HOMEMADE motor vehicles like small tractors, motorbikes or trailers, can drive on third-category roads. The revision to the law on road traffic, elaborated by Jaroslav Baška, Peter Šuca and Milan Panáček from the Smer party, went into effect on September 1, the TASR newswire wrote.
“Citizens of Slovakia sometimes need to use vehicles that are not official and for various reasons cannot even be approved for operation in road traffic for small agricultural and forestry work,” the deputies said when arguing for the adoption of the draft revision.
Based on the revision, owners of such vehicles can ask for a special license number containing the letter C. They will pay €33 for issuance of such a number for three years. Such a license plate will enable them to drive on third-category roads, but not under conditions with worsened visibility. On other roads or under worsened visibility, they can drive such vehicles only on the basis of a special exemption granted for a set period of time and a specific route.
Prior to the revision, drivers of such vehicles caught driving on third-category roads faced a fine of up to €500 and a one-year suspension of their drivers’ license.
Small farmers in Slovakia often assemble vehicles from car parts for use in their gardens or fields. They can even enrol their vehicles in competitions. The oldest one, Habovský Kardan, held its 13th edition this July, in which 38 homemade tractors competed for the titles of the most beautiful, the strongest and the fastest tractor.
23. Sep 2013 at 0:00 | Compiled by Spectator staff
