If you are driving a vehicle group with the height exceeding 4 m, do you need a permission?

In the photo, a column of vehicle combinations with "convoi exceptionnel" boards (exceptional load) is carrying tall steel elements that tower above the tractor cabs. Driving a vehicle combination more than 4 m high requires a permit - answer A.

The Road Traffic Act states that the height of a vehicle with its load must not exceed 4 m, and a vehicle whose dimensions, axle loads or actual total mass exceed the permitted values is an abnormal (oversize or overweight) vehicle - it may be driven on the road only after obtaining a permit of the appropriate category. A combination higher than 4 m therefore requires a permit regardless of whether the load is divisible (answer C) - and with a divisible load such a journey is not allowed at all, because the only permit that allows a divisible load, category I, does not cover exceeding the height. You check the height together with the load, because it decides whether you can pass under flyovers and overhead contact lines; permit categories II-IV cover a height of up to 4.3 m, and anything above that is category V, with the route set in the permit.

Legal basis: Art. 61 para. 10, Art. 2 point 35a and Art. 64 para. 1 and 2 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym); Annex No. 1 to the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)