Details
Truck Sunday driving ban
The Sunday driving ban is not a penalty ban: it sits in the calendar, not in a fine notice. Who falls under it, which exemptions the road traffic regulations themselves list, and what a violation costs — including the statutory holiday list that Good Friday is on.
Published 31.07.2026
Germany has two entirely different driving bans. One sits in a fine notice: the penalty under § 25 StVG that takes one person off the wheel for a few months. The other sits in the calendar: § 30 Abs. 3 StVO prohibits the commercial carriage of goods with heavy lorries on Sundays and public holidays — every weekend, for everyone. This guide covers the second one.
The ban runs from 0 to 22 o’clock. It does not end at midnight but in the evening — which is why truck traffic starts rolling again late on Sunday night.
Not a penalty ban
§ 30 Abs. 3 StVO · § 25 StVG
- 0–22 hProhibited window§ 30 Abs. 3 S. 1 StVO
- 120 €Standard rate for drivingBKat no. 119
- 570 €Standard rate for the holderBKat no. 120
Overview
Who falls under the ban
Covered are lorries with a permissible total mass above 7,5 t, and trailers behind lorries — and only where they carry goods commercially or for payment, including the empty runs connected with such carriage.
The trailer arm of the provision carries no mass floor of its own: what matters there is only that a trailer runs behind a lorry. Journeys without commercial carriage of goods fall outside the ban on the provision’s own wording.
Key figures
The holidays the statute names
Which days count as public holidays for this ban is settled by § 30 Abs. 4 StVO itself — the list is exhaustive: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labour Day (the first of May), Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Corpus Christi, German Unity Day, Reformation Day, All Saints' Day, Christmas Day, the second Christmas holiday.
Three entries apply only in the federal states the statute names: Corpus Christi, Reformation Day and All Saints’ Day. Good Friday stands on the list without any state qualifier — the ban applies nationwide on it.
Process
Exemptions the statute itself lists
The road traffic regulations expressly exempt certain transports from the ban (§ 30 Abs. 3 S. 2 StVO):
- combined rail–road and port–road goods transport, within the distance limits the statute sets
- fresh milk and fresh dairy products, fresh meat, fresh fish, and easily perishable fruit and vegetables
- certain animal by-products under the EU regulation the statute names
- recovery, towing and breakdown-assistance vehicles in an accident or other emergency
- the transport of live bees
- empty runs connected with the exempted transports
- journeys under the Federal Requisition Act, and by the Bundeswehr and NATO forces where militarily required
Background
What a violation costs
Driving in the prohibited window costs 120 € as the catalogue’s standard rate. Where the holder ordered or allowed the driving, it is 570 € — the catalogue holds the business to a distinctly stricter standard than the person at the wheel.
What does not exist
No points
FeV Anlage 13 — no offence entry for § 30 Abs. 3 StVO
Saturdays in the holiday season
Ferienreiseverordnung
Next step
Trucks and buses
The German fine catalogue bands speeding by vehicle class as well as by location. Heavy vehicles have a ladder of their own, and vehicles carrying dangerous goods or passengers a sharper one still — with a driving ban starting earlier than it does for a car.