Hazards When Driving — Annual Driver Instruction (UVV) for Employees in Germany

18 modules · about 54 minutes · final test with 22 questions, 16 correct to pass · certificate of participation as PDF

What this course is about

Anyone who drives on business is working — and the same instruction duty applies to this workplace as to any other. Section 12 of the German Occupational Safety and Health Act (ArbSchG) and Section 4 of DGUV Vorschrift 1 require it at least once a year, documented.

No registration needed. We only ask for your name and e-mail address before the final test – just for your certificate. Your progress is saved in this browser. You can stop at any time and continue later.

Module 1 of 18

What this is about — and what this course is not

Anyone who drives on business is working. The workplace is then not a desk but a vehicle on the public road — with everything that can happen there. This instruction fulfils the annual duty under Section 12 of the Arbeitsschutzgesetz (ArbSchG, the German Occupational Safety and Health Act) for everyone who drives a company vehicle: company car, pool vehicle, occasional business trip in your own car.

What you learn here: who is responsible for what, what to check before the journey, how to behave in the situations that really occur in working life — tiredness, time pressure, black ice, breakdown, accident.

⚠ What this course does not do

It does not replace the company-specific instruction. Section 12 ArbSchG requires an instruction tailored to your specific workplace. Vehicle type, pool car rules, reporting paths after damage, contact persons and the company alcohol rule are known only to your company. Module 17 is there for exactly that — your company adds its rules there.

It does not replace a driver safety training. Braking, swerving and skidding are learned on a practice ground, not in a browser.

It does not replace the professional driver training under the BKrFQG (German Professional Driver Qualification Act: 35 hours in five years at an approved training centre).

Key sentence: This course is the general part. The company part is added — only both together make the complete instruction.

Module 2 of 18

The legal framework in one place

Five sets of rules interlock. Anyone who has seen them once in context understands the rest of the course faster.

Added to this is Section 21 StVG, which regulates the responsibility of the keeper — see module 3.

Remember

The instruction must be repeated every year. That is not a recommendation but Section 4 DGUV Vorschrift 1. And it must be documented — an instruction nobody can prove did not take place in a dispute.

Module 3 of 18

Who bears the responsibility

Responsibility in the vehicle fleet is shared, and both sides are liable.

The driver is responsible for what they do: start fit to drive, obey the traffic rules, report defects, leave a visibly unsafe vehicle standing.

The keeper — i.e. the company and the person responsible there for the fleet — is responsible for whom they entrust a vehicle to and in what condition. Section 31(2) StVZO (Vehicle Registration Regulations) forbids the keeper to order or permit a journey if vehicle or driver do not comply with the regulations.

How seriously this is meant is shown by Section 21 StVG (Road Traffic Act): anyone who orders or permits someone to drive without a valid driving licence commits a criminal offence — up to one year's imprisonment. If a breach of the duty of supervision under Section 130 OWiG (Administrative Offences Act) is added, fines of up to one million euros are possible.

⚠ The most common misconception

“I only gave him the key.” That is exactly the permitting that Section 21 StVG speaks of. Anyone who knows or ought to know that something is wrong — licence withdrawn, visibly unfit driver, defective vehicle — and still lets them drive off is part of the proceedings.

Module 4 of 18

Documents and requirements

Before every business trip, three things must be right.

The driving licence must be valid and match the vehicle class. It must be carried and shown on request. A withdrawn or expired licence is noticed by nobody until it is too late — which is why the company checks regularly.

The registration certificate part I (Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I, formerly: Fahrzeugschein) belongs in the vehicle.

The Arbeitszeitgesetz (Working Hours Act) also applies to journeys. Anyone who has been on duty for twelve hours no longer drives safely — see module 8.

On the driving licence check: there is no statutory inspection interval. In practice, companies check when handing over the vehicle and about every six months thereafter; for pool vehicles before every use. What is documented is the visual check with date and result — not the driving licence itself.

⚠ Data protection during the check

A copy or photo of the driving licence kept on file is delicate under data protection law and not necessary for the purpose. A note is enough: checked on date, driving licence valid, class matches.

Side note: Old German driving licences are being exchanged step by step. Card licences issued in 2002–2004 must be exchanged by 19 January 2027; the last deadline runs in 2033. A missed exchange is noticed at the next check.

Module 5 of 18

Vehicle condition and mandatory equipment

A vehicle that is not roadworthy must not be moved — regardless of who caused the defect.

The recurring inspection. Company vehicles are inspected regularly by a competent person (UVV inspection under DGUV Vorschrift 70), usually once a year. This is different from the general inspection (Hauptuntersuchung, HU): the HU is a state inspection of roadworthiness, the UVV inspection an occupational safety inspection by the employer. Both are necessary, neither replaces the other.

The visual check before the journey is your job and takes two minutes:

1. Tyres — tread, pressure, visible damage
2. Lights — dipped headlights, brake lights, indicators
3. Windows, mirrors, wiper blades — clear view in all directions
4. Fluids and warning lights in the cockpit
5. Load and loose objects in the interior

The mandatory equipment in a car: warning triangle, high-visibility vest and first-aid kit. The first-aid kit has an expiry date; expired material must be replaced. Completeness is checked at the general inspection. The current edition of the standard DIN 13164 dates from February 2022 and includes two medical masks; older kits remain permitted and do not have to be upgraded.

Remember

The high-visibility vest is only useful if you can reach it before getting out. In the boot it is in the wrong place — you only get there once you are already standing unprotected next to the road.

Loose objects are not a side issue: Section 22 StVO requires that load is secured against slipping, and that also applies to the laptop on the back seat. In a collision at 50 km/h an object acts forward with many times its weight.

Module 6 of 18

Insured or not

Anyone travelling on business is covered by the statutory accident insurance. Where this cover ends is less well known than it should be.

The business trip — from the company to the customer, from the customer to the next appointment — is an insured activity. An accident during it is an occupational accident.

The way to work and back is also covered, but as a commuting accident, with its own rules.

The interruption is the critical point. Anyone who interrupts the journey for a private errand — shopping, refuelling for private needs, a coffee stop off the route — is as a rule not covered during this interruption. The cover revives as soon as the business journey is continued.

Borderline cases are decided by the courts in the individual case; this course cannot anticipate them. But the principle is clear enough for everyday life.

⚠ What additionally endangers the cover

Alcohol, drugs and gross violations can lead to the insurance cover lapsing or the comprehensive insurer taking recourse. Anyone who drives a company car under the influence of alcohol risks not only their licence but also their cover — and possibly their job.

Module 7 of 18

Fitness to drive: alcohol, cannabis, medication

Two levels that must not be confused

The law draws the line at 0.5 ‰ (blood alcohol, per mille): anyone who drives at this value or above commits an administrative offence — €500, two points, one month's driving ban. On repetition €1,000 and three months. From 1.1 ‰ you are considered absolutely unfit to drive, which is a criminal offence. If someone shows signs of impairment from as little as 0.3 ‰, that is also a criminal offence. During the probationary period and under 21 years, the statutory limit is 0.0 ‰.

For cannabis the limit has been 3.5 ng/ml THC in blood serum since August 2024 (Section 24a(1a) StVG) — €500, two points, one month's driving ban. During the probationary period and under 21 years a cannabis ban applies. The combination with alcohol costs €1,000.

The company may be stricter — and many companies are. A rule “0.0 ‰ on all business trips” is permissible and binding. It is based on the employer's right to give instructions and on Section 15(2) DGUV Vorschrift 1: insured persons must not put themselves, through alcohol, drugs or other intoxicating substances, into a state in which they could endanger themselves or others. The implementing instruction expressly makes clear that after-effects count too — the residual alcohol in the morning is included.

What this means in practice: 0.3 ‰ on a business trip may remain without a fine — but it violates the company rule, can have consequences under employment law and can affect the insurance cover in the event of damage. Conversely, a company rule does not turn a criminal offence into a trifle.

Remember

The stricter of the two levels always applies. The law says from when it gets expensive. The company says from when you no longer drive.

Medication

Regularly underestimated: painkillers, cold remedies, allergy and sedative medicines can cancel fitness to drive just like alcohol — with the same legal result. Read the leaflet, ask if in doubt, do not drive if in doubt.

Module 8 of 18

Tiredness and microsleep

Tiredness at the wheel acts like alcohol but is recognised less well — because it creeps in slowly and because those affected systematically overestimate their performance.

Warning signs to be taken seriously: burning eyes, frequent blinking, shivering, yawning, restless sitting position, thoughts wandering, the last kilometres missing from memory. The last sign is already a microsleep.

What demonstrably does not help: radio louder, window open, coffee as the only measure, glucose, “just the last thirty minutes”. Caffeine postpones tiredness, it does not remove it — and the rebound comes.

What helps: stopping. A short sleep of 15 to 20 minutes in a car park noticeably restores attention. If that is not enough, the journey is abandoned and you stay overnight.

⚠ The most dangerous sentence

“I can still make it.” At 100 km/h a vehicle covers almost 28 metres in one second. A microsleep of three seconds means more than eighty metres blind — more than the distance in which you would come to a stop from this speed.

Particularly affected: journeys after a night shift, early in the morning, between 1 and 3 p.m., after a heavy meal and after long working days. Anyone who has been on duty for twelve hours should not drive far any more.

Module 9 of 18

Time pressure and stress

The most common reason for driving too fast and inattentively is not a driving error — it is the appointment calendar.

The sums rarely add up anyway: anyone who drives 20 km/h faster on 50 kilometres of country road gains a few minutes and considerably increases their accident risk. On motorway journeys with traffic the gain is often nil.

What to do instead is unspectacular and effective: call the customer and let them know. Postpone or cancel the appointment. People almost always react with understanding to a timely message — and almost never to a delay without notice.

Remember

No customer appointment justifies a risky journey. A company that puts punctual arrival above the safety of its employees has a management problem — not a driver problem. If you have the impression that cancellations are not wanted, that needs to be raised.

Related topic: anger in traffic. Anyone who gets worked up about others drives worse. Keep your distance, refrain from flashing headlights and tailgating, do not respond to provocative behaviour. Coercion in road traffic is a criminal offence, and in a company car with the company logo every incident is additionally damage to the company's image.

Module 10 of 18

Ill on the road

Anyone who feels unwell while driving is a risk to everyone else — and most of all to themselves.

If you feel unwell yourself: stop at the next safe opportunity, park the vehicle, switch on the hazard lights. Then get help — 112 for serious complaints, otherwise the nearest doctor. Not “drive on slowly”, not “drive to the doctor and then to the customer”.

Signs at which you stop immediately: dizziness, visual disturbances, severe pain, tightness in the chest, numbness or weakness on one side of the body. The last three are reasons for an emergency call, not matters of judgement.

If the passenger falls ill or is injured: stop, give first aid, call 112. The attempt to “quickly drive to the hospital yourself” regularly costs time instead of saving it — the ambulance service starts treatment immediately and drives to the right hospital.

⚠ No time pressure where health is concerned

Anyone who is missing at the customer after an emergency call has missed an appointment. Anyone who drives on and collapses endangers themselves and others. The company expects the former.

Module 11 of 18

Distraction at the wheel

Distraction is today one of the most common causes of serious accidents — and the only one that is completely avoidable.

The legal situation is clear: a mobile phone or another electronic device must not be picked up while driving. That costs €100 and one point. With endangerment it is €150, two points and one month's driving ban; with damage to property €200. Novice drivers additionally get an extension of the probationary period to four years and a chargeable advanced seminar.

Permitted is operation via hands-free system and voice control — which does not mean, however, that it is without consequences. A demanding conversation ties up attention, whether the phone is in your hand or not.

Just as distracting and less noticed: reprogramming the navigation system while driving, browsing the on-board computer, eating, drinking, smoking, reaching for something in the footwell.

Remember

Two seconds looking at the display mean about 55 metres blind at 100 km/h — more than half the length of a football pitch, on which you do not know what is happening in front of you.

The practical rule: phone into driving mode before the journey, enter the destination before departure, consciously reject calls. Anyone who has to be reachable plans stops.

Module 12 of 18

Speed, distance and driver assistance systems

According to the official statistics for 2025, excessive or inappropriate speed is the most frequent cause of fatal accidents in Germany: 29 per cent of the 2,832 road deaths. Insufficient distance and right-of-way violations follow at 15 per cent each among accidents with personal injury.

The rules of thumb you should have in your head (German driving-school formulas):

In the wet the braking distance increases considerably, on ice many times over. “Appropriate speed” therefore does not mean “permitted speed”.

Driver assistance systems help — and tempt. Since July 2024 several systems have been mandatory step by step for new cars (EU Regulation 2019/2144): intelligent speed assistance, emergency braking with pedestrian detection, driver drowsiness warning and an event data recorder. They intervene when it gets tight — but they do not see everything, and they cannot override physics.

⚠ The assistant is not an autopilot

A lane-keeping assistant keeps the lane, not a safe distance. An emergency braking assistant shortens the braking distance, it does not prevent every collision. The responsibility remains with the driver — legally in full.

Module 13 of 18

Weather and visibility

Bad weather is rarely the cause of an accident. The cause is regularly a speed that does not match the weather.

Wet roads and aquaplaning. If the steering becomes light and the engine louder, the tyres are floating. Right: ease off the accelerator, do not brake, do not countersteer, hold the steering wheel steady until the tyres grip again.

Fog. With visibility below 50 metres, the limit is 50 km/h — and this visibility can be estimated from the delineator posts, which stand 50 metres apart. Rear fog light only with visibility below 50 metres, otherwise it dazzles.

Winter. In black ice, packed snow, slush, frost and icy conditions, motor vehicles may only be driven with suitable tyres (situational winter tyre requirement under Section 2(3a) StVO). Before the journey, all windows must be clear, as must the roof, headlights and number plates — a scraped peephole is a fine and a safety risk.

Freezing rain (Blitzeis) is a special case: it forms within minutes and cannot be mastered by driving skill. Right is to get off the road at the next opportunity and wait — if necessary abandon the journey and travel on another way.

Remember

Abandoning a journey is a permitted decision. In no company is it a mistake that would have to be justified. The call to your supervisor or customer takes one minute.

Module 14 of 18

Collision with wildlife and wrong-way drivers

Two situations that rarely occur and in which almost everyone reacts wrongly.

Wildlife crossing

At risk are dusk and dawn, spring and autumn, roads along forest edges and fields. At a warning sign: foot off the accelerator, dip the high beam, if an animal appears, sound the horn and brake in a controlled way. Do not swerve — the swerving accident against a tree or oncoming traffic is regularly the more serious one.

After a collision with wildlife: hazard lights, high-visibility vest, secure the accident scene, inform the police. The police inform the person with hunting rights. Do not touch injured animals, do not treat them yourself, do not take them with you. The police issue a wildlife damage certificate (Wildschadenbescheinigung) — without it the partial comprehensive insurer can refuse to settle.

Wrong-way drivers

If a wrong-way driver is reported on the radio: do not overtake, keep to the far right, reduce speed considerably, switch on the hazard lights and drive into a car park or service area at the next opportunity. Only drive on when the all-clear is given.

⚠ No heroics

The attempt to stop a wrong-way driver by flashing headlights, sounding the horn or blocking endangers you and everyone behind you. Your job is to take yourself out of danger — not to clear the motorway.

Module 15 of 18

Breakdown and technical defect

A defect on the road is not an annoyance to sit out but a safety problem with a clear sequence of actions.

In a breakdown: switch on the hazard lights, if possible pull off to the right or onto the hard shoulder, put on the high-visibility vest before you get out, watch the traffic, get out on the right-hand side, set up the warning triangle — on the motorway at a distance of about 150 to 200 metres — and wait behind the crash barrier. Do not stay in the vehicle, do not stand on the road.

Then get help: for vehicles with a manufacturer's warranty the manufacturer's assistance service, otherwise the company's breakdown or towing service. An emergency telephone post also puts you through; it has the advantage that your location is known.

Check note for the company: the assistance number of your own vehicle brand and the breakdown service provided by the company belong in module 17. A general number in an instruction is worthless if it is wrong — look it up rather than entering it from memory.

With “small” defects — windscreen wiper fails, a headlight does not work, the brakes squeal — the rule is: the journey is interrupted and the next workshop or petrol station is driven to. A vehicle with failed lights or wiper system is not roadworthy. Driving on is then a breach of duty in itself, regardless of whether anything happens.

Module 16 of 18

Case study: behaviour at the scene of an accident

The situation: you are driving on the motorway in the rain and are the first to arrive at a rear-end collision. Two vehicles are standing across the road, one person is still sitting in the car and is not moving.

The order

1. Take a deep breath. Anyone who acts hectically makes mistakes.
2. Switch on the hazard lights, reduce speed, stop at a safe distance — preferably behind the accident scene, on the right.
3. Put on the high-visibility vest — before getting out.
4. Watch the traffic, then get out on the right-hand side.
5. Secure the accident scene: set up the warning triangle at a sufficient distance.
6. Make the emergency call 112.
7. Give first aid as far as you can — self-protection first.
8. Go to a safe place, wait behind the crash barrier.

The emergency call: six details

Who is calling? · Where did it happen? · What happened? · How many injured? · Which injuries? · Wait for questions.

The last is the most important: do not hang up. The control centre asks questions and guides you through first aid if necessary.

Emergency lane

As soon as traffic comes to a standstill on motorways and multi-lane roads outside built-up areas, an emergency lane (Rettungsgasse) must be formed — between the left lane and the lane next to it (Section 11(2) StVO). Not only when an emergency vehicle is in sight. Anyone who does not form one: €200, two points, one month's driving ban; with obstruction, endangerment or damage to property up to €320.

Damage without injuries

Here too: secure the scene, high-visibility vest, move vehicles aside only after the traces have been recorded. Exchange personal details, report the accident to the company. In case of damage to another vehicle without the keeper present, the police must be informed — tucking a note under the windscreen wiper and driving away is a hit-and-run offence.

⚠ What is never right

Driving injured people to the hospital yourself. Photos for social networks. Driving past an accident scene because you have an appointment — failure to render assistance is a criminal offence.

Module 17 of 18

Procedure in our company

Your company completes this module. The general part of this instruction ends here — what follows, only your company knows.

These details belong here:

For management

The last item in this list is the most important and the most often forgotten: How does someone cancel a journey without having to justify themselves? As long as that is unclear, employees drive on tired, ill and in freezing rain — not out of ignorance, but because they shy away from the trouble.

Module 18 of 18

Keeping records

Finally, what turns this instruction into a record.

Repetition: the instruction must be repeated at least once a year (Section 4 DGUV Vorschrift 1). In addition for new activities, new vehicles, after an accident and when regulations change.

Who must take part: all employees who drive a vehicle on business — even occasionally, even in a private car on a business trip, even managers.

Documentation: your certificate of participation carries name, course, date, certificate number and the training contents. It can be verified on the Academy's verification page. Keep it, and give a copy to the office that keeps the instruction records in the company.

What must additionally be documented: the company-specific part from module 17. Without it the instruction under Section 12 ArbSchG is not complete — with it, it is.

Remember

A record nobody can find is no record. File the certificate, note the date, repeat next year.

Final test

22 questions, one correct answer each. You need 16 correct answers to pass (70 %). Scoring happens on the server — there is no answer key on this page.

Your result