Vulnerable road users

Vulnerable road users include pedestrians, but also the blind, partially sighted, and persons with limited mobility.

Pedestrian crossing

At a pedestrian crossing (also known as a zebra crossing) you, as a driver, are obliged to give way to pedestrians who cross or want to cross. You should also let drivers of a disability vehicle who move from one pavement or footpath to another via a pedestrian crossing, go first. In that case they belong to the pedestrian category.

3676 — In this case, the person on the disability vehicle falls under pedestrians and therefore has priority over the lesson car.

Make it clear that you plan to stop. Do not brake at the last minute. Release your gas in time and brake lightly. This way you let the traffic behind you know that you are going to brake and maybe stop.

If there are traffic lights at the crossing, these traffic lights go above the traffic signs. In that case, pedestrians simply have to wait for the light to turn green.

People with limited mobility and the blind

If there is no pedestrian crossing, you do not have to let a pedestrian who wants to cross the road go first. However, there are two exceptions:

blind or visually impaired persons who can be recognised by a blind stick (white cane with one or more red rings);
persons with difficulty moving who can be recognised by, for example, a walker, a cane, or crutches.

These two groups should be given priority if they want to cross, no matter where they do this. Persons traveling by wheelchair are not covered by this exception. They are not covered by the term ‘persons with difficulty moving’.

784 — A person with a walker or walking frames falls under the term ‘persons with difficulty moving’ and is therefore allowed to pass before the lesson car.

478 — A person in a wheelchair does not fall under the term ‘persons with difficulty moving’ and is therefore not allowed to pass before the lesson car.

Entrance and exit constructions

An entrance construction is the same as an exit construction. Which word you use depends on whether you enter or exit such a construction.

Entrance and exit constructions are used, among other things, at the beginning and end of an erf. But you can also find them at the entrance of a parking lot. They are not always easy to recognise. Most entrance and exit constructions are designed so that you have to drive over the pavement to turn onto another road or parking lot. The pavement tiles continue on an entrance and exit construction. The kerb has been lowered at the height of the construction to make it easier to drive over it.

With entrance and exit structures, you must let all other traffic, including pedestrians, go first. This applies both when entering and exiting. Sometimes you want to drive over the construction at the same time as another driver. For example, because one driver wants to enter and the other wants to exit the construction. Because most entrance and exit constructions are not very wide, you preferably give way to the outgoing driver.

Normally, an erf ha an entrance and exit that is designed as an entrance or exit construction. In that case, you must give way to all other traffic when entering and leaving the erf. If the entrance or exit construction is missing, the normal priority rules apply.

The rule that you have to give way to all traffic has nothing to do with the erf itself, but only with the entrance and exit construction.

3862 — The pedestrian walks over the exit construction and therefore has right of way over the lesson car.

2736 — In this case it is wise to let the outgoing driver take precedence. Then you can enter the entrance more easily.