Eliminatory Faults on the DGT Practical Test (2026)

Updated: September 2026. An eliminatory fault (falta eliminatoria) is a single error that fails the practical test on its own, regardless of how well you drove otherwise. The DGT defines one as any behaviour or breach of the rules that creates a danger to your own safety or that of other road users, plus breaches of traffic signs classified as serious or very serious offences. There are roughly sixty of them, they are published, and this page lists all of them in English, grouped by the situation you would be in rather than by section number.

Key takeaways

01. The list is finite and mostly predictable. Priority, visibility and vulnerable road users account for the large majority. Very little of it is about smooth driving.

02. Hesitation is on the list. Not overtaking after being invited to when conditions are ideal is eliminatory, as is driving persistently below the minimum speed after being asked to adapt. Excessive caution is graded.

03. Some faults you will not feel. If the car's automatic emergency braking intervenes, that is eliminatory even though you did nothing at the controls.

04. Four were added in March 2026, all concerning cycle and scooter lanes, shared-space zones, and roadworks beacons.

Priority and junctions

The two-stop rule is worth memorising. Where a STOP has a solid transverse line, you must always stop at that line. If you cannot see from there, you must make a second stop where you can. Missing the first stop is a minor fault. Missing the second is eliminatory. Candidates who creep forward to a single well-judged stopping point are doing the opposite of what the criteria require.

If you are revising priority generally, see right of way rules in Spain and roundabout rules.

Traffic lights and officers

The red light wording catches people out. The criteria grade it eliminatory when the light is inside or on the far side of the junction and you enter, and also when, without entering, you have crept so far forward that you have lost sight of the light. Stopping short is safer than stopping level.

Pedestrians, cyclists and personal mobility vehicles

One calibration detail the criteria supply: the reference for judging a pedestrian encounter is whether the pedestrian is one lane's width or less from the lane you are driving in. Inside that distance, a pedestrian already crossing who has to stop or alter their pace makes it eliminatory. Related reading: pedestrian crossing rules and overtaking cyclists.

Road markings

See Spanish road markings explained for what each line type means.

Signs

Sign revision: prohibition signs, obligation signs and give way and stop signs.

Speed

Note the asymmetry. You get a 30 km/h margin before speeding becomes eliminatory, but driving too slowly becomes eliminatory as soon as you have been asked to adapt and do not. See Spanish speed limits explained.

Overtaking and visibility

The criteria add a fairness instruction to examiners here: when grading overtaking they must not be influenced by exaggerated or unnecessary behaviour from other drivers, such as flashing headlights or pulling onto the hard shoulder. More detail in overtaking rules in Spain.

Incidents during the test

The AEB rule surprises candidates most, because nothing about it feels like your mistake in the moment. The criteria put an automatic braking intervention under the same heading as your instructor taking the controls, on the reasoning that in both cases something other than your own driving prevented the outcome. Related rear cross traffic alert rules and the rest of the driver-aid picture are in driver aids on the DGT practical test.

Lights and controls

See also headlight rules in Spain.

What changed in March 2026

We compared the March 2026 criteria against the September 2019 edition, which is the preceding published version. Four things were added or broadened, and all of them concern vulnerable road users or works signage:

• Ways reserved for cycles and for personal mobility vehicles, including the S-65a and S-65b signs, became eliminatory to breach.
• Coexistence zones and play and dwelling zones joined residential streets and Zona 30 in the pedestrian-obstruction rule.
• The bus lane rule became a rule about any lane reserved for specific vehicle types.
• Passing luminous beacons or road studs emitting orange or red light became eliminatory, and the older wording about barriers and half-barriers was generalised to mobile delimiting devices.

Nothing else on this page is new. The pass mark, the timings, the speed thresholds and the driver-aid rules were already in the 2019 edition in the same words.

Frequently asked questions

How many eliminatory faults are there?

Around sixty distinct items across the criteria, depending on how you count sub-clauses. They are concentrated in section 11, which covers signs, lights and road markings, and section 15, which covers incidents during the test.

Does one eliminatory fault always mean failing?

Yes. The baremo declares a candidate no apto with a single eliminatory fault, independently of everything else in the drive.

Is stalling an eliminatory fault?

No. A stall is a minor fault, recorded once per stall. It only becomes eliminatory if circumstances of danger arise from it, in which case it is graded under the accident or evasive-manoeuvre headings instead.

Can I fail for driving too carefully?

Yes, in specific circumstances. Not attempting an overtake after being invited to when conditions are ideal is eliminatory, and so is continuing to drive below the minimum permitted speed after being asked to adapt to the traffic.

What happens if the car brakes by itself?

An automatic emergency braking intervention is graded as an eliminatory fault under section 15.1.6, in the same way as an instructor intervening. The criteria add that it is not graded if the intervention by the instructor or the system was incorrect.

Sources

• DGT, Subdirección Adjunta de Formación Vial, Criterios de Calificación, March 2026. Every fault on this page is transcribed from the F. ELIMINATORIAS column, sections 4 to 15.
• DGT, Criterios de Calificación, vías abiertas, September 2019, via the Internet Archive. The comparison edition used to identify what changed.
• DGT, Examen práctico, official process page.

Last updated: September 2026. Criteria checked against the March 2026 edition: September 2026.

This is a translation and reorganisation of the DGT's published criteria, provided for study. It does not replace the official document, which governs in case of any discrepancy. Criteria are revised periodically.