Can you drive a garden tractor on the road?

Rider mowers are easy to drive: you just hop onto the seat, grip the steering wheel, start the engine and press the forward pedal. In short, it’s a bit like driving a car, but even easier.

By the way, have you ever wondered if you can drive a garden tractor on the road? It might be that your allotment or smallholding is a few hundred metres from your home, or the service centre where you need to take your tractor for an overhaul is just a couple of miles away. In today’s article we will answer this question.

Can rider mowers be driven on the road?

General speaking, the answer is no, because rider mowers are not approved for use on public roads—not even just to cross from one side to the other—without a driver's licence. It doesn't matter if they are local, quiet roads: by law (i.e. the Highway Code) garden tractors can only be driven in private areas closed to traffic.

Garden tractors cannot even be towed on a public road. Therefore, to transport your tractor on a road, you can either load it onto another vehicle, or load it onto an approved trailer and tow it that way. To check whether your garden tractor is approved for road use, simply consult the relevant section of the manufacturer's user and maintenance manual.

This applies to both professional rider mowers and those intended for amateur gardeners. Oleo-Mac garden tractors are not approved for road use. We offer a broad range that has been recently expanded with numerous models: those with rear discharge like the OM 92 R/16 K, with side discharge like the OM 109 L/16 K and all-terrain garden tractors like the CHEYENNE 110 4x4. We also offer handy rider mowers like the MISTRAL 72/13 H.

Garden tractors vs tractors

The fact that many garden tractors look like miniature versions of the agricultural tractors you occasionally see on country roads shouldn’t deceive you. Agricultural and construction tractors are vehicles, that is to say, they are permitted to travel on roads, provided that they are registered—i.e. with licence plates and a vehicle registration document—and the driver is insured. Specifically the driver must have third-party liability insurance, which covers against damage to someone else's property or injury to someone else: it is mandatory, just as it is for cars. In order to be driven on public highways, tractors are required to have specific safety and signalling devices, including rollover protection, seat belts, headlights, turn indicators, brake lights, rearview mirrors and so on.

Furthermore, anyone who wants to get behind the wheel of a tractor and take it onto the road must have a driving licence; here in Italy, that is generally a category B licence, not to be confused with a “patentino” licence for agricultural tractors, which is just a certificate attesting to safe use in the workplace.

We mentioned earlier that in general, rider mowers are not approved for road use; however, there are some exceptions. Some models of professional rider mowers are actually approved for road use, or can be approved subject to installing a specific kit supplied by the manufacturer (lights, indicators, rearview mirrors, etc.).

If you have any doubts about your garden tractor, always refer to the user manual or contact a technician. If you have an Oleo-Mac garden tractor, our service centre technicians are always at your disposal.

In conclusion, here are some more interesting articles on the subject:

• Tips for choosing between a garden tractor, a wheeled brushcutter and a lawnmower.

• Guidelines for cleaning and checking garden tractors after use and before the winter break.