Sunday and public holiday driving ban
The German Road Traffic Regulations (StVO) stipulate in Section 30 (3) that on Sundays and public holidays, trucks with a permissible total mass of more than 7.5 t and trailers behind trucks are not allowed to drive between 00:00 and 22:00. The public holidays are defined in § 30 paragraph 4 StVO.
The driving ban thus applies to trucks with a total permissible mass of more than 7.5 t operating individually as well as to any combination of a trailer and a truck, regardless of their weight. However, the driving ban does not apply to private truck traffic that does not serve a commercial purpose.
The ban on driving on Sundays and public holidays was introduced as early as 1956. The main reasons were to protect the peace on Sundays and public holidays and to keep the road network free of heavy truck traffic in favor of passenger car traffic to enable increased excursion traffic on Sundays and public holidays and as a contribution to increasing traffic safety on these days.
Certain shipments, such as those of perishable fruits and vegetables or fresh milk and fresh dairy products, are exempt from the ban by law. In addition, road traffic authorities may grant exemptions for other urgent transports on a case-by-case basis.
Vacation travel ban
To protect vacation travel, there is a truck driving ban in addition to the Sunday and vacation driving ban under the Holiday Travel Ordinance. This driving ban applies to the same vehicles and vehicle combinations already named above, all Saturdays from July 1 to August 31 of each year, inclusive, between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., on all highways and federal roads named in the ordinance. Further information can be found under "Related topics".
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