Traffic lights — meaning of each colour
| What it means | Where it goes wrong | What you do | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green light | Proceed (art. 68(1)(a)). Green gives permission, not priority over everything: when turning you still give way to pedestrians and cyclists. | Reading green as “the way is clear”. The light regulates flow, not what happens inside the junction — do not enter if you cannot clear it. | Drive on — but only if the junction beyond is clear: art. 14 forbids blocking it, and green does not lift that ban. |
| Amber light | STOP. You may continue only if you are already so close that stopping is no longer reasonably possible (art. 68(1)(b)). | Reading amber as “hurry up”. The main rule is stop; going on is the exception, and it depends on distance, not on your hurry. | Stop. Only when stopping is no longer reasonably possible do you go on — judged by your distance and speed, not by your hurry. |
| Red light | Stop, with no exception (art. 68(1)(c)). | Assuming right on red is allowed, as in some countries. In the Netherlands only where a sign “Rechtsaf voor (brom)fietsers vrij” is posted, and that is not for cars. | Stop before the stop line, and if there is none, before the light — close enough that you can still see it. |
| Light with an arrow | Applies only to the direction the arrow shows (art. 68(2)). For other directions this light says nothing. | Reading a green arrow as green for everyone. If you are going another way, the ordinary light applies to you — or you wait. | The light applies SOLELY to the arrow direction. For another direction you look for the light that belongs to it. |
| Light showing a bicycle | Applies to cyclists, moped riders on a cycle/moped path and drivers of a disabled person's vehicle (art. 68(3)). | Watching the cycle light as a driver. It is not your light; you have your own, and they can differ. | As a driver you do not follow it, but you do read it: green for cyclists tells you cyclists are about to cross in front of you. |
| Tram/bus light | White or flashing white: proceed; amber: stop; red: stop (art. 70). It applies to trams and scheduled buses — and to anyone using a bus lane. | Mistaking the white light for a fault. Here white is a valid signal: proceed. | Nothing — unless you drive a scheduled bus or tram yourself. For you the ordinary light beside it applies. |
| Level-crossing light | Flashing white: no train approaching; flashing red: stop (art. 71). Two signals, no green. | Waiting for a green that never comes. At a crossing, flashing white is the go signal; if everything goes dark, ordinary rules apply and you look for yourself. | On flashing white drive on without hesitating; on flashing red stop and wait until it goes out. |
| Who wins in a conflict | Traffic lights override priority signs (art. 64). But instructions — for example from a traffic controller — override both signs and rules (art. 84). | Ignoring the controller because the light is green. The order is: instruction, then light, then sign, then rule. | First check whether someone is directing (art. 82), then the light (art. 64), and only then signs and the priority-to-the-right rule. |
The law itself
RVV1990 art. 68 lid 1RVV1990 art. 68 lid 2RVV1990 art. 68 lid 3RVV1990 art. 69 lid 1RVV1990 art. 70RVV1990 art. 71RVV1990 art. 64RVV1990 art. 84RVV1990 art. 14
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