Vehicle Documents, Licensing Rules, and Legal Responsibilities (Nepal DOTM Category B)
Documents you must be able to produce
- Driving licence showing the correct category (B for car and jeep).
- Blue book - the vehicle registration certificate.
- Insurance certificate: third-party cover is compulsory; it pays others, not your own repairs.
- Road tax receipt and a valid pollution test certificate.
- Fitness certificate, required for commercial vehicles.
Licensing rules
Category B requires a minimum age of 18 and a medical fitness certificate. The route is learner's permit, then written test, then the practical trial. The learner's permit is valid only for the period printed on it; driving after it expires, or without the required qualified supervisor, is an offence. Licences must be renewed on expiry, and driving on an expired licence is treated the same as driving without one.
Legal responsibilities
Obey police directions and produce documents on demand. Never drive after drinking - Nepal enforces blood-alcohol limits with fines and licence suspension, and any alcohol at all reduces your margin on a mountain road. Do not drive an uninsured or unregistered vehicle, do not carry more passengers than the registration permits, and remember that an owner can be liable for allowing an unfit driver or vehicle onto the road.
Worked example
Police stop you and your insurance expired four days ago. Reasoning: the offence is driving without valid third-party insurance, and it is committed the moment you drive; it cannot be cured at the roadside, and a fine plus further action follow. The preparation point is a renewal date written where you will see it.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming third-party insurance covers your own car. Carrying photocopies while the originals sit at home. Believing a learner's permit is a licence. Forgetting that the pollution certificate expires separately from the blue book renewal.