Success: riding with a motorcycle trailer

Some motorcyclists like to attach a trailer to their bike. In the development of the current driving license directive the fact that sometimes motorcycles pull trailers was not taken into account (unlike with cars).

The European Parliament now agreed on new, draft rules on EU driving licences and finally fixed an oversight FEMA has been pointing out for years: the possibility to legally ride a motorcycle with a trailer behind it.

The proposal that is now adopted by the European Parliament (amendment 59), says the following:

‘Without prejudice to the provisions of type-approval rules for the vehicles concerned, motor vehicles in categories referred to in points (a) and (b) may be combined with a trailer with a maximum authorised mass not exceeding half the weight of the towing vehicle’s unladen mass.’

The vehicles described in points (a) and (b) are:

Category AM:
– two-wheel vehicles or three-wheel vehicles with a maximum design speed of not more than 45 km/h (excluding those with a maximum design speed under or equal to 25 km/h).
– light quadricycles.

Category A1:
– motorcycles with a cylinder capacity not exceeding 125 cubic centimetres, of a power not exceeding 11 kW and with a power/weight ratio not exceeding 0,1 kW/kg.
– powered tricycles with a power not exceeding 15 kW.

Category A2:
– motorcycles of a power not exceeding 35 kW and with a power/weight ratio not exceeding 0,2 kW/kg and not derived from a vehicle of more than 70 kW.

Category A:
– motorcycles.
– powered tricycles with a power exceeding 15 kW.

Lack of clear, harmonised rules for towing a trailer means that so far every country can make its own rules. FEMA collected as much information as possible to show you what the rules are in specific countries; click here for our trailer page.

The draft rules on EU driving licences were adopted by the European Parliament, constituting Parliament’s position at first reading. The file will be followed up by the new Parliament after the European elections in June 2024.

Written by Wim Taal