Zimbabwe used to put every vehicle in one of five classes, and the VID papers still ask in those classes. Since 2023 the law names the same vehicles by codes, so a licence issued now says code B where an older one says class 4. Learn both: answer a paper in classes, and know the code that goes with each.
The Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 2023 replaced the five classes with codes. A code ending in E is the same vehicle drawing a trailer, and the 1 is the smaller of two: a D1 bus has more than eight seats and no more than sixteen besides the driver's, a D bus more than sixteen.
BÊ, with the mark over the E, is the tractor. It is not BE, which is a light motor vehicle drawing a trailer.
| Old class | New codes | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | D, D1, DE, D1E | Buses, big and small |
| 2 | C, C1, CE, C1E | Heavy vehicles |
| 3 | A, A1, B1 | Motorcycles, and B1 for tricycles and quadricycles |
| 4 | B, BE | Light motor vehicles |
| 5 | BÊ | Agricultural, industrial and construction tractors |
Sixteen is the youngest for any code, and eighteen for heavy vehicles and the tractor. Before you may learn to drive a bus on any D code you must have held a full licence for the B or C codes for five years, and to carry passengers for hire in one you must be thirty.
Some notes passed round learners give trucks an age of twenty five and a weight line at 3,500 kg. Neither is in the regulations.
| Code | Youngest |
|---|---|
| A, A1, B1 | 16 |
| B, BE | 16 |
| C1, C1E, C, CE | 18 |
| BÊ | 18 |
| D1, D1E, D, DE | 30 to carry passengers for hire |
A vehicle whose net mass is 2,300 kg or less: a car, a small van, a light truck. This is the class most learners are after.
Sixteen and above. On the open road it may do up to 120 km/h.
Net mass above 2,300 kg. Eighteen and above.
You are tested in a vehicle of at least 5,000 kg and about seven metres long, because a licence for heavy vehicles has to be earned in one. A heavy vehicle is held to 80 km/h on the open road and may not draw more than three trailers.
Sixteen and above. It carries one passenger, and only if a proper pillion seat and footrests are fitted. Rider and passenger both wear a crash helmet.
It is the one class with no reverse gear and no fire extinguisher, which is a question in its own right.
Tractors, graders, combine harvesters, construction plant. Eighteen and above.
A tractor carries no passengers, so you go to the test alone. This class can also be worked under a driver's permit rather than a full licence.
A vehicle carrying passengers or goods for hire: a bus, a taxi, a kombi, a haulage truck. It wears red on white number plates.
This one asks for more than an age, and both certificates expire. An expired one grounds you as surely as an expired licence, and the dates are what the questions test.
You carry a provisional licence, the vehicle carries its L plates, and you drive with a licensed driver beside you.
A provisional licence is a permission to practise, not a permission to drive alone.
The app turns every one of these facts into questions and keeps asking the ones you get wrong, offline, wherever you are studying.
