Is it allowed to tow a vehicle using a rigid coupling if the vehicle has a faulty steering wheel system?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
A. No.
Explanation
The question is about towing, with a rigid connection, a vehicle whose steering system is faulty. Such towing is not allowed - answer A - either outside a built-up area (B) or in a built-up area (C).
The Road Traffic Act prohibits towing a vehicle with a faulty steering system or faulty brakes, unless the method of towing makes it unnecessary to use them. With a rigid connection, that is a tow bar, the towed vehicle rolls on all its wheels and still has to be steered - its driver steers to follow the path of the towing vehicle, so the steering system is in use. A rigid tow only makes part of the braking unnecessary: the Act requires at least one working brake system in a vehicle towed with a rigid connection, and two with a flexible connection. A car with a broken steering system can only be moved in such a way that its steered wheels do not roll on the road - on a flatbed truck or on a tow truck with the front axle lifted. Trying to tow such a car on a tow bar would end with it going straight on at the first bend, pulling both vehicles into a ditch or into the opposite lane.
Legal basis: Art. 31 para. 1 point 6 and para. 2 point 1 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)