Many European countries impose restrictions on the movement of trucks when everyone goes on vacation. When your cargoes can be transported despite prohibitions and when you need to wait patiently.
While the details of holiday truck restrictions may be different from country to country, the general principle remains the same. They are valid at weekends, when traffic is congested and many families are leaving for or returning from vacations.
WHO IS FORBIDDEN
For example, In Poland it applies to vehicles with a total weight of more than 12 tones (excluding buses). In most European countries (e.g. in Germany), this limit weight is already 7.5 tons, and on some roads and highways, summer traffic bans apply to all trucks with semi-trailers.
When planning the transport of goods across the country, we must know the detailed instructions because they may be more restrictive than in our country.
Usually the bans apply to weekends but not to all, of course. In Poland, it is traditionally:
• Friday from 18:00 to 22:00,
• Saturday from 8:00 to 14:00,
• Sunday from 8:00 to 22:00.
Again, in the case of total mass, the rules of European countries differ from each other.
Since we do not drive in Slovakia all Sunday (from midnight to 22:00), in the Czech Republic the ban is valid from 13:00 only.
Sometimes, when planning a longer route, it’s worth driving a few extra miles by driving through a country where the restrictions are less stringent.
The current traffic bans list can be found, for example, at this link. Look it up before leaving, because the restrictions don`t work only to weekends, but also to holidays and we may not know about the days of celebration in a particular country.
WHO DOES NOT APPLY TO THE BAN
There are exceptions to weekend traffic restrictions. So, on weekends no one will stop vehicles carrying animals or perishable products. However, it is worth examining the regulations of each country we pass through, because the local transport definitions may vary.
For example, to be able to transport food products in the Czech Republic, they must take up more than half of the vehicle’s load capacity.
So once again it’s worth getting to know the local rules and exceptions.
In some countries combined transport is exempt under certain conditions, for example in Poland the return of a truck to the country from abroad to complete the transportation.
Proper route planning means that sometimes transportation which at first glance seems impossible can be done on weekends. On the other hand, without knowing the peculiarities of local legislation, we can pay a fine that is excluded in our country.
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