Tractors and every other agriculture vehicle have different rules on the roads. So if you want to drive your tractor on the road, you must know the rules.

But the rules are probably different for trucks and cars. But there are certain rules that you must have clarity over.

Do you know the speed you can drive a tractor at? What about the driving license to drive a tractor?

This isn’t the B license. You need a different one, but what is it? What areas are you allowed to take a tractor on, and what are not?

There are certain factors related to driving a tractor in certain areas. Are you aware of them? Do you know the lighting you should use?

Well, we have answered all your questions below.

What Vehicles Are Categorized As Agricultural Vehicles

If you want to understand everything about tractors, you must begin by understanding the category that tractors fall into. The tractors belong to agricultural construction vehicles. This particular category has various tractor units or tractors.

Vehicles such as:

• Agricultural trailers
• Vehicles with limited-speed motor
• Towed equipment that is interchangeable

The MMBS letters are the abbreviation for limited-speed vehicles. The term was replaced by mobile machinery on January 1st, 2021. The vehicles already on the market can still be treated as MMBS.

Where Can You Drive A Tractor

You cannot drive agricultural vehicles on every road that is in traffic. This is mainly because agricultural vehicles don’t have the speed as others. If this is not taken into account, there could be dangerous situations.

However, only some roads don’t allow agricultural vehicles. You have permission to drive a tractor on most roads. But motorways aren’t accessible to tractor drivers.

You will also come across exceptions. For example, closed declaration roads for limited-speed agricultural vehicles.

A traffic sign is used to indicate this. You’ll see a round sign in white which has a red border. The sign will have a vehicle icon in the middle, which means the vehicle is not allowed.

It could be a tractor, but there are chances for it to be vehicle combinations such as mopeds.

What’s The Speed Of A Tractor

You would have read that tractor is not allowed on all roads because of their average speed. You can even say it’s slower than other vehicles.

But if the tractor is on other roads, there’s a speed limit to follow. However, you can’t stay fixated on a speed level because it changes now and then.

Tractors used to have 25 kilometers per hour as the maximum speed limit. But the rules about the speed limit of a tractor changed on 2021 January 1st.

You have permission to go over 40 kilometers per hour. But you should know that this is allowed only if you have the registration number.

Apart from the tractor’s maximum speed, you should also be considerate of the braking capacity of the tractor. Tractors must have the ability to stop when it’s needed.

If you want to understand this better, you must first understand what the construction speed concept is.

When a vehicle is manufactured, it has a maximum speed, and that’s what construction speed means. You must know your tractor’s speed. This is important because all parts, along with breaks of the vehicle, are changed accordingly.

The braking performance requirement is as follows:

If it’s at 30-40 km/h of construction speed, it’s around 3.1 m/s2.

If it’s beyond the construction speed, it’s around 4.5 m/s2.

This means the agricultural vehicle’s permitted stopping distance (the total braking distance and the “reaction distance”) at 25 km/h speed is around 15 m. And it’s around 30 m at 40 km/h.

The weirdest thing is that the whole thing is not in terms of the law. If it’s that, the stopping distance is 30-50% longer in comparison to the passenger car. As for the law, it’s the same in terms of principle.

Is There A Tractor Driving Licence

A special driving license is required to drive a tractor. It’s called the ‘T driving license.’ Before 2015 July 1st, it wasn’t required and was automatically added. You were permitted to drive a tractor with a normal B license back in the day.

So if your driving license dates back to 2015, July 1st, or before that, you don’t have to get a special T license. When you renew your license, it’ll be added to your license by default.

Your T and B licenses are valid in other European Union countries. You don’t need a driving license if you drive the tractor on private property.

People between the ages of 16-17 also drove tractors before introducing the T-driving license in 2015. Back in the day, it wasn’t necessary to have a driving license to drive a tractor.

But it was a must to have the ‘certificate of aptitude’ if you wanted to drive a tractor. So those who had the certificate were given a year to obtain the T license. You must take the license separately if you didn’t receive the license in the given time.

Is It A Must To Register a Tractor

A tractor’s registration number wasn’t required for quite a long time. This made things difficult because it wasn’t possible to give a fine when an agricultural vehicle didn’t meet the road rules.

This was one of the reasons why the rules changed on January 1st, 2021.

After the changes, it was mandatory to obtain the registration number if you wanted to drive your agricultural vehicle on public roads.

You don’t need a license plate if you only drive the tractor on your property. But in order to get the registration number, your vehicle must be inspected before everything.

You don’t have to go through all these procedures if your vehicle registration was requested before December 31st, 2021.

You can go through our blog for more information on agricultural vehicles and their registration details. Summing up everything, you basically need a license plate to decide where you can drive your tractor.

What Is The Compulsory Lighting 

Every vehicle needs various lighting when it’s on the public highway. It’s vital to have visibility when driving in traffic. If it’s dark, the lighting helps to avoid accidents. Like other vehicles, a tractor should install basic lighting, and it should include: 

Headlamps — Dipped-Beam 

These lights are installed at the front of the vehicle to meet two purposes. The first purpose is to make things visible to you, the driver. So it’s done for yourself. The second purpose is to make your tractor visible to others on the road. 

The significant point is that you must adjust the light properly. If in case, you install the dipped-beam headlights incorrectly, it might create a blind effect. This will impact the other road users. And it’s perilous. 

Driving Lights 

Mudguard city light is one of the important lights of the lighting system. If you are also confused that daytime running lights and parking lights are the same, they’re not! The parking lights make your vehicle visible to others when it’s parked. This is the reason why it’s named parking lights.

The parking lights are not used to increase the vehicle’s visibility for the driver. However, it helps in visibility when you have parked your vehicle. 

Direction Indicators

One of the must-haves for agricultural vehicles is the direction indicators. These indicators help inform other people on the road about the direction you’re about to take.

So when you use the indicators, the road users know where and how you’d drive, which will help them make their move.

Rear Lights

You must install rear lights on the tractors because it’s essential when it’s dark. These lights give visibility to the vehicles approaching you from behind, preventing damage and accidents.

This is primarily important for agricultural vehicles because they’re not as fast as other vehicles. We have a wide range of LED rear lights if you want the best for your tractor.

Brake Light

The taillights and brake lights are equally important. Other road users will be behind you when driving an agricultural vehicle on public roads. So it’s important to let know other road users whether or not you’re using the brake.

If you don’t let the driver behind you know that you’re going to press the brake, you know what would happen. So it’s obvious why brake lights are vital.

License Plate Lighting For Tractors 

As you already know, agricultural vehicles have made the license plate mandatory. So just like that, the license plate lighting for tractors and agricultural vehicles has been made mandatory when driving on public roads. 

It’s important to keep the registration number visible on public roads. You shouldn’t forget the lights, whether in bad weather or dark.

The license plate’s lighting ensures it’s visible all the time. Mainly the LED license plate lights for the tractors. In comparison to other lights, the LEDs are brighter. They also save energy due to requiring less power.

Beacons Are Optional For Certain Tractors 

You might need flashing lights on roads depending on the vehicle’s width. If your vehicle is wide, it is mandatory to have flashing lights.

Specifically, if it’s over 2 meters 60. The flashing lights are essential when such vehicles are operating alongside roads. We’re talking about orange lights here, which are also called amber. 

Flashing lights that come in other colors are often confused with vehicle types. For example, blue is for police, ambulance, or fire brigade. If you are looking for LED signaling lights for your 

vehicle, you can find a wide range of lights from us. We’ve got everything from torches to beacons.

Reflectors 

Agricultural vehicles must have reflectors. Although reflectors don’t produce light, they reflect, providing visibility. Yes, they don’t provide as much visibility as lighting, but they help.

You must install two or four reflectors on your vehicle’s rear. They should be red reflectors. But you should remember that they wouldn’t necessarily be triangular reflectors. Why? Because the vehicle is motorized. 

But you should use the reflectors that are truncated triangles. These don’t have sharp points; more like ends are cut off. These are basically for slower vehicles. 

Extra Lighting 

You can add extra lighting from compulsory lighting if you want more visibility when driving your tractor. For example, the dipped-beam lights are mandatory, but if you want, you can install headlights with a high beam. 

There are various advantages to every lighting system. Along with basic lighting, we also have more choices for extra lighting for your tractor.

Some choices are LED bars for tractors or LED worklights for tractors. This lighting isn’t used while driving. The reason is that it’s too strong that it could blind other users on the road. You can also consider LED marker lights for your tractor. 

A Tractor’s Load, Size, And Weight

Just like the registration requirements changed on the 1st of 2021, the tractor’s weight and other dimensions changed too.

Along with other rules, the agricultural vehicle’s maximum length has been changed too. Now agricultural vehicles can be around 20 meters long.

However, by January 1st, 2022, the width of the trailer could be only 2.55 meters.

And it’s over the vehicle’s body. The width will be approved if you have used your trailers before this date. The tires’ maximum width would be 3 meters. So when you combine both the trailer and the tire, the length won’t be more than 18.75 meters.

The rules are the same in terms of the weight of the tractor. You can only consider 60,000 kilograms for the limited-speed vehicle because it’s the maximum mass, and 12,000 kilograms is the highest axle load.

But the maximum mass may reduce because of that. So if the vehicle has an overrun brake, 8,000 kilograms would be the maximum weight. This is to abide by European directives.

If the tractor carries sensitive components, you must protect it well. The load shouldn’t cause any injury or damage when loading, unloading, or transporting these items.

As per the law, it’s a must to reduce the risk in relation to handling mobile work items. This includes tractors too.

If you can’t or didn’t meet one or more weight, load, or size-related rules, you can’t be driving on the road. If any of this concerns you, an official exemption is required. You can get it from the road authority, and it’s the only option.

Public Roads Vs. Private Properties

We have explained that all rules related to your tractor don’t apply when driving on your own or private property. You don’t need registration, to begin with.

If you drive your tractor only on your property, you don’t need the registration number. But you shouldn’t forget that you’ll access public roads when moving from one pasture to the next.

If that’s the case, it’s mandatory to have the registration number. Plus, you don’t need a tractor driving license if you’re driving on your property.

So it’s clear that the tractor license is required based on the location. It’s reasonable enough that not everyone is allowed to drive the tractor just like that. You should be qualified to take responsibility.