Maximum speed with a trailer

Maximum speed with a trailer based on weight

What counts for your speed is the trailer's maximum authorised mass. That is how heavy it may be including its load. You find it in the registration document. What is in it today does not count.

• Up to and including 3500 kg: at most 90 km/h, behind a car, van or motorcycle. That applies with licence B and with BE. A heavier licence does not give you a higher speed.
• More than 3500 kg: at most 80 km/h.

Both limits are in RVV 1990 article 22. In the CBR exam for licence B it is almost always about 90 km/h.

How fast may you drive with a 750 kg trailer?

With a trailer of 750 kg or lighter you may also drive at most 90 km/h. The 750 kg limit decides which licence and which number plate you need, not how fast you may go. Braked or unbraked does not matter either: with a braked trailer 90 km/h is also your limit.

How fast may you drive with a caravan?

A caravan or folding trailer is also a trailer. So you may drive at most 90 km/h with it on the autoweg and the motorway. Outside a built-up area it is 80 km/h, inside a built-up area 50 km/h. Other countries have other rules. This page is about the Netherlands.

Sign or trailer limit: which comes first?

Always the lowest of the two (RVV 1990 article 63b). May you drive 100 km/h with a trailer? No, not even when a sign shows 100. If the sign shows a speed lower than 90, you follow the sign.

• Sign or matrix sign 100 on the motorway: you drive 90.
• Motorway at 22:00, where you could do 130 without a trailer: you drive 90.
• Sign 70: you drive 70.
• Matrix sign 50 above your lane: you drive 50.

How the CBR asks it

For a question with a trailer, go through three steps:

1. Are you really towing a trailer? A bike carrier on the car is not a trailer. It has no separate trailer limit. Do follow the manufacturer's speed advice.
2. Which road are you on? Inside a built-up area 50, outside a built-up area 80, on the autoweg and the motorway 90.
3. Is there a lower sign? Then you follow that sign. You always choose the lowest speed.

Watch the time in the question. In the evening you can often drive 130 on the motorway without a trailer, but with a trailer it stays 90.

Remember for your CBR exam: with a trailer you never drive faster than 90 km/h. You do not need to remember the trailer's maximum weight for the speed questions in your theory exam.

CBR traps in trailer questions

These are the three most common mistakes:

❌ Wrong: always choosing 90 km/h with a trailer.
✅ Right: first check where you are driving. Outside a built-up area it is 80, inside a built-up area 50.

❌ Wrong: following the 100 sign or the 130 that applies in the evening.
✅ Right: with a trailer it stays 90 on the motorway, by day and in the evening.

❌ Wrong: treating a bike carrier as a trailer.
✅ Right: a bike carrier is not a trailer. On this road you may simply drive 100.

Licence, weight and number plate of a trailer are explained under which licence you need for a trailer. Load and coupling are under rules for a trailer. Everything about trailers is under trailers and bike carriers.