‘Can agricultural vehicles be allowed to be that wide?’ † Question answer

He writes: ‘We live on a narrow lane with mutually old, thick oaks. There is daily agricultural traffic there. Twice this week it happened to me that a tractor arrived with tires half the width of my car, and behind it such a huge machine that injects slurry into the ground. Neither of them had a license plate and one approached me. I could only solve that by crawling in the berm on the grass between two oaks. The width of that slurry machine seemed to me to exceed 2.50 meters. Is that allowed? And does the road tax not apply to these vehicles? Their weight causes the road surface to wear more and the edges to crumble, compared to passenger cars.’

Car editor Niek Schenk answers: ‘Agricultural vehicles may be 3.00 meters wide over the tires. New trailers may recently be only 2.55 meters wide measured over the body. Until 1 January of this year, a maximum width of 3.00 meters applied. Wider is only allowed with an exemption. Furthermore, since 1 January there is indeed a registration requirement for agricultural vehicles. But still no road tax has to be paid for it.’

Our auto editors answer reader questions every week. Mail your question to Niek Schenk.

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