Why it matters: Maximum speed with a trailer or caravan

A trailer or caravan makes your combination longer, heavier and more prone to snaking; that is why the maxima are lower than for an ordinary car. The sign by the road applies to the fastest permitted traffic — with a trailer you are almost always below it. In wet snow on the A28 near Drachten, with a caravan that starts to sway at higher speed, the difference between 80 and 90 is not a detail but braking distance and stability. And on a busy three-lane motorway the lane rule keeps the long, slower combination to the right, where it is least in the way and drives most safely.