Lesson 5. Using the road: place, speed, overtaking and stopping

This chapter covers the ordinary drive: how fast you may go, where on the road you belong, when you may pass someone, and where you may leave the car. It looks like the easiest subject in the theory exam, and it still costs a lot of marks. The reason is that the rules are short and the exceptions are many: one sentence in the law, and under it a row of special cases — and those special cases are exactly what the exam tests.

Two things separate a right answer from a wrong one here. First, almost no rule depends on the vehicle alone or on the road alone; it depends on the combination. A moped does not have one speed limit, it has four, and which one applies depends on where it is riding. Second, several words that mean roughly the same thing in everyday English are two separate legal terms in the Dutch code: stilstaan and parkeren, bromfiets and snorfiets, autoweg and autosnelweg. Read a question with the wrong term and you will pick an answer that is true in itself but does not belong to the question.

Speed: three layers stacked on top of each other

Your maximum speed comes from three sources at once, and you have to walk down all three before you answer.

The first layer is the statutory default: what applies when there is no sign. Art. 20 sets it inside the built-up area: «Binnen de bebouwde kom gelden de volgende maximumsnelheden: a. voor motorvoertuigen 50 km per uur» — that is the default figure for motor vehicles inside the built-up area. The bebouwde kom is a legal area, not a visual one: it begins at the sign and ends at the sign, not where the houses stop.

Art. 21 does the same outside it: «Buiten de bebouwde kom gelden de volgende maximumsnelheden: a. voor motorvoertuigen op autosnelwegen 130 km per uur, op autowegen 100 km per uur en op andere wegen 80 km per uur» — the motorway, the expressway and every other road each get their own figure. Which of the three you are on is announced by the sign at the entrance: the motorway by sign G1 — autosnelweg, the expressway by sign G3 — autoweg. They are constantly mixed up: the autosnelweg has separated carriageways and grade-separated junctions, the autoweg does not always.

Here sits the best-known trap of the whole subject. The law says 130 on the motorway, but almost the entire network is signed 100 during the day, from 06:00 to 19:00. That is not a change in the law, it is signage — and a sign beats the default. Art. 63: «Verkeerstekens gaan boven verkeersregels, voor zover deze regels onverenigbaar zijn met deze tekens» — signs override the rules wherever the two are incompatible. And art. 62 obliges you to obey that sign: «Weggebruikers zijn verplicht gevolg te geven aan de verkeerstekens die een gebod of verbod inhouden» — road users must obey the signs that contain an order or a prohibition. So the question "may I do a hundred and thirty here?" is answered by looking at the sign, not at the law.

The second layer is the sign itself. Sign A1 — maximumsnelheid sets the limit, sign A2 — einde maximumsnelheid ends it. Sign A4 — adviessnelheid, the blue rectangular plate you see in bends, is not a limit at all: there is no fine attached, but the figure is calculated for a wet surface and an average car.

The third layer is your own vehicle, and this is the one most candidates forget. Mopeds, light mopeds and powered mobility vehicles have their own figures, and those differ by the part of the road they are using.

On top of that, art. 22 sets special maxima for whole vehicle categories: «Voor zover niet ingevolge andere artikelen van dit besluit een lagere maximumsnelheid geldt, gelden voor de volgende voertuigen de volgende bijzondere maximumsnelheden» — unless a lower limit applies under another article, the following special maxima apply.

These own maxima are hard limits. Art. 63b: where a sign shows a higher speed than your own maximum, «geldt de laagste aangegeven snelheid» — the lowest indicated speed applies. A lorry passing a sign that says a hundred is still limited to eighty, and a car with a trailer keeps its own figure. The same article settles a conflict between two signs: «Indien zowel door verkeerstekens op borden als door elektronische signaleringsborden een maximumsnelheid wordt aangegeven, geldt de laagste aangegeven maximumsnelheid» — if a fixed sign and an electronic gantry sign disagree, the lower one wins. A sign can therefore lower your own maximum but never raise it.

There are lower limits too. Art. 42: «Het gebruik van de autosnelweg is slechts toegestaan voor bestuurders van een motorvoertuig waarmee met een snelheid van ten minste 60 km per uur mag en kan worden gereden» — you may use the motorway only with a vehicle that may and can reach that speed; for the expressway the wording is «ten minste 50 km per uur». Note the pair «mag en kan» — "may and can": it is not about the speed you happen to be driving but about what your vehicle is allowed and able to do. Mopeds, light mopeds and brommobiels are barred: art. 42 speaks only of motor vehicles, which under art. 1 they are not — and their own maximum is below the threshold anyway.

A living zone has its own figure. Art. 45: «Bestuurders mogen binnen een erf niet sneller rijden dan 15 km per uur.» The erf begins at sign G5 — erf and ends at sign G6 — einde erf; do not confuse it with the built-up area, which is a different zone with a different limit.

One small figure comes from the lighting rules and is still asked under speed: art. 41 allows manoeuvring lights only up to «een maximumsnelheid geldt van 10 km per uur».

The rule that stands above every sign

A sign gives you a ceiling, not permission. Art. 19: «De bestuurder moet in staat zijn zijn voertuig tot stilstand te brengen binnen de afstand waarover hij de weg kan overzien en waarover deze vrij is» — you must be able to stop within the distance you can see to be clear. In thick fog with visibility of a few dozen metres, doing a hundred breaks art. 19 even under a sign that allows a hundred. This article is the reason why "there is a sign, so it is allowed" is almost always the wrong answer on the exam.

The arithmetic shows why it is not an empty formula. Braking distance grows with the SQUARE of speed: at 50 km/h it is about 12.1 metres on a dry surface, at 100 km/h about 48.2 metres — four times as much. Stopping distance, reaction distance plus braking distance, grows more slowly: from 25.9 to 76.0 metres, about 2.9 times. Candidates who mix the two terms up pick the wrong figure every time.

The law names no number of metres to the vehicle ahead; the rule of thumb is the two-second rule. When the car in front passes a post you count 2 seconds; on a wet surface you make it 4. Driving too close is an offence in its own right, not a matter of style.

Overtaking: left is the rule, right is the exception

Art. 11 is three words long: «Inhalen geschiedt links» — overtaking is done on the left. Underneath sit the cases where the right is allowed, and those are what gets asked, because everybody remembers "left".

You yourself may pass on the right in four situations. Art. 11 allows it past a driver who has moved over to the left and signalled: «Bestuurders die links voorgesorteerd hebben en te kennen hebben gegeven dat zij naar links willen afslaan, worden rechts ingehaald.» Both conditions count: no indicator, no exception. The same article allows it to the right of a block marking — «Bestuurders die zich rechts van een blokmarkering bevinden mogen bestuurders die zich links van deze markering bevinden rechts inhalen» — and past a tram: «Bestuurders mogen trams rechts inhalen.» The fourth case is in art. 13, on queues: «Files mogen aan de rechterzijde worden ingehaald.» A file is stationary or slow-moving traffic on every lane; the RVV gives no definition of it, heavy traffic alone is not a file, and "he is braking, so the right is fine" is not an exception.

One more rule in art. 11 is not about you but about the cyclist: «Fietsers dienen elkaar links in te halen; zij mogen andere bestuurders rechts inhalen» — cyclists overtake each other on the left, but they may pass other drivers on the right. So the cyclist coming up on your right while you wait is doing nothing wrong.

Where overtaking is forbidden, the law usually says so. Art. 12: «Het is verboden een voertuig vlak voor of op een voetgangersoversteekplaats in te halen» — the ban applies even when no pedestrian is in sight, because your own car hides whoever is coming. Sign F1 forbids motor vehicles to overtake one another; sign F3 forbids it to lorries only.

The line on the road counts as well. Art. 76: «Een doorgetrokken streep die zich niet langs de rand van de rijbaanverharding bevindt, mag niet worden overschreden.» Where such a line runs, you cannot overtake without crossing it, so you may not overtake.

Two standard exam traps at the end. Overtaking does not buy you extra speed: art. 21 keeps applying halfway through the manoeuvre. And art. 13 also says that in queuing traffic you need not follow the rightmost lane — that is relief from keeping right, not a licence to move faster than the lane beside you.

Place on the road: who belongs where

The main rule is art. 3: «Bestuurders zijn verplicht zoveel mogelijk rechts te houden» — drivers must keep as far to the right as possible. On a three-lane motorway that means the right-hand lane unless you are overtaking, and back again afterwards. The same article gives cyclists a right of their own: «Fietsers mogen met zijn tweeën naast elkaar rijden. Dit geldt niet voor snorfietsers» — cyclists may ride two abreast, riders of a snorfiets may not.

On the motorway and the expressway art. 43 adds three prohibitions: turning round and reversing (first paragraph), standing still on the carriageway (second) and, outside emergencies, using the hard shoulder, an emergency bay or the verge (third). The fourth paragraph is about place on the road: on a motorway with three or more lanes, lorries and combinations longer than 7 metres stay on the two right-hand lanes.

The narrowing without signs belongs here too. A narrowing is not a junction: priority to the right does not apply there, and the RVV assigns no priority at all. So there is no priority rule; art. 19 decides — you must be able to stop in time — and beyond that, keeping right and the ban on causing danger apply. The sensible thing is to let whoever is already in the narrowing through: they cannot reverse. Where signs are present they say it outright: sign F5 makes you wait for oncoming traffic, sign F6 says that oncoming traffic waits for you.

The law then distributes road users over the parts of the road. Cyclists come under art. 5: they use the compulsory cycle path, sign G11 — verplicht fietspad, or the cycle/moped path, sign G12a — fiets/bromfietspad; if there is none, the carriageway. The non-compulsory cycle path, sign G13 — onverplicht fietspad, a cyclist may use but need not: riding on the carriageway alongside it is perfectly lawful. A cycle on more than two wheels, or with a trailer, that is wider than 0.75 metre including its load may use the carriageway — a right, not a duty; for the moped in the same situation it is a duty, see art. 6 below.

For the snorfiets the same article holds a favourite exam item: «Zij mogen het onverplichte fietspad gebruiken. Bestuurders van snorfietsen uitgerust met een verbrandingsmotor mogen het onverplichte fietspad slechts gebruiken met uitgeschakelde motor» — a petrol snorfiets may use the non-compulsory cycle path only with the engine switched off.

The moped rider comes under art. 6: the cycle/moped path, and the carriageway if that path is missing. Wide machines go to the carriageway: «Bestuurders van bromfietsen op meer dan twee wielen en bromfietsen met aanhangwagen, die met inbegrip van de lading breder zijn dan 0,75 meter, gebruiken de rijbaan.» Bromfiets and snorfiets are two legal categories, told apart by the yellow and the blue plate; the difference is 45 against 25 and a different place on the road.

Art. 7 gives the powered mobility vehicle the widest choice of all: «het trottoir, het voetpad, het fietspad, het fiets/bromfietspad of de rijbaan» — pavement, footpath, cycle path, cycle/moped path or carriageway. Seeing one on the pavement is not an offence. Art. 8 sends the rider on horseback to the bridle path, sign G9 — ruiterpad, and failing that to the verge or the carriageway.

Art. 10 catches everyone else: all drivers not named separately use the carriageway. The same article closes one lane off: «Andere bestuurders dan fietsers en bestuurders van een gehandicaptenvoertuig mogen fietsstroken met doorgetrokken strepen niet gebruiken» — a cycle lane bounded by a solid line is closed to other drivers. And art. 27 says where a two-wheeler belongs when it is parked: «Fietsen en bromfietsen worden geplaatst op het trottoir, op het voetpad of in de berm dan wel op andere door het bevoegde gezag aangewezen plaatsen.»

Place on the road is not only about which part you take, but also about how much room you leave. When you pass a cyclist or a snorfiets, keep more room than the width of an opening car door and lift off the throttle: right beside him he has no room to swerve and you have no time to react. Art. 19 and art. 5 of the WVW 1994 ask exactly that.

Merging, changing lanes and leaving the carriageway

This is the block where candidates most often apply a priority argument that does not exist. Art. 54 rules it out: «Bestuurders die een bijzondere manoeuvre uitvoeren, zoals wegrijden, achteruitrijden, uit een uitrit de weg oprijden, van een weg een inrit oprijden, keren, van de invoegstrook de doorgaande rijbaan oprijden, van de doorgaande rijbaan de uitrijstrook oprijden en van rijstrook wisselen, moeten het overige verkeer voor laten gaan» — anyone performing a special manoeuvre must let all other traffic go first.

So a merging driver has no claim on the space at all: he waits for a gap and does not create one. Traffic on the main carriageway need not brake and need not move over. Art. 1 explains which carriageway that is: «doorgaande rijbaan: rijbaan zonder de invoeg- en uitrijstroken» — the main carriageway is the carriageway without the acceleration and deceleration lanes. The slip road is not part of it, which is why joining it is a manoeuvre and not ordinary driving. You match speed on the acceleration lane, not after it; you leave by moving onto the deceleration lane first and braking there.

Signalling is compulsory and separately regulated. Art. 55 requires the driver of a motor vehicle to signal with the indicator — a moped rider may also use an arm signal — when moving off, when overtaking another motor vehicle, when joining and leaving the main carriageway, when changing lanes and «bij alle andere belangrijke zijdelingse verplaatsingen» — at every other significant sideways movement. The order on the road is mirror, indicator, shoulder check, and only then the wheel: the indicator announces, it does not grant a right.

The space between lanes is not space. Art. 77: «Bestuurders mogen verdrijvingsvlakken en puntstukken niet gebruiken» — hatched areas and the triangular nose between a slip road and the main carriageway are out of bounds. Missed your exit? Drive on to the next one; cutting back across the nose is forbidden and produces exactly the collision the marking is there to prevent. The same article names two exceptions: following a rush-hour lane through a split or a merge, and lawfully following a bus lane through one.

Once you are in a turning lane, the arrow is an order. Art. 78: «Bestuurders die de rijbaan volgen zijn verplicht op een kruispunt de richting te volgen die de voorsorteerstrook waarop zij zich bevinden aangeeft.» A cycle lane inside that turning lane is part of it. The arrow in the deceleration lane binds you in the same way.

Zip merging — taking turns as close to the narrowing as possible — is not a norm in the RVV. It is safety advice; the duty stays the one in art. 54 and rests on whoever changes lanes, including a lorry that fills the whole lane.

Special lanes: each with its own lock

The difficulty here is that every lane is closed off in a DIFFERENT way. The answer depends on the lock, not on the name.

The bus lane and the bus strip are closed by the WORD painted on the surface, not by the colour. Art. 81: «Busbanen en busstroken waarop het woord «BUS» is aangebracht mogen slechts worden gebruikt door bestuurders van een lijnbus, een autobus of een tram. Busbanen en busstroken waarop het woord «LIJNBUS» is aangebracht mogen slechts worden gebruikt door bestuurders van een lijnbus of een tram.» So BUS admits the scheduled bus, any other bus and the tram, while LIJNBUS admits only the scheduled bus and the tram. Sign F13 — busbaan of -strook marks it. Red asphalt without the word means nothing.

The cycle lane is closed by the TYPE OF LINE: only with solid lines is it barred to others (art. 10). With a broken line it is not forbidden to you, but it is not yours either: art. 3 and the duty to leave the cyclist room apply as usual.

The rush-hour lane is closed by the SIGNAL above it. Art. 73 gives the meanings of the lane signals: a green arrow means the lane may be used, a red cross that it may not, a white arrow is the advance warning of that cross, and the words «BUS» and «LIJNBUS» restrict the lane as art. 81 does on the surface — with one difference: above the lane, art. 73 does not mention the tram. The same article says of the hard shoulder: «De vluchtstrook mag alleen in noodgevallen worden gebruikt» — emergencies only. A traffic jam is not an emergency. When the rush-hour lane is open you may cross the solid line to reach or leave it; art. 76 names that as an express exception.

Stopping on these lanes is separately forbidden: art. 23 bars it on a cycle lane and on the carriageway alongside a cycle lane, and also on the carriageway alongside a bus lane.

Stopping and parking are two different prohibitions

The word first. Art. 1: «parkeren: het laten stilstaan van een voertuig anders dan gedurende de tijd die nodig is voor en gebruikt wordt tot het onmiddellijk in- of uitstappen van passagiers of voor het onmiddellijk laden of lossen van goederen» — parking is standing still for longer than the immediate boarding or unloading takes. Waiting for someone who has not arrived yet is therefore parking. Every act of parking is standing still, but not every act of standing still is parking — and most of the questions are built on that.

Art. 23 lists where STANDING STILL is forbidden: on a junction or a level crossing, on a cycle lane, «op een oversteekplaats of binnen een afstand van vijf meter daarvan», in a tunnel, «bij een bord bushalte ter hoogte van de geblokte markering dan wel, ingeval die markering niet is aangebracht, op een afstand van minder dan 12 meter van het bord», alongside a bus strip and alongside a solid yellow line. Where standing still is forbidden you may not even let a passenger out. At the bus stop the article carries its own exception: the ban «geldt niet voor het onmiddellijk laten in- en uitstappen van passagiers». Sign E2 — verbod stil te staan imposes the same ban with a sign.

Art. 24 is about PARKING and has a list of its own: «bij een kruispunt op een afstand van minder dan vijf meter daarvan», «voor een inrit of een uitrit», outside the built-up area on the carriageway of a priority road, alongside a broken yellow line, on a loading and unloading bay, and in a permit holders' space. The same article forbids double parking and, where bays are marked, requires you to park inside them. Sign E1 — parkeerverbod forbids parking; standing still stays allowed there.

That list in art. 24 is closed, and it produces a difference from many neighbouring countries: parking facing against the direction of travel is allowed in the Netherlands wherever parking is allowed, because it is not on the list. Getting there you may not cross a solid line (art. 76) and may hinder no one, and pulling away you are the special manoeuvre of art. 54 that lets everyone else go first.

The parking-disc zone is sign E10 — parkeerschijf-zone. Art. 25 forbids parking there except in the marked places or places with a blue line, and then only with a clearly visible parking disc behind the windscreen. The disc shows the time you arrived; when setting it you may round up to the next whole or half hour, and a disc that advances itself while you are parked is forbidden.

In a disabled parking space, sign E6 — gehandicaptenparkeerplaats, art. 26 allows only a mobility vehicle or a motor vehicle on more than two wheels displaying a valid disabled parking card, and only when the parking is directly connected with transporting the disabled person.

What that card switches off is set out in art. 85, and the list is closed. The parking-disc zone falls away, and a few other prohibitions fall away «indien niet langer wordt geparkeerd dan drie uren» — provided you do not park longer than three hours, with a visible disc showing the starting time. Remember the 3-hour limit and the word "closed": prohibitions that are not on the list, such as the ban in front of a driveway, simply keep applying.

Finally, a duty that belongs with stopping but is about pedestrians. Art. 49: «Bestuurders moeten voetgangers en bestuurders van een gehandicaptenvoertuig, die op een voetgangersoversteekplaats oversteken of kennelijk op het punt staan zulks te doen, voor laten gaan» — you let across anyone who is crossing or is plainly about to. The zebra is marked by sign L2 — voetgangersoversteekplaats. Waiting until someone steps onto the carriageway is already too late, and that is exactly why you may neither stand nor overtake just before it.

The norm above all norms

Whatever the signs say, art. 5 of the WVW 1994 remains: «Het is een ieder verboden zich zodanig te gedragen dat gevaar op de weg wordt veroorzaakt of kan worden veroorzaakt of dat het verkeer op de weg wordt gehinderd of kan worden gehinderd» — nobody may behave in a way that causes or may cause danger on the road, or that obstructs or may obstruct traffic. Stopping in a blind bend is therefore wrong even where no sign and no line forbids it: together with art. 19 that is the answer to every question that starts with "may I do this here?" and shows no prohibition sign.

What to remember

• With no sign: 50 inside the built-up area, 80 outside it, 100 on the expressway, 130 on the motorway — but by day the motorway is signed 100, and the sign wins.
• A sign can lower your own maximum, never raise it: lorry 80, brommobiel 45, snorfiets 25.
• Lower limits and the living zone: 60 to be allowed on the motorway, 50 for the expressway, 15 inside an erf.
• A sign is a ceiling, not permission — art. 19 and the visible clear road come first.
• Following distance: 2 seconds on a dry surface, 4 on a wet one.
• Overtaking is done on the left; on the right only past a signalling left-turner, to the right of a block marking, past a tram, and in a queue.
• Bromfiets and snorfiets are two categories; autoweg and autosnelweg are two road types; standing still and parking are two prohibitions.
• Merging, leaving and changing lanes are special manoeuvres: you let everyone else go first and the indicator gives you no right.
• Every special lane has its own lock: the word on the surface, the type of line, or the signal above it.
• Metres worth knowing by heart: 5 from a pedestrian crossing, 12 from a bus-stop sign without marking, 5 from a junction when parking.

In the law

• art. 1 — definitions: parking, main carriageway, acceleration lane, deceleration lane, hatched area, nose, snorfiets, autoweg, autosnelweg.
• art. 3 — keep as far right as possible; cyclists two abreast, snorfietsers not.
• art. 5 — where the cyclist and the snorfiets belong; engine off on the non-compulsory cycle path.
• art. 6 — where the moped rider belongs; wide machines to the carriageway.
• art. 7 — the mobility vehicle may use pavement, path or carriageway.
• art. 8 — the horse rider uses the bridle path, otherwise verge or carriageway.
• art. 10 — all other drivers use the carriageway; a cycle lane with solid lines is closed.
• art. 11 — overtaking is done on the left, with the four cases where the right is allowed.
• art. 12 — no overtaking just before or on a pedestrian crossing.
• art. 13 — in a queue the rightmost lane is not required, and queues may be passed on the right.
• art. 19 — be able to stop within the distance you can see to be clear.
• art. 20 — maximum speeds inside the built-up area.
• art. 21 — maximum speeds outside the built-up area.
• art. 22 — special maxima per vehicle category.
• art. 22a — maximum for tractors and mobile machines.
• art. 23 — where standing still is forbidden, with the bus-stop exception.
• art. 24 — where parking is forbidden; double parking and marked bays.
• art. 25 — the parking-disc zone and how the disc is used.
• art. 26 — who may use a disabled parking space.
• art. 27 — where bicycles and mopeds are to be placed.
• art. 41 — manoeuvring lights only below a low speed.
• art. 42 — the lower threshold for using motorway and expressway.
• art. 43 — turning, reversing and standing still on motorway and expressway; long vehicles keep to the two right-hand lanes.
• art. 45 — the speed inside an erf.
• art. 49 — let pedestrians on the crossing go first.
• art. 54 — special manoeuvres: let all other traffic go first.
• art. 55 — signal when moving off, overtaking, joining, leaving and moving sideways.
• art. 62 — obey signs that contain an order or a prohibition.
• art. 63 — signs override rules, in so far as the two are incompatible.
• art. 63b — for speed, the lowest indicated value applies.
• art. 73 — lane signals; the hard shoulder in emergencies only.
• art. 76 — a solid line may not be crossed, with the rush-hour lane as the exception.
• art. 77 — hatched areas and noses may not be used.
• art. 78 — the arrow in a turning lane and in a deceleration lane is an order.
• art. 81 — bus lanes and bus strips: the word on the surface decides who may use them.
• art. 85 — the disabled parking card has a closed list of exceptions.
• art. 5 WVW 1994 — cause no danger and obstruct no traffic.