Road types

Roads come in all shapes and sizes. They are designed for a specific purpose. There is a distinction between three different road types:

• access roads;
• distributor roads;
• flow roads.

Access road

These areas are primary residential. Speeds are low here, roads are narrower and there are more speed bumps and obstacles. You will come into contact with weaker road users such as cyclists and pedestrians. Here you have to adjust the speed. On these roads, cyclists often do not have their own cycle path, but cycle on the road. Most intersections are equivalent.

Examples of access roads are erfs and 30km zones. However, 60km zones also fall into the access road category, because they aim to ensure that the farms and the entrances to meadows and fields can be easily reached. You also encounter a lot of slow traffic on these roads, like cyclists, moped riders and drivers of agricultural vehicles.

Distributor roads

These roads connect residential areas (with access roads) and flow roads. Distributor roads are slightly wider and subject to slightly higher speed limits, such as roads in built-up areas where you can drive 50 km/h¹ and sometimes 70 km/h and where houses are not directly located. These roads form the connection between different neighbourhoods in a city.

Roads outside the built-up area where you can drive 80 km/h fall under the distributor road category. They connect different villages and small towns.

Most distributor roads have separate cycle paths and cycle/moped paths. You also encounter less slow (e.g. agricultural) traffic here. Most intersections are on one level but not equivalent. The priority is controlled by means of signs and road markings or traffic lights.

Most fatal accidents occur on distributor roads, with the most occurring on the municipal 50km roads. This is mainly due to accidents between motor vehicles and cyclists, moped riders and pedestrians. Many fatal accidents also occur on 80km roads, including head-on collisions during overtaking manoeuvres.

Flow roads

The aim of these roads, which connect larger cities, is the smooth movement of traffic over longer distances. Think of autowegen and motorways. The speed limit is high and all motorways and the wider autowegen have a partition (crash barrier or central reservation) between the two directions.

The two-lane autowegen that do not have a partition in the form of a crash barrier or central reservation are a lot more dangerous than those with a partition. In order to overtake you have to cross the side of the oncoming traffic. Frontal collisions regularly occur on these roads, often with fatal consequences.

¹ In some places, the speed limit of distributor roads within built-up areas will be reduced from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. As a result, these roads sometimes look like access roads, but you may encounter priority junctions and cycle pathes or cycle/moped paths instead of cycle lanes. The reduction has to do with safety on these roads.

Some autowegen have equal level intersections or crossings, but most flow roads have unequal level junctions in which traffic is led from one (flow) road to another via ramps and exits.

You will not encounter cyclists or other slow traffic on flow roads. Vehicles must be able and allowed to drive at a minimum speed before they are allowed on flow roads. The most common accidents on flow roads are rear-end collisions because too little distance is kept and unexpected braking is applied. These roads are also known for their traffic jams.

As soon as you encounter a traffic jam, brake sufficiently and turn on your hazard lights if necessary, to warn drivers behind you. Do not brake harder than necessary to avoid rear-end collisions.