What category B covers
Category B entitles you to drive a motor vehicle with a maximum authorised mass up to 3.5 tonnes, other than a bus or a motorcycle. This is the category people mean when they simply say they are taking their driving test.
It covers everything you drive day to day: a passenger car, a small van, a campervan with a maximum authorised mass up to 3.5 tonnes. The limit is the mass entered in the registration document, not the shape of the body. The number of seats matters only in that a vehicle designed to carry more than 9 people including the driver is already a bus - for that you need category D1 or D.
Category B also covers a combination with a light trailer, and a combination with a trailer other than a light one as long as the combined maximum authorised mass does not exceed 4250 kg. If such a combination exceeds 3.5 tonnes, you may drive it only after passing the practical part of the state exam, confirmed by an entry in your licence. A heavier trailer requires category B+E.
Category B from 17 - on what terms
You can obtain category B at 17, with the written consent of a parent or guardian. A licence issued before your eighteenth birthday comes with restrictions. Until you turn 18 it entitles you to drive within the territory of Poland only. For six months from the day the licence was issued - and no longer than until your eighteenth birthday - a motor vehicle other than a quadricycle may be driven only with a passenger sitting in the front seat. Until your eighteenth birthday you also may not carry a person under 18 unless such a passenger is with you, and you may not carry out road transport of goods or carry passengers by taxi or as an occasional service - breaking a ban is grounds for having your driving entitlement revoked. The probationary period then lasts 3 years, but no longer than until your twentieth birthday.
The Poland-only restriction, the passenger rule and both bans expire on their own, with no application and no second exam - at the latest on your eighteenth birthday. The front-seat passenger must meet four conditions at once, assessed on the day of the drive. A driving instructor or an examiner does not have to meet the age and experience conditions.
- Passenger age
- at least 25
- Passenger experience
- has held category B continuously for at least 5 years
- Ban on driving motor vehicles
- is not subject to one and has not been in the last 5 years
- State
- not in a state of intoxication or after consuming alcohol, and not under the influence of a substance acting like alcohol
What category B gives you beyond a car
Within Poland, category B also entitles you to drive an agricultural tractor and a slow-moving vehicle, including a combination of such a vehicle with a light trailer. Categories C1, C, D1 and D carry exactly the same entitlement - it is not something peculiar to category C, as is sometimes repeated.
After three years of holding category B you gain the entitlement to ride a motorcycle up to 125 cm³, up to 11 kW and with a power-to-weight ratio up to 0.1 kW/kg, as well as a three-wheeled motorcycle. That is the answer to the question whether category B lets you ride a 125 - it does, but only after three years and only within Poland.
After two years one more entitlement appears: a motor vehicle running on alternative fuels with a maximum authorised mass over 3.5 tonnes and up to 4250 kg, provided the excess over 3.5 tonnes results from that drivetrain and is noted in the registration document.
What the exam material covers in category B
A single paper draws 32 questions: 20 basic ones and 12 specialist ones.
The basic questions are largely shared across all categories and cover the rules of the road. The specialist questions cover material specific to category B, so working through tests from another category does not prepare you for that part.