Traffic controller signals

The role of the traffic controller

Follow an authorised and recognisable traffic controller or police officer even when the light is green or normal priority rules would let you go first. You must follow a police officer and a traffic controller alike, also when they tell you something in words.

1. An authorised person’s instruction.
2. Working traffic lights, which override priority signs and give-way markings.
3. Signs and other road signals controlling the situation.
4. General traffic rules.

How this order works in general is explained under priority rules: who goes first?

Who may direct traffic?

	Police officers and other authorised officials, and the Royal Military Police (Koninklijke Marechaussee).
	Traffic controllers appointed for the job, such as professional traffic controllers and event traffic controllers. They wear prescribed clothing: a yellow jacket or vest with an orange lower part and reflective stripes.
	Trainee traffic controllers during their practical lesson or practical exam, in the same clothing.
	Crossing guards (klaar-overs) at schools, in an orange vest. They only give the stop signal with sign F10.
	Escorts of a rail vehicle: if they show sign F10, a red flag or a red lamp, you stop.

Where do you meet a traffic controller?

Often at roadworks, events and accidents, and when a traffic light is broken. Crossing guards stand at schools. A large transport sometimes has escorts who stop traffic for a moment as well.

The signals of the traffic controller

The official gestures are set out in Annex 2 of the RVV 1990. Almost all of them mean stop. There is no separate signal to drive on. If your direction gets no stop signal, you may go.

Read the arm as a barrier

From your vehicle, identify the controller’s position and signal. You always pass him on the right. Think of a horizontal arm as a barrier for the specified approach direction: if it lies across your half of the road, you stop. Do not copy the other vehicles: their directions may be free.

So whether you see his chest or his back tells you nothing on its own. If he faces you and holds his left arm out to the side, that arm lies across your side of the road. If he holds his right arm out, it lies across the other side: that stop signal is for the traffic behind him.

All signals at a glance

Picture	Signal	Meaning
	1. General stop signal: arm raised	All approaching traffic stops.
	2. One arm sideways, he faces you	Stop for traffic approaching the controller from the front.
	3. One arm sideways, you see his back	Stop for traffic approaching the controller from behind.
	4. Both arms sideways	Traffic from the front and rear stops.
	5. Right arm extended forwards	Traffic approaching from the controller’s right stops.
	6. Arm moving up and down	Reduce speed.
	7. Crossing guard with sign F10	Stop.

Raised arm: stop and clear the junction

Do not continue just because you were previously allowed to move. Stop before entering; if already on the junction, clear it safely. A raised arm does not give you permission to set off early. Wait for a clear instruction.

Memory aids

	Barrier: an arm across your side means the barrier is down. No arm across your side means it is up.
	T-pose: if he stands like a T with both arms out, the traffic in front of and behind him stops.
	Arm straight up: think of a red light for every direction.
	Arm up and down: the hand pushes your speed down, as it were.

CBR pitfalls with traffic controllers

❌ Wrong: driving on at green while the controller signals stop. ✅ Right: the controller's signal comes before the light.

❌ Wrong: mixing up left and right when he faces you. ✅ Right: if he faces you, his right is your left.

❌ Wrong: taking a pointing hand as a stop signal. ✅ Right: only the fixed gestures in the table are signals.

❌ Wrong: ignoring a school crossing patrol with a stop sign. ✅ Right: you obey his sign F10 too.