If you are driving an overnormative vehicle with the total laden weight over 80 t, are you obliged to be piloted by two assisting pilot vehicles?

In the photo, at night, a huge vehicle combination with a dozen or so axles is driving along a street, with a load under a tarpaulin and its warning lights switched on. An abnormal (oversize or overweight) vehicle with an actual total mass of more than 80 tonnes must be escorted by two escort vehicles (pilot vehicles) - answer A.

The Regulation on the escorting of abnormal vehicles states that two escort vehicles are required for the journey of a vehicle that exceeds at least one of these values: length 30 m, width 3.6 m, height 4.7 m or actual total mass 80 tonnes. One escort vehicle is enough for smaller excesses - over 23 m in length, 3.2 m in width, 4.5 m in height or 60 tonnes in mass. With two escort vehicles, one drives in front of the combination and the other behind it, warning other drivers and stopping traffic if necessary. Answer C invents a time restriction that does not exist in the regulations - the time of day may result from the conditions of the permit, but it does not decide the number of escort vehicles.

Legal basis: § 2 para. 1 and 2 of the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 8 November 2023 on escorting abnormal vehicles; Art. 64 para. 1 point 3 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)