Route plan for your graduation drive
Your graduation drive route plan with EventTrucks ApS
Here is our guide and help on how to put together your route plan.
Rules for graduation drives
We help you with your route plan
When the time comes and your class starts planning the route for the big day of your graduation drive (studenterkørsel – the Danish tradition where new graduates ride a truck to visit each classmate’s family), it can feel difficult, overwhelming and complicated to plan a route around rules you are not familiar with.
We want to help you as best we can with a guide to planning a route to the families that you can actually stick to – so the families are not left waiting half an hour for the student truck to arrive after the planned time because of poor planning and guidance.
The following laws and rules apply in the transport sector, which graduation drives fall under:
- Driving and rest time rules
- The Working Time Directive for mobile workers (enforced from May 2022)
- The Danish executive order on graduation drives, parades etc. (Bekendtgørelse om eksamenskørsel, optog mv.)
- The Danish Road Traffic Act (Færdselsloven)
These laws and rules must be followed. Otherwise there can be fines, the driver can lose their licence, and the trip will be stopped by the police and not allowed to continue. Further down this page we point out some of the rules you need to follow so you don’t put your graduation drive at risk of being stopped by the police.
Guide
How to plan the route
Here is our guide to making your graduation drive route plan as painless as possible.
Tripply
We recommend making your route plan with tripply.dk, which is made for graduation drives and takes into account that you may drive at no more than 60 km/h outside built-up areas and no more than 40 km/h in built-up areas. It also takes into account that you may not drive on motorways or expressways with students on the back of the truck.
Google Maps
You can also use Google Maps. Here you need to be aware that the route is planned as if for a car at 50 km/h and 80 km/h, which you must remember to allow for.
On longer stretches you should add extra time, as Google Maps calculates the time for a car. We drive a student truck, which only does around 55 km/h on country roads and around 40 km/h in more built-up areas. As a rule, we recommend adding 5 extra minutes for every 10 minutes Google Maps calculates.
Time with each family
Once you have a total estimated driving time, you know how much of your booked time is left. Divide it by the number of students in your class, and you have the time you can spend with each set of parents.
It is a good idea to plan the route so you are 15 minutes ahead, as getting back into the truck often takes longer the more alcohol is consumed.
The time you spend with each family is added to the arrival time (see the example in the route plan document). A stop typically lasts either 15 or 20 minutes. This can vary, however, if you are on a 2-day graduation drive or if you are a small class.
It is easier for both you and us to keep track of time if you round up so the times end in 5 or 0. Example: 8.25 – 8.35 – 8.50 – 9.10.
This applies whether you use Tripply or Google Maps.
We’ll make the route plan for you
A route plan for DKK 1,000
Is planning your class’s route too much hassle? Then we can make it for you for DKK 1,000. To make your route plan, we need to know where the day starts and ends, plus a list of the names and addresses of everyone in the class you will be visiting. You also need to plan a 30-minute rest stop, which could be dinner or a dip in the water to get the wave in your cap (a Danish student cap tradition) – it’s up to you.
Remember the rules
Important when you make your route plan
Breaks for the driver
During the day, the driver must take one 15-minute break and one 30-minute break to comply with the driving and rest time rules. The 30-minute break can be planned for when you get the wave in your cap or have a good meal.
No motorways
No motorways or expressways.
Bridges and underpasses
Watch out for bridges and viaducts you have to pass under. Assume that the student trucks are 4 metres tall.
Food and drink
Agree as a class what food and drink will be served at each stop, so you don’t get the same thing all day.
Who may ride?
Only students from the class who have passed their exams and received their student cap may take part in the graduation drive. That means no siblings, parents, teachers, friends or DJs may ride on the truck under the law on graduation drives – the police will stop the drive and issue a fine.
Templates
Download a route plan
Every Christmas one lucky class wins a free graduation drive
Follow us on social media
Follow us to see our content and join our competitions.