What categories of driver's license are opened when replacing a document?

Starting from 2014, all Russian drivers, if desired, can change their license and receive a driver’s license of a new design.

How do they differ from the old, time-tested rights? If they have advantages over the old IDs?

• New driver's licenses are produced in accordance with international requirements.
• The new ID is equipped with many degrees of protection; the document cannot be faked.
• No information on the certificate is erased and remains in its original form until the expiration date.

What the new rights look like

The appearance, concept and content of the Russian driving license were developed and approved back in 2014, but not all drivers received them, but only those who expressed a desire to have a new type of license.

But starting from 2021, the issuance of outdated type licenses on thick paper will cease and new applicants will be issued documents of a new type.

Old driver's licenses do not require replacement and remain valid until the expiration date indicated on them.

The development of a new type and content of management rights was caused by bringing the document to the international standard. Now the certificate includes new types of driving skill categories to which a citizen driving a vehicle can be admitted.

From now on, the most important document for everyone who gets behind the wheel is produced only on plastic, with discreet colors in light pink tones, but with clear text in all fields. The size of the plastic is 8.5 X 5.5 cm, the new license can easily fit in any type of wallet.

If you look closely at the new driver's license, you will find a very fine mesh. It is designed to protect the identity, and contains a number of bar codes that are used in automated accounting. The number of columns and rows is strictly limited - the document contains 4 columns and 17 lines.

It is in these fields that all important information about the driver, the type of vehicle he can drive, the validity period of the license and much other important information are entered.

The plastic is made with several degrees of protection, which is aimed at preventing driver's license fraud. The main assets include:

• Bar coded on the left edge of the reverse side, it contains basic information about the driver. Information can only be read using a special device that road service inspectors have. You can also use it to obtain information about outstanding fines.
• Color holograms and special color rendering technology will allow you to change the color scheme, which also confirms the authenticity of the document.

How to change your license in 2021

Experts drew attention to the fact that in a number of states a driver’s license is issued for a much longer period than in Russia.

— If a person does not have any contraindications, if he is not included in the database of disabled people, alcoholics and drug addicts, I think that such a person can at the legislative level extend the validity of the ED. Or make it so that a person can change his rights remotely. Or immediately issue licenses for 15 years, security will not suffer from this, says Maxim Kadakov.

After preparing all the necessary papers, you can safely contact the nearest traffic police office in the corresponding region. The inspector will check the candidate's papers and, if there are no flaws, he will set a date for the exam. There are significant reasons for refusing to accept documents required for the provision of state services. services (passing the exam), and applications for the issuance of a driver's license are:

• Lack of necessary papers;
• The expired validity period of the submitted documents, except for the driver’s license;
• The presence of crossed out words, erased entries or entries made in pencil, various kinds of unspecified corrections and additions, lack of necessary information, seals or signatures.

Lawyers all write that you can change it without any problems, but the MPEO returned the documents. Who can you believe? Without registration, they won’t change your driver’s license. No one on the Internet has provided a specific law with highlighted text that registration is not needed. Just links and blah blah blah.

When, for a number of reasons, a mark on a person’s registration is missing in the passport (occurs after a change of surname and a simultaneous change of registration), civil servants have the opportunity to obtain information about the citizen through a common database. The refusal to accept documents from such a citizen is not justified.

Information contained on a driver's license

All entries on rights are made both in Russian (national) language and in Latin.

Now let's take a closer look at each side:

• On the main side of the document, at the very top is the name, that is, the driver’s license, and a little to the left is the designation of the country in Latin.
• To the right of the photo there are several lines for recording personal data; they are written in the Russian version and in Latin letters (columns 1 and 2 ).
• Then there is information about the date and place of birth (column 3).
• Under the personal data entries, the date of issue of the driver's license and its expiration date are indicated (columns 4a and 4b ).
• The next line displays information about the traffic police department that issued the license, its code (column 4c ).
• At the bottom there is a series of numbers: the first 4 indicate the series of the document, the last 6 - the ID number (column 5).
• On the left side there is a photo, usually in color, which is taken at the traffic police department. There are certain requirements for it - it must be strictly frontal, without a headdress, with parameters of 3 x 4 cm. For other people, it is allowed to take photos in the headdress if, for religious or other reasons, they constantly wear it. But the face must be completely open. If a citizen wears glasses, then this attribute must be present in the photo, but they must be transparent so that the color of the iris is visible (field 6).
• Under the personal photo there is a place for a signature - it must be identical to the signature on the citizen’s general passport (field 7).
• Column 8 indicates the region, residence of the license holder and registration of the car.
• At the very bottom line of the document all transport category and subcategory certificates available to the owner are entered (field 9).

The back of the document contains the following information:

• On the left edge there is a bar code containing encrypted information about the owner of the document.
• The rest of the driver's license space is given over to a table that lists the vehicle categories available for use in Russia.
• The first column contains types of vehicles in letter designation with a symbolic picture, from which you can understand what kind of transport it is.
• If the driver has permission to drive one or another type of vehicle, then against the corresponding class there will be information when the exam was passed and the permit was issued (column 10).
• A separate column contains information about the expiration date of the permit to drive a certain class of transport (column 11).
• The last column is intended for filling in information about the prohibition of driving cars of a certain class (column 12 ). For example, the mark AT means that only vehicles with an automatic transmission are allowed to drive and is placed in the line of the category (subcategory) for which the corresponding permit was received.
• Column 14 is reserved for special notes and restrictions that apply to all types of open categories and subcategories, as well as information about the owner. This may include driving experience (the year the license was first issued) or information that the document was issued to replace a lost one (duplicate license), general restrictions (for example, wearing glasses, contact lenses) or an indication of the need to have a valid medical certificate (if the driver must periodically undergo a medical examination for admission to driving a vehicle).

Decoding categories and subcategories

Since 2014, the reverse side of the document has been changed:

• new categories and subcategories of driver's licenses have been added;
• A mark has been introduced indicating that vehicles with an automatic transmission can only be driven.

Today there are 16 categories of driver's licenses. The expanded line strictly limits the admission to driving of one or another category of transport equipment.

A breakdown of the categories and subcategories of transport is presented in the table:

As you can see from the table, the designation E in the subcategory indicates that the driver must have the skills to drive a vehicle towing a heavy trailer whose weight exceeds 750 kg. If the categories open to you ( B , C , C1 , D , D1 ) do not have the prefix E , you can also transport trailers, but lighter ones (within 750 kg).

In the new classification, the category M . Permission to drive a moped opens automatically if the driver already has a driver's license. If this is the first category that opens for you, in order to fully drive a moped you will have to undergo training at a driving school and pass exams at the traffic police.

An open main category allows you to drive a vehicle of a junior subcategory. However, having a junior category will not allow you to obtain permission to drive a heavier or more spacious car.

For example, a driver who has categories A and B, when replacing his license with a new one, will receive a license with additional subcategories A1 , B1 , and in addition category M (see sample).

All open categories and subcategories are marked on the back of the ID and duplicated on the front.

Transferring a category to new rights

It is necessary to take into account some features associated with changing the classification of categories according to the new system when replacing the old certificate.

Old style rights

Peculiarities

Group "M" is assigned to all drivers by default. Holders of the “B” certificate will be assigned the “B1” category, adding the mark “AS”, indicating the steering type.

The replacement system is built logically, assuming automatic assignment of the corresponding subcategories if there is a main category.

Correspondence of categories in new rights

The correspondence of categories when replacing a certificate is shown in the table.

Description of each category

The introduced expanded classification strictly distinguishes vehicles by power, carrying capacity and passenger capacity, and accordingly, the choice of an iron horse now needs to be approached even more carefully, taking into account open categories.

For example, the Hummer H1, according to the vehicle title, falls into category C (total weight of almost 5 tons), and the Land Cruiser 105, according to the number of passengers (10 seats), falls into category D.

Let's go over all types of vehicles again and consider some points, restrictions and differences by category in more detail.

Motorcycle technology

Category M – moped vehicles, scooters and light ATVs with low power and a total engine volume of no more than 50 sq. cm. This type of transport has gained popularity due to its accessibility to a wide segment of the population and its small dimensions. And of course, all traffic participants would like scooter drivers to have the necessary knowledge of traffic rules when driving on public roads.

Category A – heavy motorcycle vehicles. The curb weight of such motor vehicles can reach up to 400 kg, and the engine displacement must exceed 125 cubic meters. see Category A allows you to drive any type of motorcycle, including motor vehicles of subcategory A1 .

Subcategory A1 – lightweight and low-power motorcycles with an engine capacity of 50-125 cc and power up to 11 kW.

Cars

This is the most common class of vehicles on our roads:

Category B – Passenger vehicles with a total weight of up to 3.5 tons and a number of passenger seats of up to 8. Allows you to tow a trailer weighing up to 750 kg or a trailer of greater weight, subject to the condition that the weight of the entire train also falls within 3.5 tons.

Subcategory BE is permission to drive the same category B , but with a trailer that exceeds the weight of the car itself (trailer weight more than 750 kg). The total mass of such a composition can exceed 3.5 tons.

Subcategory B1 – This subcategory has nothing to do with passenger cars of category B. It is required for driving tricycles and quadricycles.

Subcategory B1 if you have categories A or B .

However, the types of vehicles are different:

• Category A opens access to driving quadricycles with a motorcycle seat (controls and steering wheel like a motorcycle) and in this case the MS ;
• category B allows you to drive a quadricycle with a car seat (steering wheel, seats, pedals, car-type switches), in this case the license will have the corresponding AS mark;
• if the driver had both categories ( A and B ), he will have access to transport of subcategory B1 without any restrictions.

Special marks MS and AS on the license allow the traffic police officer to easily determine the legality of the driver’s movement on a particular type of equipment.

Freight transport

If your field of activity is related to the transportation of goods, you should open a category corresponding to the carrying capacity of your transport.

Category C – Trucks with a total weight of over 3.5 tons. This category is suitable for driving all types of heavy cargo transport, for example, dump trucks and trucks.

Subcategory C1 - Medium freight vehicles weighing 3.5 - 7.5 tons, suitable for transporting small and small cargo.

Subcategory CE - Driving a category C with a heavy towbar weighing over 750 kg.

Subcategory C1E – Driving a freight vehicle coupled to a trailer weighing more than 750 kg. The total weight of the cargo train in this case should not exceed 12 tons.

Category C also includes large SUVs, the total weight of which does not fall within the limit of category B.

Buses

Category D – Bus-type passenger transport with more than 8 seats for passengers. Category D allows you to drive buses of various sizes, regardless of the permissible maximum weight of the vehicle. It is this category that is necessary, for example, for driving regular buses.

Subcategory D1 – Driving a passenger car, with seats for passengers from 8 to 16. The familiar gazelles and other minibuses fall into this category.

Subcategory DE – Bus transport with a trailer weighing more than 750 kg.

Subcategory D1E – Trailed buses with a total weight of up to 12 tons.

Categories Tm and Tb do not require description. These categories can be seen on the driver’s licenses of those people who have chosen to work as a tram or trolleybus driver as their profession.

Category "C"

Documents with this label are issued for the operation of vehicles over 3.5 tons (not including class “D” vehicles) with or without a light trailer.

Note

: cat. “C” does not allow driving trucks lighter than 3.5 tons, cars and trailers weighing more than 0.75 tons. But it is permissible to drive “C1” class vehicles.

Driver's license subcategories:

• CE - issued for driving trucks with trailers heavier than 0.75 tons;

• C1 - required for operation on trucks from 3.5 to 7.5 tons with or without a light trailer. The mark in the VU is affixed automatically when assigning the “C” category. But if you wish, you can pass the “C1” exam without having a “C” with the ensuing consequences: in this case you cannot work on trucks heavier than 7.5 tons;

• C1E - with this type of driver, it is allowed to drive class C1 trucks with a trailer weighing more than 750 kg, if the total weight of the coupling does not exceed 12 tons.

Rights to the machine

Every new driver is required to undergo specialized training courses; this requirement has become mandatory to obtain a license. And if you plan to travel only in a car with an automatic transmission, then you can study and take the exam at the traffic police in a car with similar characteristics.

In this case, the entry AT is entered in the restrictions section. A driver with such a license will not be able to drive a manual vehicle.

If a driver with an automatic transmission license wants to drive a manual transmission in the future, then in order to obtain admission and a new driver’s license, he will need to successfully pass tests at the State Traffic Police for practical driving of the corresponding car with a manual gearbox.

Persons who have completed training and successfully passed the driving test for vehicles with a manual transmission do not have any restrictions and are allowed to drive vehicles corresponding to the open category, with any type of transmission (both “automatic” and “mechanical”).

How to open a new category

To supplement your driver’s license with new categories or subcategories, you must undergo proper training in the chosen area at a driving school, followed by a check of the level of training at the traffic police.

It should be noted that independent driver retraining is not allowed.

To enroll in a driving school you will need a standard package of documents:

1. civil passport (copies of pages with photo and registration);
2. color photo, standard size for documents 3x4;
3. medical certificate for a driver's license.

The cost and duration of training in a driving school vary, depending on the chosen course:

• Thus, retraining from category C to subcategory CE does not require passing the theory of knowledge of traffic rules and to open it, you must successfully complete the task of practical driving of a road train at the traffic police.
• And if a person needs to open category D and he already has a category C and a corresponding driver’s card, then retraining includes a shortened theoretical part, which, of course, reduces the cost and duration of training.
• Training in category M involves studying the code of traffic rules, from which sections that are not essentially related to driving scooters have been removed.

Important! The law provides for obtaining a driving class and the license itself from a certain age, having successfully passed the examination at the traffic police:

• To drive light mopeds and lightweight motorcycles, licenses are issued upon reaching 16 years of age ;
• Obtain permission to drive classes A , B , C and their 1 subcategories - from 18 years of age ;
• You can drive freight vehicles, trolleybuses and trams from the age of 21 .

Obtaining an additional subcategory is possible provided that you have at least a year of experience in the main driving class.

It is possible to undergo training at a driving school and pass an exam on knowledge of traffic rules at the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate earlier, but the issuance of a driver’s license is possible only upon reaching a specified age.

If you haven't opened the category

When applying for a license with a new number and series to replace the old ones, controversial situations may arise caused by unlawful actions of traffic police officers.

Common Difficulties

Problems often arise with the opening of “E” subcategories. Sometimes the traffic police in a new license with open groups “B”, “C” and “D” with permission to transport a trailer o and “DE”, limiting the specified tolerance.

Difficulties may arise if the medical certificate does not indicate the category being opened.

What the law says

Typically, traffic police officers refer to a letter from the Department for Road Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, signed by V. N. Kirsanov in September 2007. But the reference to this standard is not justified, since it deals with the interpretation of the Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated May 12, 2001 No. 13/7 - 2068 on the nuances of conducting traffic police exams.

This paragraph was canceled by instructions No. 13/5-184, signed in September 2007.

Traffic police officers strive to affix permission to transport trailers only in the license groups for which the owner has been trained. But if the previously valid ID does not limit the owner’s capabilities, such actions are illegal.

What to do

If a citizen’s rights are violated when replacing a driver’s license, in order to defend one’s own interests, it is necessary to file a complaint, attaching examples of court decisions on similar cases, to a higher authority. Such decisions are posted on the Internet.

If there is no positive result, a claim is filed with a judicial authority. The prosecutor's office can also help in this situation.

To replace rights when opening a new category or due to expiration in 2021 and subsequent periods, you must follow the procedure prescribed by law. Collecting documents will not take much time, and submitting papers through State Services will save personal time.

Punishment for violating traffic rules

Driving a vehicle without the appropriate permit is equivalent to driving without a license and is punishable under Article 12.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, Part 1. An administrative penalty in this case can amount to 5-15 thousand rubles.

The driver should be aware that not any discrepancy in driving class clearance and driving any vehicle can be regarded as a gross violation:

• If during the inspection it is discovered that he is driving a cargo-type vehicle with a total weight of up to 12 tons, and he does not have a C1E , but his license has the CE , then a fine will not be imposed.
• And in the event that the driver is allowed to drive a passenger car, but at the time of inspection he is driving a moped, with no permit on his license, a similar situation will arise.
• But if he got behind the wheel of a bus, while having permission to drive only passenger vehicles, then the fine could range from 5 to 15 thousand rubles. The driver will definitely be removed from driving, and the vehicle will be driven to an impound lot (27.12 and 27.13 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
• Driving a manual car with only an automatic license is also equivalent to driving without a license, with the ensuing consequences.

This is what we wanted to tell you about driving licenses. If you have any questions, please contact our legal experts for clarification by filling out a request at the end of the article.