Driving in the Netherlands

The minimum age of a driver is 18 years. To sit in the front seat, children must be at least 3 years of age and in a safety seat; younger children must sit in a safety seat in the rear. The use of seat belts is compulsory for front-seat passengers. The legal blood alcohol limit is 50 mg. Speed limits are as follows: 50 kph (30 mph) in built-up areas, 80 kph (50 mph) outside built-up areas, and 100 kph (60 mph) or 120 kph (74 mph) on expressways (unless another limit is signposted). When on urban expressways look especially for small yellow 100-kph signs atop the crash barrier of the expressways. The minimum speed limit on expressways is 60 kph (37 mph). Cars towing a trailer or caravan must observe an 80 kph (50 mph) limit outside built-up areas.

Priority roads are denoted by a white-bordered, yellow-orange, diamond-shaped sign or, of course, by the international priority sign. Trams have priority where roads of equal importance intersect. Bicyclists proceeding straight through an intersection always have priority. Cycle lanes exist on each side of most main roads. Cycle lanes denoted by broken lines may be used by motor vehicles if this does not interfere with cyclists. Pedestrians on crosswalks always have priority.

Use your horn whenever you present a risk to traffic. At night flash your headlights instead.

It's illegal to cross a continuous white line at any time, even when turning. Trams should be passed on the right unless it's safer to pass on the left. Trams should be passed only on the right, unless there is no room on the right, in which case they can be passed on the left. Trams should not be passed when passengers are boarding or alighting. Signs which state that overtaking is prohibited do not apply to motorcycles.

In some areas, police are empowered to collect fines on the spot. Speeding in a work-in-progress area (Werk in uitvoering) carries fines about 35 to 50 percent higher than normal.

Parking

Vehicles parked publicly overnight need to be somehow illuminated unless they're in a parking ramp or in a built-up area and within 30 metres of a street light. Do not park near a bus stop where the road or curb or pavement is painted black-and-white or yellow. Blue Zones exist in most towns and are indicated by the standard No Parking sign bearing the words Parkeer Zone. (A series of slashes across the sign indicates the end of the zone.) Parking discs for these zones can be obtained from police stations, ANWB motoring club offices, and tobacconists. Wheel clamps are placed on illegally parked vehicles.

Fuel

Major credit cards are accepted. Leaded super petrol has an octane rating of 98. Unleaded petrol is called loodvrije benzine. Regular unleaded petrol has an octane rating of 91; the octane rating of super is 95. Diesel is called dieselolie. LPG goes by its English name. Unlike in other contries, the LPG pumps are not put aside on a separate island; instead they are located beside the petrol pumps. LPG is available at nearly all fuel stations near the expressways. In urban areas, however, LPG pumps are rather rare; law requires they be located at a remove of about 200 metres from other buildings.

Tolls

Between Breskens and Vlissingen and between Perkpolder and Kruiningen a car ferry runs across the Westerschelde estuary. Journey times are 20 minutes and 15 minutes, respectively, and journeys are frequent.

The ferries to the islands in the North don't carry visitors' cars, only the cars of locals. The exception is the ferry from the city of Den Helder to Texel, the most western of the the so-called Waddeneilanden.

No toll is charged any longer to cross the Waalbridge (Prins Willem Alexander Bridge).

Kiltunnel (Dordrecht to 's Gravendeel): €1.60 for cars and motorcycles.