If you are driving an overnormative vehicle with the total laden weight exceeding 60 t, are you obliged to be piloted by assisting pilot vehicles?

In the photo, a huge steel structure rests on a modular transporter with several dozen wheels, which is driving along a sandy dirt road. An abnormal (oversize or overweight) vehicle with an actual total mass of more than 60 tonnes must be escorted - answer A.

The Regulation on the escorting of abnormal vehicles states that escorting is required for the journey of a vehicle that exceeds at least one of these values: length 23 m, width 3.2 m, height 4.5 m or actual total mass 60 tonnes. With a mass of more than 80 tonnes there must be two escort vehicles - one in front of the combination, the other behind it. A heavy combination needs a very long distance to brake, moves off slowly and puts a heavy load on bridges, so the escort vehicle warns other drivers and helps it get through difficult places. Answer C invents a time restriction: the hours of the journey may result from the conditions of the permit, but they do not decide whether escorting is required.

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)