As with any other misdemeanor or crime, a traffic ticket can prescribe, and the DGT is silent about this. That is, after a certain period of time has elapsed since its imposition, the prescribed punishment can no longer be carried out. Therefore, the first thing we should know is that when the fine expires, the Administration has to stop persecuting us.
That ticket has two chances to expire
When the time comes, there are many of us who can ask ourselves if a traffic ticket has a prescription date. And the truth is that yes, it does, something that the DGT itself, the General Directorate of Traffic, has been in charge of detailing.
Thus, this type of sanction, as explained to us by the road agency, has two possibilities for which it can prescribe or expire: because the administration exceeds the notice period or because the fined exceeds the penalty period.
Or what is the same; The Administration has a period of time to notify an infraction and to enforce the fine. As in any administrative offense or crime, there is a period by which the causative act is prescribed. Despite being long terms, the Administration sometimes does not meet them and the sanctioned party should not pay for the infraction. To do this, we must know that there is a difference between when a fine prescribes and when a traffic offense prescribes… because no, it is not the same.
what to know
Starting at the beginning, and to know when a traffic ticket expires, we must know nature of the same and as reflected in Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of October 30, which approves the consolidated text of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety.
Thus, and depending on their seriousness, infringements must be notified within the following periods provided by law:
minor infractions. The notification prescribes the 3 months.
Serious and very serious offenses. The notification expires on 6 months.
The limitation period begins from the same day that they are committed. It is then that, if we receive the notification later, we must know that we will not have to assume the payment of the fine. With respect to the sanction, the fines expire after four years for economic sanctions and one year for the rest (in the case of Traffic, they can be work for the benefit of the community).
Returning the letters will not help…
However; It is important to know that, once the clock is started, it can stop for up to a month if the public administration has to spend time finding us.
This means that there are no more tricks that are worthso giving a false address or returning the letters to the DGT is useless, since once the month is over and if the authorities find it impossible to find us, the sanction will be published on the Edictal Board of Sanctions of Traffic (TESTRA) and we will be notified.
In any case, if that time elapses and you have not notified us of the fine, we can consider that we have gotten rid of it and the fine prescribes. If, on the contrary, the communication arrives, a new term begins to run to pay the fine.
Likewise, and until we are notified, it will not be necessary to take any action or file any appeal. If the infringement is not penalized within this period, the entire procedure is annulled. Here the times of the public administration can play in our favor, but it is usually true quite unusual deadlines are missed.
