because the duty arises from the sign and not from the traffic at that moment (RGC art. 56.5).

Related signs

• R-2: Stop
• R-3: Priority road
• R-4: End of priority
• P-4: Roundabout

Studied in topic 27: Priority and roundabouts.

Source: RGC arts. 56.5, 58.1, 145.2.a; RGC Annex I, sign R-1 (RD 465/2025).