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Tema 25: stopping and parking in the DGT exam

This whole tema turns on one definition: a parada is under two minutes without leaving the car. Everything else is parking.

Reviewed on 6 October 2026 · sources: BOE and DGT

This tema asks what a stop (parada) is, what parking (estacionamiento) is, and where you may do each.

  • A parada is immobilising the vehicle for under two minutes without the driver leaving it; parking is any other immobilisation.
  • Outside a built-up area (poblado) you always stop and park off the carriageway (calzada), on the right. In a built-up area, as close as possible to the right-hand edge of the carriageway.
  • You may not stop on blind bends and crests, in tunnels and underpasses, at level crossings, or on pedestrian or cycle crossings.
  • Stopping or parking is dangerous when under three metres remain to the far edge of the carriageway or to a continuous line.
  • You park parallel to the edge, engine off and parking brake on.

Watch out: step out of the car and it is parking, even after ten seconds.

In DrivingLingo: see the regulatory signs, tema 11 on road markings, tema 24 on turning and reversing and the .

Source: LSV annex I; RGC arts. 90, 91, 92, 94.

Key rules of topic 25

Three kinds of stop

A parada is immobilising the vehicle for under two minutes without the driver leaving it; parking is any other immobilisation.

  • A detención is immobilising it for an emergency, for traffic reasons or to obey a rule: a light, a Stop, a jam.
  • A detención is neither, so their bans do not apply to it.

Source: LSV anexo I, conceptos 80 a 82

Where to stop

Outside town you always stop and park off the carriageway, on the right, leaving the usable shoulder clear.

  • In town, as close as possible to the right-hand edge of the carriageway.
  • On one-way streets, in town, you may also do it on the left.

Source: RGC art. 90

No stopping

You may not stop on blind bends and crests, in tunnels and underpasses, at level crossings, or on pedestrian or cycle crossings.

  • Nor in reserved lanes, on tram rails, or where it would hide the signage.
  • Nor on motorways and dual carriageways, except in designated areas.

Source: RGC art. 94.1

No parking

You may not park where you may not stop, nor in limited-stay zones without a permit, in loading bays, or in bays reserved for disabled people.

  • Nor on pavements, promenades or pedestrian ways.
  • Nor in front of a marked vehicle entrance, nor double-parked.

Source: RGC arts. 94.2 y 91.2.h)

The three metres

Stopping or parking is dangerous when under three metres remain to the far edge of the carriageway or to a continuous line.

  • Also if you prevent another parked vehicle from getting out.
  • Or if you block a marked entrance, a dropped kerb or a public-transport stop.

Source: RGC art. 91.2

Parking on a slope

You park parallel to the edge, engine off and parking brake on.

  • Facing uphill you leave it in first; facing downhill, in reverse.
  • Above 3,500 kg, buses and combinations on a noticeable slope: proper chocks, never stones.

Source: RGC art. 92

Town by-laws

In urban streets, the town by-law regulates uses, limited-stay parking and rotation zones.

  • That is why limited-stay zones and their maximum time differ from one city to the next.

Source: RGC art. 94.2.b); TRLSV art. 7.b)

Reserved bays

In a zone signed for the exclusive use of people with disabilities, other drivers may neither stop nor park.

  • Stopping “just for a moment” is not allowed either: the ban covers both stopping and parking.
  • Nor may you block a lowered kerb for people with reduced mobility, whether or not there is a reserved bay.

Source: RGC art. 94.1.j) y 94.2.d); RGC art. 91.2.d)

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