Road sign R-305: No overtaking
Regulatory signs
Image: official sign catalogue, RD 465/2025 (BOE).
Text and drawing from the official catalogue of road signs, Annex I of the General Traffic Regulation (Royal Decree 465/2025), BOE page 79135. The official wording is in Spanish.
Reviewed on 28 September 2026 · source: official catalogue RD 465/2025 (BOE)
What it means
«Por añadidura a los principios generales sobre adelantamiento, indica la prohibición a todos los vehículos de adelantar a los vehículos a motor que circulen por la calzada cuando dicha maniobra implique invadir la zona reservada al sentido contrario de circulación.» RD 465/2025, Annex I of the RGC (BOE-A-2025-12199), Spanish original.
The sign bans all vehicles from overtaking motor vehicles with more than two wheels on the carriageway when the manoeuvre means entering the area reserved for the opposite direction.
Where you meet it
You see it on stretches of road where overtaking is barred. It applies from the sign until an end-of-overtaking-ban sign (R-502) or an end-of-prohibitions sign (R-500). A panel with distances can limit it (S-800, S-830).
What you must do
Do not overtake motor vehicles by entering the opposing lane. Passing a broken-down vehicle that occupies your lane is not overtaking but passing, and the ban does not reach it (RGC art. 88.2). If a panel gives a distance, the ban begins where the panel says, not at the sign; without a panel, it applies from its cross-section (RGC arts. 145.3 and 145.4).
Details that count
The motorcycle exception is double and must be met in full: the vehicle overtaken is a two-wheel motorcycle and the manoeuvre does not enter the opposing lane. R-305 belongs to the residual class of «other prohibition or restriction signs», distinct from no entry, from passage restriction and from obligation (RGC art. 145.2.d).
What it is confused with
It is confused with R-306, «No overtaking for lorries». R-305 bans everyone from overtaking by entering the opposing lane; R-306 only lorries over 3,500 kg, even when the manoeuvre does not enter that lane. The specific sign does not extend to buses, nor does it bind a lighter lorry.
Related signs
- R-306: No overtaking for lorries
- R-502: End of the no-overtaking ban
- R-500: End of prohibitions
- R-304: No U-turn
Studied in topic 23: Overtaking.
Source: RGC arts. 88.2, 145.2.d, 145.3, 145.4; RGC Annex I, sign R-305 (RD 465/2025).
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