Abu Dhabi’s New Rules for Heavy Vehicles

Heavy-duty vehicles are commercial automobiles used to transport goods or passengers. According to the general guidelines, any vehicle weighing more than 2.5 tonnes (empty) is considered a heavy-duty vehicle. In the UAE, these vehicles include prime movers, semi-trailers, trailer combinations and articulated trucks.

Heavy vehicles have to follow a number of additional transportation laws for road and passenger safety including maximum weight limit and limited timings to enter the Emirate.

Recently, the Abu Dhabi government has revised laws for the maximum weight capacity of heavy vehicles. Let’s discuss the revised rules for heavy vehicles in Abu Dhabi in more detail.

Revised Heavy Vehicles Rules in Abu Dhabi

The new laws related to heavy vehicles will be applicable in the Emirates from the 1^st of April, 2022. Any violator of this law will be charged according to Abu Dhabi traffic fines. Here are the new rules for heavy vehicles.

Maximum Weight Rules for Heavy vehicles

Previously, the weight limit was estimated according to the number of axles in heavy vehicles

The maximum mass or weight carried by the vehicle is dependent upon the type, size and number of tyres in the vehicle. These limitations are mentioned in the manufacturer’s handbook of the vehicle. Along with this, the total mass of the load should not exceed the Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) permissible by the government.

Previous Maximum Weight Limit

According to the previous laws, an 8.5 metres long trailer can carry a maximum of 30 tonnes. Whereas, 16 metres long vehicles can carry a maximum weight of 45 tonnes. To simplify the rule, limitations were preset as per the number of axles, 15 tonnes/axle were permissible.

New Maximum Weight Limit

As per the revised laws, the length and weight of heavy vehicles are limited. Any vehicle should not be more than 12.5 metres in length and can carry a maximum weight of 45 tonnes.

Vehicles classified as trailers should not exceed the maximum length of 18 metres and the vehicle attached to the trailer can be 20 metres (maximum). Trailers used for transporting cars can be up to 23 metres in length.

Moreover, the maximum height of heavy vehicles is limited to 4.2 metres and 2.6 metres in width.

Heavy Vehicle Timings in Abu Dhabi

The road timings for heavy vehicles in Abu Dhabi were updated last quarter of 2021. According to this, vehicles are banned from entering the Emirate during rush hours. The rush hours of Abu Dhabi are from 06:30 am to 09:00 am and 03:00 pm to 06:00 pm. For Al-Ain these timings are from 06:30 am to 08:30 am and 02:00 pm to 04:00 pm.

Heavy Vehicles Violations

new rules for heavy vehicles — Heavy vehicles are subjected to a number of additional traffic laws

Driver guilty of violating the heavy traffic rules face fines and penalties according to the law. The general violations and their penalties are mentioned below:

Overloading: The overloaded vehicles can be fined AED 500 along with 6 black points. In severe cases, drivers can be confiscated for 7 days.
Timings: Any heavy vehicle violating the no-entry timings can be fined AED 1,000 and 4 black points will also be registered against them.

This was all about the new rules for heavy vehicles in Abu Dhabi. The Emirate also follows strict rules regarding the conditions of heavy vehicles on the road. Therefore, if you are willing to purchase a heavy vehicle in inadequate road conditions, browse through these used heavy vehicles for sale in the UAE.

Stay tuned to UAE’s top auto blog for more information on heavy vehicles.