Who may drive what

Zimbabwe used to put every vehicle in one of five classes, and the papers in this app still ask in those classes. Since 2023 the law names the same vehicles by codes instead, so a licence issued now says code B where an older one says class 4. Either way, the licence decides the age you may start, the vehicle you are tested in, and the papers you have to carry with you.

What the test asks

Two or three questions in every paper are about classes and ages. They ask how many classes there are, the youngest age at which you may learn, the age for a heavy vehicle, the age for a tractor, what a class 4 and class 5 licence lets you drive between them, and what a public service driver needs on top of the licence itself. A few more ask what the vehicle must carry before it goes on a public road at all. The test has started to ask about the new codes as well, so learn both.

The codes since 2023

The papers in this app are the VID's own and ask in classes, so answer them in classes. The codes are what a licence issued today carries, and what newer questions use.

Three things make the codes easy to read.

• A code ending in E is the same vehicle drawing a trailer. BE is a light motor vehicle with a trailer, CE a heavy vehicle with one.
• The 1 is the smaller of the two. A D1 bus has more than eight seats and no more than sixteen besides the driver's. A D bus has more than sixteen.
• BÊ, with the mark over the E, is the tractor. It is not BE.

The ages barely moved. Nobody learns on any code below sixteen, and heavy vehicles, construction vehicles and code BÊ start at eighteen. Before you may learn to drive a bus on any D code you must have held a full licence for light or heavy vehicles for five years. A learner's licence lasts twelve months from the day it is issued.

What each code needs, the forms, the fees and the letters written on a licence after an offence are in the note on licence codes, forms and endorsements.

Class 4, the light motor vehicle, now code B

A vehicle whose net mass is 2,300 kg or less: a car, a small van, a light truck. Sixteen and above. On the open road it may do up to 120 km/h. At seventeen this is still the only class you may hold, which is why a paper that asks what a seventeen year old may drive is answered with light motor vehicles and nothing else.

Class 2, the heavy motor vehicle, now the C codes

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.

Class 3, the motorcycle, now codes A, A1 and B1

Sixteen and above. It carries one passenger on the pillion, and only if a proper pillion seat and footrests are fitted. Rider and passenger both wear a crash helmet. A side car may carry two. It is the one class with no reverse gear and no fire extinguisher, and it has no sun visor to check.

Class 5, agricultural and earth moving machinery, now code BÊ

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 tractor driver's permit, which is issued from eighteen and stands in for a full licence. A driver holding class 4 and class 5 together may drive a small car and an agricultural tractor.

Class 1, the public service vehicle, now the D codes

A vehicle carrying passengers or goods for hire: a bus, a taxi, a kombi, a haulage truck. It wears red on white number plates, where a private vehicle wears black on yellow. This one asks for more than an age:

• at least five years of driving behind you,
• a medical certificate, which lasts twelve months,
• a defensive driving certificate, which lasts forty eight months.

The age depends on the vehicle. The papers mark twenty five for a bus, and that is the answer where thirty is not offered. Since January 2025 the law asks thirty for a bus or a commuter omnibus, with five years of driving, and a driver between twenty five and thirty who already drove one before then carries on. Where a question offers thirty, pick thirty. The papers set a taxi at twenty one, with a medical certificate to go with it. Read which vehicle the question names before you pick the number.

Both certificates expire, and an expired one grounds you as surely as an expired licence. The dates are what the questions test.

While you are still learning

You carry a provisional licence, the vehicle carries its L plates, red on a white ground, and you drive with a licensed driver beside you. A provisional licence is a permission to practise, not a permission to drive alone.

A learner carries no passengers at all, and is excused the safety belt only while reversing. An instructor is excused it while giving a lesson. Meeting a vehicle on L plates, the papers want one thing from you: extreme caution.

What the vehicle carries

Before any vehicle goes on a public road it needs its registration book, its insurance and its vehicle licence. A vehicle used to teach learners needs more: a certificate of fitness and comprehensive insurance.

The mistakes learners make

Sixteen is the age you may learn, not the age you may drive alone. The medical certificate for a public service driver is good for twelve months and not for the life of the licence. And the plate colours are worth fixing: red on white is the learner and the public service vehicle, black on yellow is the ordinary private car.

The figures