Parking, stopping & special manoeuvres

In principle, you may park anywhere that is not forbidden. So the exam question is rarely whether parking is allowed, but rather exactly where: on the carriageway, in a bay or in the verge.

Pay attention to places with their own rule: the erf, the priority road outside the built-up area and the autosnelweg.

Key rule for the exam: you may park where it is not forbidden, both inside and outside the built-up area. In the verge it is always allowed. There is one place where parking is forbidden without a sign: on the carriageway of a priority road outside the built-up area.

Where may you put your car?

• On the carriageway, everywhere where it is not forbidden.
• In a parking bay. Park neatly within the lines, so you do not occupy two spaces at the same time.
• In the verge. You may always stop and park there, even if there is a prohibition sign along the carriageway. The same applies to a parking bay next to such a sign: why that is the case is explained under the signs.

Car with a trailer

A normal parking bay is usually too short for a car with a trailer. Then uncouple the trailer and park it in its own bay.

Suggestion lane

A suggestion lane is the lane separated from the side of the carriageway by broken lines. It is not a cycle lane and not a separate carriageway lane, but a suggestion. You may drive over it, stop there and even park there.

Places with their own rule

Erf

On an erf you may only park in the bays designated for that purpose. Stopping to let someone get in or out or to load and unload is allowed there too, even outside a bay.

If you see this sign, you look for a bay. Parking outside a bay is not allowed on an erf, no matter how quiet it is.

Outside the built-up area

Outside the built-up area you may also park where it is not forbidden. There is one exception that the CBR particularly asks about:

Outside the built-up area + priority road + on the carriageway = no parking.

Stopping on the carriageway is allowed there, and parking in the verge is allowed too. This combination only applies outside the built-up area; inside the built-up area, a priority road is not a reason not to park.

Autosnelweg and autoweg

On these you may not park and you may not stop, except in an emergency. These rules are grouped together in the section about stopping.

Example situations like in the CBR

Situation 1

You are outside the built-up area on the carriageway of a priority road and you let a passenger get out. This is allowed. The ban applies only to parking; stopping on the carriageway is simply permitted.

Situation 2

A parking ban sign is next to the carriageway. Next to the road there is a clearly marked parking bay. You may park in the bay. The sign applies only to the carriageway.

Situation 3

You drive onto an erf and park the car half on the paving stones next to a bay, because the bays are full. This is not allowed. On an erf you park in a bay or you do not park there.

Two signs determine almost every parking question in the exam: the parking ban with a red stripe and the stopping ban with a red cross. One stripe only forbids parking, a cross forbids everything.

Sometimes the same two rules are not on a sign but on the kerb edge, in yellow.

Key rule for the exam: count the red stripes. One diagonal stripe only forbids parking; two stripes in a cross forbid everything. Sometimes the same two rules are not on a sign but in yellow on the kerb edge.

The two signs

E1 — parking ban. On the side of the road where this sign is placed, you may not park. Stopping is allowed here: letting someone get in or out and loading and unloading are permitted.

E2 — stopping ban. Here nothing is allowed: not parking and not stopping. No letting a passenger get out, no unloading a box. If you see an X, then nothing is allowed.

The word ZONE above

If ZONE is written above the prohibition sign, then the ban does not only apply on that side of the road, but throughout the entire area and on both sides. The ban continues until you come across the sign with "end of zone".

Next to a parking bay

If such a prohibition sign is next to a marked parking bay, then the ban applies only to the carriageway. In the bay you may simply park.

The yellow kerb edge

A parking ban or stopping ban is not always on a sign. Sometimes the kerb edge (the pavement edge) is painted yellow, and then the same two rules apply.

• Broken yellow stripe — works like the parking ban sign: no parking, but stopping is allowed.
• Continuous yellow stripe — works like the stopping ban: no stopping and therefore also no parking.

Memory aid: continuous stripe = drive on.

What is allowed where: the overview

What you see	Parking	Stopping
Sign E1, parking ban	No	Yes
Sign E2, stopping ban	No	No
Broken yellow stripe	No	Yes
Continuous yellow stripe	No	No
Parking bay next to a prohibition sign	Yes	Yes
Verge next to a prohibition sign	Yes	Yes
Erf, outside a bay	No	Yes

You read the shape and colour of a sign in the same way as all other signs: round with red is a prohibition, square gives information, and a sub-sign is read together with the sign above it. This is explained in the topic Traffic signs, Signals & Directions.

Stopping is allowed both inside and outside the built-up area everywhere where it is not forbidden. Still, there are places where you may not stop without a sign.

For the CBR, you must know those places by heart: the carriageway itself, the cycle lane, the zebra crossing, the bus stop and the snelweg.

Key rule for the exam: stopping is allowed both inside and outside the built-up area everywhere where it is not forbidden. But in a handful of places it is forbidden without a sign, and you must know those by heart.

Not on the carriageway itself

Stopping in the middle of the carriageway is not allowed: you then block the traffic behind you.

• If there is a cycle lane next to your lane, then you may use it to get into position, but you may not stop on it. Stopping next to the cycle lane is also not allowed, because then you are stopping in the middle of the carriageway.
• The same applies to a tram track and a bus lane.

Keep your distance

Zebra crossing, junction and corner: 5 metres

If you are stopped near a zebra crossing, you keep at least 5 metres distance, so the crossing remains clear and pedestrians are visible. The same 5 metres applies at a junction and at a corner.

Bus stop: 12 metres

At a bus stop without black-and-white block markings, you keep at least 12 metres distance. That is about one bus length, so the bus can pull in and out of the stop.

• At a stop you may only let people get in and out. Loading and unloading is not allowed there and parking is certainly not allowed.
• If there is a parking bay within those 12 metres, then you may stop and park there.

Autosnelweg and autoweg

On and along an autosnelweg or autoweg, stopping and parking are forbidden. There is one reason why you may stop there: an emergency.

• If you have a breakdown, you stop on the hard shoulder, in a parking bay or next to the carriageway.
• The same applies if you have to call 112 after a serious accident where you are not involved yourself.
• If you want to take a call or set your navigation, you drive on to a petrol station, a service area or a designated parking lot. That is parking, and it is never allowed on the road itself.

From this sign, the motorway rule applies: only stop in an emergency, and then on the hard shoulder or in a parking bay.

On an autoweg, the same rules apply for stopping and parking as on an autosnelweg.

In a parking disc zone, you may only park in the indicated bays or with blue markings, for a limited time and with a properly set parking disc.

Other parking bays are reserved for a specific vehicle or for permit holders. So always check whether the bay is intended for you.

Key rule for the exam: a parking bay is not automatically for you. Look at the colour of the marking and at the sign next to it. Stopping to let someone get in or out or to load and unload is allowed at all these bays.

Parking disc zone

Blue stripes along the bays or a blue kerb edge mean a parking disc zone, also called a blauwe zone. You may only park there for a limited time, and only in the bays that are marked or provided with a blue stripe.

E10 — start of parking disc zone. From here you need a parking disc to be allowed to park.

E11 — end of parking disc zone. From here the disc requirement no longer applies.

Using the parking disc

• Set the disc to your arrival time and place it behind the windscreen, so the parking attendant can see it.
• You may round your arrival time in your favour, usually to the next half hour. If you arrive at 13:35, the disc may be set to 14:00. If you arrive at 14:15, it may be set to 14:30.
• If days or hours are shown on a sub-sign, then the disc requirement applies only then. Outside those times you park without a disc.
• Stopping is allowed here without a parking disc, as long as you are only letting someone get in or out or loading and unloading.

Bays reserved for a specific vehicle

A blue sign with a P and a symbol underneath indicates for whom the bay is intended. If there is a passenger car underneath, then the bay is for passenger cars; if there is a lorry underneath, then it is only for lorries. The same applies to taxi ranks.

E4 — parking facilities. Without a sub-sign or symbol, everyone may park here.

E6 — disabled parking space. Only for holders of a disabled parking card.

E9 — permit holders. Only drivers with the corresponding parking permit may park here. You see this sign mainly in cities, where spaces for residents must remain available.

For all these bays the same applies: parking is not allowed, stopping is allowed. Letting someone get in or out or loading and unloading is permitted. Sitting there briefly to make a call is not allowed, because that is parking.

White cross or NP

If you see a bay or a section between two bays with a white cross in it, or with the letters NP, then you may not park there. Often otherwise you would block an exit.

Parking on the way: recreation and P+R

Two square blue signs point you to a parking lot instead of forbidding something.

• Recreation area. A blue rectangle with a P and the symbol of a person at rest: here visitors to the recreation area may park.
• P+R. Stands for Park and Ride: you park the car and travel further by public transport. Easy to remember as Parking + Rails, because the train, tram and metro run there.

With a special manoeuvre, you must always let the other traffic go first. Think of reverse, merging, turning around, getting out, parking and driving away.

For the CBR, the main question is always: are you the one performing the manoeuvre? Then you may not hinder or startle anyone.

Key rule for the exam: if you perform a special manoeuvre, then you let all other traffic go first, including pedestrians and also on a parking lot. If someone else performs the manoeuvre, then you have priority.

The six special manoeuvres

1. Reverse
2. Getting in and out of traffic lanes
3. Turning around
4. Getting in and out
5. Parking
6. Driving away

Carry them out calmly, so you do not startle anyone. The exam question is almost always the same: who is doing something special here? That driver waits.

If someone reverses out of a parking bay or merges, then you do not have to stop. But do not automatically assume that the other person really will wait: preventing a collision comes before giving priority.

Exception: the bus at a stop

If a bus inside the built-up area indicates that it wants to drive away from a stop, then you must let it go first. This applies to all buses: line buses, coaches, school buses.

• Inside the built-up area you drive at a maximum of 50 km/h, so you can stop in time. That is why the bus has priority there.
• Outside the built-up area you drive up to 80 km/h and suddenly stopping is dangerous. There you do not have to let the bus go first; it waits until you have passed.
• If the bus is stationary because people are still getting in and it does not indicate a direction, then you can pass it calmly. But watch out for oncoming traffic.
• If a coach comes out of a parking bay instead of a stop, then the exception does not apply and you simply have priority.

Merging and getting out

Merging is a special manoeuvre, so the traffic on the lane you want to go into goes first. You do not have to use the entire acceleration lane: as soon as you have enough speed and there is space, you may merge in. After that, do not slide into multiple lanes at once; first merge, look again, and only then possibly take another lane.

If you want to merge while someone else wants to get out at the same spot, then you wait. Just like in a lift: first let people out, then you get in.

Turning around

• On a normal road you may turn around, but only if it is safe. Outside the built-up area on a road with traffic in two directions, this usually works.
• If there is a continuous stripe, then you may not turn around.
• On an autoweg and an autosnelweg you may never turn around, even if there is no central reservation: traffic arrives there at high speed. You recognise an autoweg by the blue sign with a car on it, or by a green central stripe. You drive on until you find a place where turning around is allowed.
• On a one-way street you may not turn around, because then you would drive against the traffic.

This round blue sign with the slanted arrow pointing to the bottom right means that you must stay to the right of the central divider. Driving along the left side of the sign is forbidden, because then you would drive against the traffic. Turning around and turning left are allowed here.

Wrong exit taken

If you miss an exit, you can sometimes go back, but only if it is safe and you have not yet passed the first exit. If you have already passed it, then you drive on to the next exit.

Reverse and driving away

Reverse is allowed on a normal road, inside and outside the built-up area, as long as you do not hinder anyone. It remains a special manoeuvre, so you look extra carefully and drive at walking pace.

You may only drive away once you are not hindering any other road user. Indicate a direction, even if you think no one is coming.

Example situations like in the CBR

Situation 1

You drive straight across a parking lot. On the right, a car reverses out of a bay. The other driver waits. Reverse is a special manoeuvre; you do not have to stop, but keep an eye on them.

Situation 2

You are inside the built-up area and a line bus indicates at a stop that it wants to drive away. You brake and let the bus go first. Outside the built-up area you would simply be allowed to drive on.

Situation 3

You are outside the built-up area on a two-way road and you are going the wrong way and want to turn around. There is a continuous stripe. This is not allowed. Drive on until you reach a place where the stripe is broken.

CBR trap

Students think that by using the entire acceleration lane or by having enough speed, they get the right to merge in. That is not the case: merging remains a special manoeuvre, so the traffic on the main carriageway lane always goes first. Also do not forget pedestrians — when getting out and on parking lots, they count just as much as cars.