Glossary

A vehicle without its own drive towed behind a car. With a category B licence the combination may be up to 3500 kg; above that BE or B96 is required. Outside built-up areas a lower maximum speed applies with a trailer than without.

A trailer with one axle or one group of axles whose drawbar, by construction, cannot move relative to the axle (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). The rigid drawbar therefore carries part of the load: some weight always rests on the towball. That makes coupling easier and the trailer more stable, but it also means your car’s noseweight limit is the constraint, not only the mass.

An order given orally or by gestures by someone who is both authorised and recognisable as such: an authorised official, the Royal Marechaussee or a traffic controller. Instructions override traffic signs AND traffic rules — the highest rung the law knows.

Anti-lock braking: it keeps the wheels turning under hard braking so you can still steer. The pedal then pulsates — that is the system, not a fault, and you keep it pressed. ABS does not always shorten the braking distance; on gravel or loose sand it can be longer.

The things you take along in or on the vehicle. The driver may not be hindered while driving by passengers, load or in any other way (Regeling voertuigen, art. 5.18.3). Load must be secured so that under full braking, sudden swerves and poor road surface it cannot fall off or endanger stability: 0.8 times the weight of the load in the direction of travel, 0.5 times that weight sideways and rearwards (art. 5.18.6). Loose bags on the parcel shelf do not meet that standard.

The grooves in the tread. Legal minimum 1.6 mm in the main grooves, over the entire circumference, wear indicators not counted.

The pressure in the tyres. Too low makes the car unsettled in bends, lengthens the braking distance, raises consumption and wears the tyre at the edges. Check it on cold tyres.

The whole of the signs along a road. A sign works from where it stands; miss it and it still applies. Repetition after a junction is customary but not always required.

A parking facility for car poolers, marked by sign E13 of annex 1: travellers leave their own car here and drive on together. The sites usually lie by a slip road, so the detour stays small. Art. 24 lid 1 under d applies here too: parking for a purpose other than the one on the sign is forbidden, so it is not a free long-stay car park. A plate with days or hours limits the effect to those times (art. 24 lid 2).

A sound signal to warn others of danger. Use out of irritation is not among its purposes and can itself be dangerous.

Water vapour that settles on a cold window and takes away the view from inside. Wet coats, breath and a full car supply the vapour; cold glass catches it. Cars with a windscreen taken into use after 30 September 1971 must have a properly working installation for de-icing and demisting the windscreen (Regeling voertuigen, art. 5.2.44), and the driver must keep sufficient view forward and sideways (art. 5.18.4). Air conditioning dries the air and helps fastest; on recirculation the vapour stays inside.

A conspicuity marking intended to show the horizontal and vertical dimensions (length, width and height) of a vehicle (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). A full contour marking draws the whole outline with a continuous line; a partial one draws the length by a line and the height only by the top corners. In the dark you thus see at once how big the vehicle is and whether it stands across the road.

The period between sunrise and sunset (art. 1). By day you may not use main beam (art. 32 lid 2), and dipped beam is compulsory by day only when visibility is seriously reduced (art. 32 lid 1). What counts is the position of the sun, not the clock in your car.

A forward-facing light that makes the vehicle more visible by day (Regeling voertuigen, art. 1.1). It does not light the road and does not switch on the tail lamps: in fog, dusk or rain you may see enough while remaining dark from behind. Once visibility is seriously impaired, dipped beam is compulsory (art. 32(1)) and running lights are not enough.

A closed box on a roof rack. When carrying goods on the roof they must be properly secured on a proper load carrier, the carrier properly fixed to the vehicle, and the maximum roof load set by the manufacturer may not be exceeded (Regeling voertuigen, art. 5.18.7(2)). Sign C19 shuts out vehicles that, including their load, are higher than shown, and the centre of gravity rises: longer braking distance and more sensitivity to side wind.

A stretch running downhill. Gravity works with your speed, so the braking distance grows. On a long descent change down and let the engine do the work; continuous braking heats the brakes, and hot brakes bite less.

A road where traffic is allowed in one direction only. Sign C2 closes the road in this direction to vehicles, riders and animal handlers; C3 and C4 point out the permitted direction. A plate may exempt cyclists and moped riders, so you can still meet a bicycle coming the other way — look both ways when pulling out.

What you do before the emergency services arrive: your own safety first, call 112, do not move the casualty unless there is immediate danger. A motorcyclist’s helmet stays on unless they are not breathing.

A motor vehicle driven solely by an electric motor whose traction energy comes from a traction battery installed in the vehicle (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). The word solely is what distinguishes it from a hybrid. For traffic what matters most is that such a vehicle is almost silent at low speed; that is why the rules prescribe an acoustic vehicle alerting system.

An area beginning at sign G5 and ending at G6. You may drive no faster than 15 km/h, pedestrians may use the full width of the road, and parking is allowed only in the designated places.

A version of the test for candidates with test anxiety: more time, an examiner with additional training, room to pause. The driving requirements are not lower — only the conditions differ.

A non-self-propelled wheeled vehicle designed and built to be towed by a bicycle (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). Often there is a child inside. For you as a driver it means: that bicycle is twice as long as it looks, the trailer is low and falls outside your mirror view, and you may only pull back in once you are fully past the trailer.

A load carrier for bicycles at the rear or on the roof. When carried at the rear the carrier must be properly fixed to the vehicle and, with the bicycles, may not project more than 0.20 m beyond the sides. If it screens the lighting, the carrier itself must bear two red rear lights, two red brake lights, two red reflectors and two amber indicators, no more than 0.50 m from the widest point; if it screens the number plate, a second plate with the same registration belongs on it (Regeling voertuigen, art. 5.18.7).

An independent road for cyclists, indicated by sign G11 (compulsory) or G13 (optional). Under G12a mopeds may use it too.

Chequered marking at a bus stop. Stopping there is prohibited, even briefly, so the bus can reach the stop; without the marking, 12 metres from the sign apply (art. 23(1)(e) RVV).

A round blue sign with a white symbol, mostly from chapter D of annex 1: compulsory direction, roundabout instruction, compulsory cycle path. It prescribes what you must do. Road users are obliged to obey traffic signs containing a command or prohibition (art. 62), so ignoring a mandatory sign is an offence even when it looks safe.

Stop, unless the short distance makes that unsafe. It is not an invitation to speed up.

A bay with sign E6, only for holders of a disabled parking card; if a registration is shown on the plate below, it is reserved for that one vehicle. Parking there without entitlement carries one of the highest parking fines and can mean towing.

A row of white triangles on the road surface, points towards you: give priority to drivers on the intersecting road. They work on their own, even without sign B6. Because they regulate priority, traffic lights do override them.

The brake that holds the vehicle when it stands still. Cars must have a parking brake that works on at least two wheels (Regeling voertuigen, art. 5.2.39). When parking on a slope you apply it and additionally leave the car in gear or in the park position. Driving off with the handbrake still on burns the linings and costs braking power exactly when you need it. An electric parking brake does the same, but with a button.

Calling or operating a device without holding it. A person driving a vehicle is forbidden to hold, while driving, a mobile electronic device that can be used for communication or information processing; a mobile phone, a tablet computer and a media player count in any case (art. 61a). The line is therefore holding, not talking, and the ban applies to every driver, on a bicycle too. Hands-free calling still distracts: your eyes look, your head listens.

A narrow, pointed direction sign for cyclists and moped riders, laid down in chapter K of annex 1 as sign K7. One arm carries a local destination, an interlocal destination and the cycle route number, the urban number above and the interlocal numbers below. The fingerpost belongs to the cycle network and not to car signing: its colours and numbers are different ones. For stacked cycle destinations there is also sign K8.

Rain that freezes on contact with a cold road surface and forms a thin, transparent layer of ice. You can hardly see it: the asphalt merely looks wet and shines a little more. Grip almost disappears, so art. 19 bites hard, because stopping within the distance you can see over then demands braking far earlier. Bridges, flyovers and shaded spots freeze first.

A sign from chapter L of annex 1, which is called Information: it reports how the road is laid out ahead without ordering or forbidding anything itself. It covers among others the headroom of an underpass, the bus and tram stop, the end of a lane, the fork, the dead-end road, the road tunnel, the refuge bay, the emergency telephone and the passing place. Two of them do bind: signs L11 and L12 state that a traffic sign applies only to the lane or lanes indicated, which ties in with art. 65 lid 1. Do not confuse an information sign with a mandatory or prohibitory sign, for only the latter fall under the duty to obey of art. 62.

Passing the vehicle in front on the left. Before pulling out it must be certain that the whole manoeuvre fits: clear view, room to return, no oncoming vehicle approaching. Deciding halfway is too late — by then there is no way back.

A ban imposed by sign F1 or F3. F1 forbids motor vehicles overtaking ONE ANOTHER; overtaking a cyclist or a tractor is therefore allowed.

The paved bank along water where ships can moor, and thus a road with open water directly beside the carriageway. Annex 1 gives sign J26 the description quay or river bank: a warning sign, not a prohibition. There is usually no crash barrier and no verge to swerve onto, so the safety margin is the width of the carriageway itself.

A vehicle with a permanently fitted living area: table, seats, sleeping place, cooking facility and storage must all be fixed in it (art. 1, through the Regeling voertuigen). If the registration document lists it as a bedrijfsauto and it weighs more than 3500 kg, its special maximum speed is 80 km/h (art. 22).

The white line marking the edge of the carriageway. What lies beyond is verge or hard shoulder and is not part of the carriageway: driving, overtaking or queue-jumping there is not allowed. A broken edge line lets a driveway or lay-by through; a solid edge line is part of the road marking and is no invitation to use the verge.

The load-bearing skeleton of a tyre — the cord layers under the rubber that hold the shape and the pressure. The Regeling voertuigen is strict here: tyres may show no damage in which the carcass is visible, and a tyre also fails if the carcass is visible in the bottom of a groove (art. 5.2.27). Visible carcass means the tyre may burst at any moment; inflating or driving on does not help.

A charging point for electric cars. The bay in front is reserved by sign E4 with a supplementary plate for vehicles that are charging; standing there without charging is illegal parking, even in an electric car.

Loading or unloading goods too heavy or bulky to carry, right there and then. While that is happening, a parking ban does not count as parking. Shopping or waiting does not qualify.

What you carry. The driver is responsible for ensuring it cannot shift, fall or obstruct the view. Protruding loads must be marked; behind the car they may protrude by at most one metre.

A tractor or similar machine. Since 2021 it carries a registration plate and needs its own category T licence; its design speed is 40 km/h. It is not allowed on motorways or expressways.

A light on the side of a motor vehicle used for additional lighting during slow manoeuvres (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). You may show it together with dipped beam or fog light, but only up to a speed of 10 km/h (art. 41(2)). Above that it must be switched off.

A light fitted as high as possible at the widest point of the vehicle, clearly showing the vehicle’s overall width (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). It supplements the position and rear lights on large vehicles. You may show it together with dipped beam or fog light (art. 41(2)). Those high little lights in the distance mean a wide vehicle is approaching.

For vehicles of categories M and N: the mass of the vehicle with the fuel tank or tanks filled to at least 90% of capacity, including the mass of the driver (75 kg), fuel and fluids, and the standard equipment to the manufacturer’s specification (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). So it is not an empty car: the driver and the fluids are already counted. What you may still load is the difference from the permitted maximum mass.

For vehicles of categories M and N: the mass in running order less 100 kg; for category O vehicles it equals the mass in running order (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). Those 100 kg stand for the driver with luggage. This figure appears on the registration document and is the starting point for how much you may still load.

The period between sunset and sunrise (art. 1). By night dipped beam is compulsory (art. 32), and anyone stationary outside a built-up area on the carriageway, a lay-by or a hard shoulder shows sidelights and tail lights (art. 38). Night therefore begins at sunset, not when it starts to feel dark.

A wet surface lengthens the braking distance considerably: at the same speed you need appreciably more metres than on dry asphalt.

The device or app that shows you the route. If a phone or tablet is used for it, art. 61a applies in full: holding it while driving is not allowed, not even for a quick look. So set the route before departure and use a holder. A navigation voice is not a traffic sign: road users must follow the signs containing an order or a prohibition, and those override the traffic rules (art. 62). Keep reading what stands beside the road.

A signal telling road users behind the vehicle that it is decelerating sharply, given by the simultaneous operation of all brake lights or all direction indicators (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). It comes on automatically in an emergency stop. If you see it flashing ahead, that driver is braking far harder than usual: keep your distance and brake too.

A temporary route around a closed stretch of road. Annex 1 knows the diversion as sign K9: a measure applied to an advance direction sign along a non-motorway. In practice the route is set out with yellow signs running from junction to junction, and that chain is the whole point: miss one sign and you lose the route. The ordinary traffic rules keep applying, and where temporary markings lie on the road surface they prevail over the fixed ones (art. 63a).

Trading a foreign driving licence for a Dutch one, which you do at the municipality and not at the RDW. An EU or EFTA licence may still be used for fifteen years from its date of issue for categories AM, A1, A2, A, B and BE, and for less for the heavy categories; a licence from outside the EU and the EEA may be used for another 185 days after you live here. A pending application grants no right to drive: once the term is up you may not drive, even while your application is being processed. Where exchange is not possible, the route through the CBR remains, with theory and practical exams taken afresh.

A load which, for carriage by road, cannot be split into two or more loads without excessive cost or risk of damage (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). Think of a bridge section, a wind turbine blade or a transformer. Only such a load justifies abnormal transport with an exemption and escort; ordinary stackable freight does not.

A rectangular plate beneath a traffic sign. It never stands alone: it narrows the main sign to certain vehicle categories, days, hours or purposes, or grants an exception. With a parking ban, for instance, the plate decides on which days and hours the ban applies (art. 24). So always read the sign first and the plate second.

A parking facility for people transferring to public transport, marked by sign E12 of annex 1. The idea is that you leave the car at the edge of town and continue by bus, tram, metro or train, cutting out the busiest kilometres. Parking for a purpose other than the one on the sign is forbidden (art. 24 lid 1 under d), so it is not an ordinary car park for someone shopping nearby. A plate may limit the effect to certain days or hours (art. 24 lid 2).

A hardened strip beside the carriageway meant for stationary or parked vehicles; the decree calls it parkeerhaven or parkeerstrook (art. 1). It is not part of the carriageway, yet outside built-up areas you must still show sidelights and tail lights there at night (art. 38). Do not confuse it with the hard shoulder, which is for emergencies, not for parking.

A light intended to indicate the presence of a parked vehicle (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). Some cars can show it on one side only. Note: what the law requires of a stationary motor vehicle on the carriageway outside built-up areas at night is position light and rear light (art. 38), not this parking light.

A card with a clock, displayed behind the windscreen. It shows when you arrived, not when you will leave. Moving it while the car is parked is not allowed: that counts as exceeding the time.

The vehicle authority: registrations, MOT records, type approval, and issuing the licence document through the municipality. The RDW deals with vehicles and documents; the CBR with the driver.

The metres you cover between seeing the hazard and your foot touching the brake pedal. It grows in direct proportion to speed, because you react for just as long but cover more ground in that time.

The assembly of everything that brakes: pedal, booster, lines, hoses, cylinders, discs or drums and linings, plus the parking brake. Cars must have a braking system whose parts meet the requirements of art. 5.2.31 — among them no seriously deformed brake hoses and no serious corrosion on brake line or disc. To judge how the system works, dismantling is allowed only in the cases of art. 5.1b.3.

The rigid pipe carrying brake fluid under pressure from the master cylinder to the wheels. It runs along under the car and therefore rusts first: where there is corrosion on the brake line or disc, the special assessment of art. 5.2.31 applies. Plastic brake lines may also show no kinks. A leaking line means a pedal that sinks away and brakes that no longer hold.

Two opposite bends close behind one another. Sign J4 warns of a double bend going right first, sign J5 of one going left first; so the first curve on the sign shows the direction of the first bend. In practice it means there is no straight bit in between to correct on: speed comes off before the first bend, not between them. Where a single bend is meant, signs J2 and J3 are used.

A towing vehicle with one or more trailers, judged as a single unit. On a motorway a combination longer than 7 metres including its load may use only the two rightmost lanes where the carriageway has three or more (art. 43). Signs with a length or mass limit likewise apply to the combination, not to the car alone.

The European accident statement you complete together after a collision. The front holds the joint facts: place, time, registrations, insurers, sketch and the ticked circumstances; both drivers sign that side. On the back each writes his own account, and that part you fill in alone. Signing means agreeing to the facts, not admitting guilt. Fill the form in on the spot, because tracing names and registrations afterwards rarely works.

A vehicle as referred to in article 1, first paragraph, point u of the Act. In any event this covers a vehicle whose load-bearing body parts, chassis longitudinal members or one or more door pillars are seriously deformed, whose roof has been removed, with serious fire or water damage, or whose frame is seriously damaged (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). The list is about the load-bearing structure: a dented wing does not make it one, a buckled chassis member does.

A coach whose registration document or the registration record shows that it is built to qualify for a maximum speed of 100 km/h (art. 1). Ordinary coaches may do 80 km/h, the T100-bus 100 (art. 22). Towing a trailer up to 3500 kg it drops back to 90 km/h (art. 22).

A place where you take on fuel or charge. Parking areas, petrol stations and bus stops located along motorways form no part of the motorway, and the same holds along an autoweg (art. 1). That is not word play: the prohibitions of art. 43 do not apply on the forecourt itself, but as soon as you drive back you enter the motorway again and must merge like anyone else. Engine off while fuelling, and no smoking or phoning at the pump.

A vehicle with a blue plate and taxi sign. Supplementary plates reading «except taxi» give it access to bus lanes and stopping places. That exception applies to the taxi only — an ordinary car behind it may not follow.

A parking facility meant only for taxis, marked by sign E5 of annex 1. Art. 24 lid 1 under d forbids parking in a parking facility with a vehicle outside the stated category or for a purpose other than stated; an ordinary car does not belong there, not even briefly. If a plate names days or hours, the indication applies only then (art. 24 lid 2). Where parking bays are marked out, parking is allowed only inside those bays (art. 24 lid 4).

The pipework that carries combustion gases away. Cars with a combustion engine must have an exhaust system that is gastight over its whole length, apart from the drain holes, and the system must be properly fixed; cars without a registered noise value may not be able to produce more than 95 dB(A) at the outlet (Regeling voertuigen, art. 5.2.11). A leak lets carbon monoxide in, and a loud sports exhaust also runs into art. 57: no unnecessary noise.

A lane on which you reduce speed after leaving the through carriageway. You brake here, not on the carriageway itself.

A place where you enter the road from a yard, car park or drive. That is a special manoeuvre, so you must let ALL other traffic go first.

A line of vehicles travelling together to a funeral, recognisable by lights on in daytime and sometimes small flags. Like a convoy the procession is not broken up; that does not give it priority over signs or lights.

Farm animals being driven across or along the road. Sign J28 warns of livestock on the road; signs C1, C2 and C9 exclude livestock together with riders and handlers. Art. 51 lid 1 forbids letting riding or draught animals or cattle roam unsupervised on the road, so a handler always goes with them. Come calmly to a stop and let the herd pass: sounding the horn or driving through scatters the animals, and only then is the road truly blocked.

A vehicle ferry. On board you switch off the engine and apply the handbrake. Boarding and leaving, you follow the crew’s instructions; these override the ordinary priority rules here, just as a traffic controller does.

The whole of springs, arms and bushes connecting the wheel to the body and absorbing unevenness. Cars must have a properly working suspension system (art. 5.2.28). Suspension parts may show no excessive leakage of fluid, water excepted (art. 5.2.11a). A poor suspension lets the wheel leave the road after a bump, and exactly then there is no braking force and no steering force.

A part of the structure of a moped, motorcycle or three-wheeled motor vehicle that protects rider or passengers against head injury (art. 1). For a type designated by the Dienst Wegverkeer the helmet duty falls away for a seat protected by such a cell and fitted with a seat belt — but only if that belt is actually worn (art. 60 lid 2).

Legally required liability insurance. It attaches to the registration, not to the driver: while a vehicle is registered in your name it must be insured, even standing still. Suspending the registration lifts that duty.

A triangular sign with a red border from chapter J of annex 1: J17 road narrowing, J20 skidding risk, J29 oncoming traffic, J38 speed hump and so on. It warns of a hazard ahead but contains no command or prohibition itself — you slow down because you must be able to see the road clear, not because the sign orders it.

A symbol on the dashboard. Red means stop now — oil pressure, coolant, brakes, battery. Yellow or amber means you can drive on but have it checked. Green and blue are not warnings but notifications.

The time you stand still before a level crossing, a movable bridge, a traffic light or a queue. Where you spend that time is not a matter of patience but of rule: road users may enter a level crossing only if they can carry straight on and clear the crossing entirely, and they let a rail vehicle go first while leaving the crossing free (art. 15a). The same thought applies at a junction: drivers may not block a junction (art. 14). So you wait before it, not on it.

A crossing with white stripes. You give way to pedestrians who are crossing and to those clearly about to cross. Overtaking just before a zebra crossing is prohibited: the overtaken car blocks the view.

The stretch of road you can survey. Art. 19 ties your speed to it: you must be able to stop within what you see and what is clear.

A light which, seen from the side, makes the presence of the vehicle known (art. 1.1 Regeling voertuigen). Long vehicles and trailers carry them along the flank. They matter at junctions and level crossings: a semi-trailer standing across the road shows no front or rear lights, and these lights are what reveal its length.

The pane in a door or in the side of the body. The law does not treat all side windows alike: art. 5.2.42 names, beside the windscreen, expressly the side windows next to the driver’s seat, and it is those that may show no damage or discolouration. Rear windows and side windows behind them may be dark. That is why tinted film is allowed at the back and not at the front.