Topic
Vehicle loading
Last reviewed against gov.uk on
Vehicle loading covers carrying passengers, luggage, roof loads and trailers — how each affects the car’s handling, braking and the legal speed limits that apply when you are towing.
What’s tested
- Towing speed limits — 60 mph max on motorway and dual carriageway, 50 on single carriageway
- How a roof load raises the centre of gravity and reduces stability
- Securing passengers — child restraints by age and height
- Snaking trailers — how to recognise and recover
- Weight distribution within the vehicle and trailer
Key Highway Code rules
Practise real DVSA revision questions
Work through 20 real DVSA car revision questions, each with the correct answer and a full explanation — then get the full bank for every topic in the app, free to get started.
Common mistakes
- Loading a roof rack too high without rebalancing the load inside
- Accelerating into a snaking trailer (ease off the throttle instead)
- Allowing a child under 12 (and shorter than 135 cm) to travel without an appropriate child restraint
- Towing at 70 mph on a dual carriageway (the legal limit is 60)
Keep going
All 14 topics
- Alertness Staying focused: mirrors, observation, scanning the road, avoiding fatigue and distraction.
- Attitude Considerate driving: patience, following distance, behaviour at crossings and roundabouts.
- Safety and your vehicle Roadworthiness: brakes, tyres, lights, fluids, warning lights and securing the car.
- Safety margins Stopping distances, weather, road surface, and the space you need to react safely.
- Hazard awareness Anticipating risk: spotting clues, planning ahead, reading other road users’ behaviour.
- Vulnerable road users Pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, horse riders, children, older and disabled people.
- Other types of vehicle Sharing the road with lorries, buses, motorcycles, trams and emergency vehicles.
- Vehicle handling Driving in rain, fog, snow, dark and strong wind — how conditions change the car.
- Motorway rules Joining, lane discipline, speed, breakdowns and smart-motorway running lanes.
- Rules of the road Speed limits, junctions, roundabouts, parking, level crossings and one-way streets.
- Road and traffic signs The visual language of UK roads — shape, colour and meaning of every sign and signal.
- Documents Licence, insurance, MOT, V5C log book and SORN — the paperwork to be legally on the road.
- Incidents, accidents and emergencies First aid, CPR, AED, RTC procedure, breakdowns and tunnel safety.