Road sign R-2: Stop

What it means

«Obligación para todo conductor de detener su vehículo ante la próxima línea de detención o, si no existe, inmediatamente antes de la intersección, y ceder el paso en ella a los vehículos que circulen por la vía a la que se aproxime.» RD 465/2025, Annex I of the RGC (BOE-A-2025-12199), Spanish original.

The sign obliges you to stop at the stop line or, if there is none, just before the junction, and to give way there. The duty arises from the sign, not from traffic being in sight.

Where you meet it

You meet it on the minor road, before the junction. The stop line marks the exact point; if there is none, the point is just before the junction (RGC art. 145.2.a and marking M-4.1). Like every regulation sign, it applies from the cross-section where it stands, not before (RGC art. 145.4).

What you must do

Bring the vehicle to a complete halt, every time, and then give way to whoever is on the priority road (RGC art. 56.5). Only the stop sign requires a complete halt. Only the road owner or the traffic authority may remove it (RGC art. 140.2).

Details that count

Removing, hiding, altering or damaging signing is a very serious offence (LSV art. 77.n). R-2 belongs to the priority signs, code R, which impose obligations, limits or prohibitions, unlike the triangle, which only warns (RGC arts. 144 to 146).

What it is confused with

It is confused with R-1, «Give way». With R-1 you can carry on without stopping if the priority road is clear; with R-2 stopping is compulsory even if nobody is coming. Giving way is not stopping: it is not forcing others to change their path or speed.

Related signs

• R-1: Give way
• R-3: Priority road
• R-4: End of priority
• R-5: Priority for oncoming traffic

Studied in topic 27: Priority and roundabouts.

Source: RGC arts. 56.5, 140.2, 144 to 146, 145.2.a, 145.4; LSV art. 77.n; RGC Annex I, sign R-2 (RD 465/2025).