Tare, GVM and GCM
Tare is the vehicle’s unladen mass with its normal equipment, spare parts and permanently attached equipment. The manual excludes fuel and non-permanent cargo, and includes batteries forming part of an electrically powered vehicle. Tare is not the same as what a loaded vehicle weighs on a weighbridge.
Gross vehicle mass (GVM) is the manufacturer’s maximum permitted mass for the vehicle and its load; where the manufacturer has not specified it, the registering authority determines it. Gross combination mass (GCM) is the corresponding maximum for a drawing vehicle and the vehicles it draws, determined by the manufacturer or, in the absence of its specification, the registering authority. A rule using the sum of the vehicles’ GVMs is not asking you to substitute their actual empty weight. Check the vehicle’s official particulars rather than estimating from its size.
Passenger and goods vehicles
The passenger counts include the driver. A motor car is designed or adapted for at most nine people; a minibus for ten to sixteen; a midibus for more than sixteen but not more than thirty-five. The general bus definition covers vehicles designed or adapted to carry more than sixteen people. A midibus therefore falls within the wider bus grouping where that is the rule being used.
A goods vehicle is designed or adapted to carry goods. The legal class includes specified drawing and breakdown vehicles, and is not created just by putting a shopping bag in a car. Goods are movable property. Licence classes and speed caps use the vehicle’s classification as well as its mass.
Trailers, articulated vehicles and tractors
A trailer is designed to be drawn and is not self-propelled; a motorcycle sidecar is not a trailer. A combination is two or more vehicles coupled together. An articulated vehicle consists of a truck-tractor and a semi-trailer. A semi-trailer has no front axle and transfers a substantial part of its mass to its drawing vehicle: the manual’s definition specifies at least 15% of its tare.
A truck-tractor is designed to draw a semi-trailer and carries the transferred load rather than ordinary cargo. A tractor and a haulage tractor are different classes: the manual distinguishes them at a GCM of 24,000 kg. “Drawing” refers to the intended use of a vehicle designed for that purpose; “towing” includes moving a vehicle not designed to be drawn, such as a broken-down car. Different towing restrictions then apply.
Motorcycles and other small vehicles
A motorcycle has two wheels and may have a sidecar. A motor tricycle has three wheels and motorcycle-type controls; a motor quadrucycle has four wheels and such controls. A licence category covering a type of vehicle does not itself make every example of that type lawful on every road.
The motor-vehicle definition includes trailers and vehicles assisted or driven by engines or electric power. It excludes specified pedestrian-controlled battery vehicles and purpose-built mobility vehicles weighing no more than 230 kg. Do not apply an ordinary car rule to a mobility device without first checking whether it falls within the legal definition.
What exactly is measured?
Overall length runs between the foremost and rearmost parts; a combination is measured as the connected combination. Overall height includes the load. Overall width normally measures the widest parts, with limited exclusions for specified mirrors, indicators and certain small projections. An exclusion from vehicle width is not a general permission to carry an overhanging load.
The front end of a semi-trailer is defined with reference to its kingpin; the rear end is the rearmost vehicle point. Rules about load projections may measure from the vehicle ends, an axle or its longitudinal centre line. Always identify the reference point before comparing a measurement with a limit.
People, documents and safety components
An owner is the person with the legal right to use and enjoy the vehicle, subject to the statutory rules for financial agreements and ownership changes. A professional driver is one who must hold a professional driving permit (PrDP), including the qualifying supervisor of a learner in that class. An instructor gives driving instruction for reward. Driving time includes specified time in the driver’s seat while the vehicle is being operated or its engine is running.
A driving licence card records a person’s driving authority; a vehicle licence disc relates to the vehicle. A DLTC is a driving licence testing centre. A roadworthy vehicle complies with the prescribed safe-condition requirements. The service brake slows and stops it in ordinary driving; the parking brake holds it stationary; an emergency brake provides the required alternative braking function. A retro-reflector returns light from another source, while lamps generate light. An indicator communicates intended movement and a stop lamp warns of braking. “The Act” means the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996.
Worked situation
A goods vehicle has a GVM of 7,500 kg but carries no load today. Its vehicle-class speed restriction still depends on its rated GVM. Removing the load does not turn it into a light car or remove the 100 km/h goods-vehicle cap.
LMV, HMV and MC in the manual
LMV means light motor vehicle and HMV means heavy motor vehicle. The 3,500 kg distinction uses the mass named for the class: tare for the relevant motor-vehicle category, GVM for minibuses, buses and goods vehicles, and the specified combination rating for combinations. MC is the manual’s collective abbreviation for motorcycle, tricycle and quadrucycle.
The manual also highlights a trailer GVM above 750 kg when classifying combinations for licence purposes. Do not assume that a light drawing vehicle automatically permits every trailer under the same driving authority. Check the actual vehicle combination and the code shown on the licence; the simple learner-code descriptions are not a substitute for full driving-licence trailer entitlements.
Other terms used in the rules
A medical practitioner is a person registered to practise in the prescribed professional capacity; a friend’s opinion does not replace a required medical assessment. A number plate is the prescribed display of a vehicle licence number or motor trade number. A vehicle includes devices travelling on wheels or crawler tracks and the described recovery-support equipment, but not a device moving solely on rails. The owner definition can include a person retaining a vehicle contrary to a return agreement and a dealer holding it for sale, as well as the person entitled to use it.
Small measurement exceptions are specific
The overall-height definition excludes the specified overhead electrical contacting gear or catwalk on an electrically driven vehicle. Overall width excludes side mirrors and indicators and a limited 30 mm on each side for the specified air deflectors, reflectors or dangerous-goods placards. These carefully named exclusions do not apply to a wide load or loose equipment.