A truck requires special attention and skills while driving, so a separate category was created for learning to ride it. In addition, category C is not the only cargo driving category. In this article, we will analyze all the similarities and differences between cargo categories, discuss the conditions for obtaining a driver's license and learn a number of other features.

Categories of rights  "C"

What is a truck in our understanding? It is a large, bulky vehicle, with a body designed for the carriage of goods, with a limited number of passenger seats and with a large powerful engine. Everything is absolutely right. Only the rules of the road quote cargo categories on a different basis, namely, by total mass.

Category C, the maximum mass of which is not limited. The restriction lies in the minimum weight - from 7.5 tons.  There are also no restrictions on the transportation of passengers - they simply should not be more than a passenger seat in a truck.

Category C rights can be obtained by anyone subject to a few simple rules:

- reaching the age of 18;

- no health contraindications;

– the presence of a special medical certificate and certificates from a narcologist and a psychiatrist.

In order to successfully pass the driving license, you need to go through several stages of training at a driving school, namely, to complete a full theoretical course, which is then fixed in practice while driving with an instructor. After that, the student takes an internal exam at a driving school, and only then is allowed to take the exam at the service center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

An important point that is repeatedly discussed during courses for category C is  whether it is possible to drive a car with category C?  Each type of car has its own category of rights. Therefore, for passenger categories - only B (B) and B1, for motorcycles, mopeds and scooters - only A and A1, and for trucks - C, C1, as well as categories for driving with trailers, C1E and CE. Let's talk about other cargo categories below.

Driving license category "C1"

This driver's category differs from the "big sister", as already mentioned above, by the total mass. Trucks that fall specifically under category C1 must have a mass of 3.5 to 7.5 tons . We can meet such trucks:

- during the delivery of food, or other oversized cargo, for example, household appliances;

- when transporting people: emergency services, teams of workers, soldiers.

- in other cases, when transportation of a small load is required.

Category C1 also opens from the age of 18. It does not give its owner the right to drive category C vehicles, just as category C owners do not have a legal permit to drive category C1 trucks. Tip: open both cargo categories at the same time.

Driving categories with a trailer : "C1E", "CE"

Trailer driving training requires special skills from the driver. There are a lot of nuances in such control: maintaining the correct distance, speed limit, cornering, vehicle dimensions, braking. So that the future driver of a heavy, cargo vehicle does not have problems while driving, these categories are opened in 2 stages.

1 - you need to open the senior category C1 or C;

2 - after at least a year, it is allowed to open category C1E or CE. 

In this regard, the traffic rules of the CE and C1E categories are described as follows: you can open the category from the age of 19, with a  confirmed driving experience of 1 year. 

The second similarity of these categories is the trailer. The letter "E" indicates the presence of a coupling with a trailer weighing more than 750 kg. For category C1E, it is allowed to drive a truck (3.5-7.5 tons) and a trailer (over 750 kg) coupled. The maximum mass of such a hitch is 12 tons. CE - a truck over 7.5 tons, and a heavy trailer. There are no upper weight limits.

In other words, the CE category is a category of truckers, so the  training of the CE category  must be approached with special care , since most often those who open this particular category in the future will work as truck drivers.