Stopping and parking – part 2

Parking

If you are waiting not due to a traffic situation, and you are also not loading or unloading goods or picking up or dropping off passengers, this falls under parking. For example, if you are waiting for a passenger, you are parking until this passenger is actually getting into the vehicle. If you stop at the side of the road to make a phone call, check a map, ask for directions, or read a message, this all falls under parking.

Parking lane

Paved strip located along the carriageway intended for stationary or parked vehicles.

Parking

Stopping a vehicle for a reason other than the immediate dropping off or picking up passengers or the immediate loading and unloading of goods, and for longer than either of the aforementioned would require.

Parking is prohibited in areas where waiting is prohibited. Parking is also prohibited in the following areas:

• within five metres of an intersection;
• for an entrance or exit construction, even if this is your own exit;
• outside the built-up area on the carriageway of a priority road; parking in the verge is allowed;
• next to a broken yellow line, usually found on kerbs;
• next to another parked vehicle which means you are double parked;
• in a parking lot indicated by signs with a P, you may not park outside the parking spaces, if these spaces are there;
• outside the parking spaces within an erf.

Parking lots with indicated parking spaces are usually indicated with the E-4 sign. In that case, parking outside of the parking spaces is prohibited.

In some areas, parking may be subject to certain conditions. For example, only certain vehicles may be allowed to park, or parking may only be allowed during certain timeframes. A parking permit may be required to park in some areas. At sign E-7 (loading and unloading), parking is not allowed at all. Even though there is a P on the sign.

The E-1 sign prohibits parking on the side of the carriageway where the sign is placed. If designed as a zone sign, parking is prohibited on both sides of the carriageway throughout the entire zone. In this case, parking is still allowed in areas intended for this purpose, such as parking spaces, car parks, and the verge.

Three-wheeled motor vehicle

Vehicle that according to the vehicle registration register is a three-wheeled motor carriage. For example a trike. This is not a motor vehicle with limited speed or a disability vehicle. Contrary to what the name suggests, a vehicle registered in this way may even have four wheels instead of three. A quad-bike is an example of a three-wheeled motor vehicle.

Motorcycle

Two-wheeled motor vehicle with or without sidecar or trailer.

Parking disc zone

Road signs are often used to indicate parking disc zones, where parking is only allowed in designated parking spaces marked with a P road sign. Parking is also allowed in blue-line areas.

Drivers who park a motor vehicle with more than two wheels alongside a blue line must leave a clearly visible parking disc behind their windscreen. It is not allowed to put it behind the rear window or side windows.

The parking disc must indicate at what time you started parking. This time may be rounded up to the nearest hour or half hour. Amending the time on the parking disc later is prohibited. Remaining parked after the maximum allowed parking time has expired is also prohibited.

Disability parking space

Disability parking spaces are intended to ensure that persons with limited mobility can park as close as possible to certain locations. Parking in these spaces is only allowed if related to the transport of a person with a disability.

You can park in a disability parking space with the following vehicles:

• a disability vehicle;
• a motor vehicle on more than two wheels in which a valid disability parking card is clearly visible;
• a vehicle for which this disability parking space is reserved; this is usually done by means of a supplementary plate with the registration number of the vehicle on it.

Maximum allowed parking times are indicated on road signs. When parking in areas marked by these signs, a clearly visible parking disc in the windscreen is required. A blue line alongside the parking area is not required.

Placing bicycles, mopeds, speed pedelecs, and snorfietsen

This does not relate to parking. If you put these vehicles somewhere, we are talking about ‘placing’. The rules and signs about parking say nothing about placing.

You can use the pavement, footpath or verge to place these vehicles. In addition, you may also use places that are clearly intended for placing bicycles, speed pedelecs, snorfietsen, and mopeds.

Because brommobielen must follow the traffic rules of motor vehicles, the rules for parking do apply to brommobielen. They must follow the same rules as drivers of passenger cars and may not, for example, park on the pavement.