4250kg imminent?

[Jofang]

I picked up the text below today from www.camping-car.org, which is dated 21st December 2024. The original text is in French.

The format of the three-part pink driving license was inconvenient and specific to France and some European countries. The new format called credit card is therefore closer to the format of the national identity card and other useful cards (health card, blue card, etc.). The new format is supplemented with various security features including watermark photography and page background. Its falsification therefore becomes much more difficult.

The new credit card format is also much less sensitive to handling accidents: rain, tearing, creasing, etc.

Finally, this format and its content are now officially recognized in all countries of the European Union and many EU partner countries (Norway for example).

But it is above all the fact of finally being able to officially drive vehicles with a GVW of 4250 kg with a B license that interests motorhome drivers. We are still far from the 7 to 8 tons authorized in most states in the United States and Canada. But it is a significant step towards the generalization of new vehicles with greater usability.

 

[fred_jb]

It's all or nothing. You cannot single out smoking and drinking. Everybody has the right to do what they enjoy.

If your "right" becomes everybody else's costly societal/medical problem, should that not be discouraged? It's not as if people are being jailed for these vices, just financially discouraged. Where do you draw the line in people's "right to do what they enjoy"? What about drug taking, driving unqualified and without insurance, etc, etc.

 

[Barriesimpson]

If your "right" becomes everybody else's costly societal/medical problem, should that not be discouraged? It's not as if people are being jailed for these vices, just financially discouraged. Where do you draw the line in people's "right to do what they enjoy"? What about drug taking, driving unqualified and without insurance, etc, etc.

People having crashes in cars due to their stupidity and becoming paraplegic cost a damn site more than a smoker does. So where would YOU draw the line?

 

[fred_jb]

People having crashes in cars due to their stupidity and becoming paraplegic cost a damn site more than a smoker does. So where would YOU draw the line?

Well that is a much smaller scale problem with a lot less overall cost than the impact on the NHS of the ill effects from smoking and excessive drinking, not to mention the diabetes epidemic. Also getting paralysed is an accident not a deliberate choice, though no doubt stupidity plays a part in some cases, though I suspect most cases will be genuine motoring or sporting accidents.

I would draw the line at deliberately engaging in harmful but avoidable behaviours, such as smoking and excessive drinking and eating. Because of the scale and cost of the resulting health and antisocial behaviour problems I think society has every right to try to discourage this, including by legislation and taxation.

Rights are all very well, but when one person's rights result in negative impacts on and financial cost to others then this has to be tackled. If you have ever been unfortunate enough to take yourself or a loved one to A&E on a Friday or Saturday night you can see at first hand how drinking to excess negatively impacts on other people and increases NHS costs.

 

[PlacidoD]

You might wish to add the slight inconvenience of having the vehicle seized for driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence! Could be a long walk home.

That would not apply in the scenario I postulate. If you have a Class B licence only and are plated at 3500kg then you run the risk of being prosecuted for being overweight as per the sections of the Act I referenced. Only if you up-plated but lost/failed to renew your C1 would you be driving a class of vehicle that you were not entitled to drive. The same would apply if you failed to down-plated and lost your C1.

I can see a situation in which your vehicle was so dangerously overloaded that you would not be allowed to proceed but you would have to be way over 3500kg for that to apply. The most likely scenario for that I can see would be that you have so weighed down you MoHo with permanent gear that it becomes impossible to get down to 3500kg perhaps because you have added a roof full of solar panels, a satellite dish, hydraulic leveling, tow bar, bullbar, etc, etc.. So even after jettisoning your canned food, emptying the fridge and the water tank plus jettisoning your EHU cables and your spare wheel (!) etc you are still way over. In that scenario you would deserve to "walk home"!!!

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[CAB96]

Why can’t the EU just roll out the changes harmoniously for all countries within it??
Tbh they’ve had more than enough time to harmonise speed limits, road signs and markings, it’s beyond me why they wouldn’t do it, gets rid of the stupid idea of giving way on a roundabout!
Of course it’s just my selfish opinion of making it easier to cross all member states with just one set of road rules to get used to

The Member States have to agree how it will be implemented, they have a choice of Regulation or Directive.

EU Regulations apply directly in each country, no deviations, strictly translation only. All transition dates are fixed.

EU Directives are written into each Member State's law by the country itself, it allows some scope for deviation, delay, essentially plenty of wriggle room.