Vehicle requirements, Tyres & Load

Weight and height

With driving licence B, the car with everything in and on it may never weigh more than 3500 kg. This applies to every combination: passenger car, commercial vehicle, camper or van, with or without a trailer.

On the vehicle registration card of the car you can see how much weight you may add before you reach 3500 kg, and how much you may tow with a trailer.

Car plus cargo is also never higher than 4 metres. How far cargo may protrude to the side, and at the front and rear, is in section 2.

Windows

You may not make the windows around the driver opaque. You must be able to look out properly, and other road users must be able to see you.

Clean windows are a legal requirement. Therefore check regularly that the windscreen wipers and washers work properly.

In winter, frost, snow and ice hinder the wipers and visibility. First clear the windows, and always keep a ice scraper in the car.

Number plate

The number plate must always be fully visible and readable, even in snow or fog. Therefore also keep the number plate illumination in order.

A tow bar or carrier may not cover the number plate, not even partially. If the number plate is not recognisable, you may receive a ticket.

Doors

A door that is not closed properly can open while driving. Modern cars warn you about this with a warning light, for example in the ceiling between the driver and the passenger.

If that warning light is on, you close the door properly before you continue driving.

Towing

If you tow a car with breakdown, or if you are towed yourself, two rules apply:

• The distance between the two cars is at most 5 metres. Less is allowed. A long rope may seem safer when the front car brakes, but the opposite is true: a longer rope can hang over the kerb in a bend, where pedestrians then have to make way.
• Both drivers have a valid driving licence. The towed car also has to be driven, and that may not be done without a driving licence.

Cargo in the car

Loose cargo in the car is wrong. When you brake hard, it shoots forward: long boards lying between the front seats then end up on the road together with the windscreen.

What fits in the boot (trunk) you transport there. If it doesn’t fit in the car, it can go on the roof or in a trailer.

Cargo on and behind the car

Cargo on the roof is transported always using load carriers. These distribute the weight evenly over the roof. Behind the car you use a bicycle carrier on the tow bar.

Bicycles on a carrier and cargo on the roof simply count as cargo. The same dimensions apply for that:

With a tow bar or carrier, the number plate must remain visible (see section 1).

Cargo on a trailer

With a trailer, different rules apply than with a car. Topic 11 goes into trailers in more detail; these are the cargo rules:

• Cargo may not protrude at the front. When you do this, look at the actual front of the trailer, not only at the loading bed: cargo may stick out a bit beyond the loading bed, as long as it does not go past the front of the trailer.
• At the rear cargo may protrude, including more than 1 metre. If the cargo protrudes more than 1 metre, a red-and-white striped marking board is mandatory. If it protrudes less than 1 metre, that board may also be used, but it is not required.
• With loose cargo you put a net over the trailer so nothing can fall out.
• Heavy cargo is placed in the middle. Too much weight at the back increases the chance of swaying.

Example situations

Situation 1

You transport long boards loose between the front seats. They do not protrude outside the car.

Wrong. Even without protruding, this is unsafe: when you brake hard, the cargo shoots forward.

Situation 2

On a trailer, a ladder protrudes 1.5 metres at the rear, without a red-and-white marking board.

Wrong. If cargo protrudes more than 1 metre at the rear behind a trailer, that board is mandatory.

Situation 3

A ladder protrudes a bit at the front beyond the loading bed of the trailer, but not beyond the front of the trailer itself.

Allowed. The limit is the front of the trailer, not the loading bed.

CBR trap

• The rules for a car do not apply to a trailer: with a car, cargo may protrude at the front; with a trailer, it may not. So first choose the type of vehicle, and only then assess the cargo.
• Don’t look only at the loading bed. Cargo that protrudes beyond the loading bed but not beyond the front of the trailer is not automatically wrong.
• A marking board is not always mandatory: only if cargo protrudes more than 1 metre at the rear behind a trailer.