Spain's DGT to mandate course for B-license 125cc riders

DGT to Require Mandatory Course for 125cc Motorcycles with B License

Holding a standard B driving license will no longer suffice to ride a 125cc motorcycle. The DGT (Directorate General of Traffic) has announced that these drivers must pass a "mandatory course" if they wish to continue using low-displacement bikes, a measure presented by Minister Grande-Marlaska at the agency's headquarters as part of the 2024 road safety package. The paradox is significant: the permit certifying road competence ceases to be valid for a lighter vehicle, precisely when small motorcycles had established themselves as the cheap alternative to cars in urban areas.

The minister explained that the decision is being "designed with the support of the Traffic Division" and justified it with data: over the last decade, motorcyclists are the only driver group whose accident rate percentage has increased. In the same appearance, he announced that glove use will become mandatory for two-wheeled vehicles and that breathalyzer checks will increase by 10%. The course does not come in isolation: it is part of a general tightening of everything surrounding two wheels.

It was also confirmed that young people aged 17 to 18 will be able to drive a car if accompanied by a person over 24 years old with five years of experience holding their license.

How much will the mandatory course for 125cc cost?

No one has set a price. Neither the ministry nor the DGT have provided an official figure, and this is where the conflict begins. Estimates circulating among drivers range from 100 euros to 500, with driving schools acting as the natural intermediary for the process: tests, practical classes, fees, and final validation. A "money grab," in the words of the most critical voices.

The comparison with the former A1 license is also reassuring to no one. Some argue that if the course were designed with the training load of that previous authorization, many applicants would drop out; hence speculation about an express format that practically functions as another toll. There are administrative precedents of this kind: drone enthusiasts already went through sudden training and registration requirements, according to industry veterans. What appears nowhere is an official breakdown of what it will cost, who will benefit, and how much of that amount ends up in public coffers.

Will the course apply to those who already own a 125cc motorcycle?

This is the question causing the most anxiety and the one no one answers. Nothing in the announcement clarifies whether the requirement will have retroactive effects, and this absence fuels the worst interpretation: that the rule reaches those who already have the bike in the garage, with a grace period and a deadline after which the vehicle becomes unusable if the course is not passed.

Against this antiestéticar, another current recalls that changing rules mid-game is legally slippery ground and that the 125cc market was built, precisely, on validation with the B license. Touching that abruptly would expose thousands of drivers and crash sales that had been sustained by that ease.

Is the course necessary? Arguments for and against

Here the disagreement is diagnostic. Part of the drivers argue that the motorcycle is a different vehicle and that leaving a dealership with the key in hand, without knowing how to engage second gear, is reckless; the automatic 125 scooter seems easy until the first unexpected event occurs in dense traffic. In that line, the fact that motorcyclists are the only collective with rising accidents in ten years serves as backing for the measure.

The opposing argument is that the real learning curve is short: those who already know how to drive learn to handle the handlebars in weeks and do so like with a car in less than a year. Serious accidents, it is added, occur when the rider thinks they are a pilot, not when they are a novice; and no quick course saves them from that. Therefore, the discrepancy is not whether training works, but whether this specific format teaches anything.

The 125cc as a cheap alternative to cars and its fiscal impact

The other axis is economic. The 125cc motorcycle pays about 10 euros in circulation tax, bears less VAT on purchase, consumes less fuel, and takes up less paid parking space than a car. If the declared objective were revenue collection, expelling that vehicle from circulation does not seem the best business: fewer inspections, fewer hydrocarbons, and less blue zone usage.

This explains why many see the course as more of a toll than a technical filter, especially when the alternative for those who do not go through the procedure is returning to the car or losing mobility. The small motorcycle had solved a specific niche —short trips, city, tight budget— and now faces an administrative barrier.

With the course having no price, retroactivity unclarified, and a fleet of small motorcycles that grew under the shelter of the rule now being changed, the question is no longer how much the procedure will cost. How many of those drivers will still get on their motorcycle when they have to pay for it?