Code of conduct

Roads

All roads or paths over which public traffic can drive or walk. This includes bridges and tunnels. The paths and verges also belong to the road.

This means that a road is everything from ditch to ditch and from façade to façade. The pavement also belongs to the road, as is the cycle path that is separated from the carriageway by a verge or pavement.

When you participate in traffic, you must keep to certain rules of conduct. These are general rules compiled to ensure that:

• it stays safe on the road;
• the road remains usable;
• the environment is impacted as little as possible;
• fraud is prevented.

Authorised person

Persons who may regulate traffic and ask for official documents. These are:

• public prosecutors;
• police officers;
• military personnel of the Royal Military Police;
• officials of the State Tax Authority;
• officials of the Road Traffic Service;
• officials of the National and provincial water authorities;
• investigators falling under different ministries.

Directions

Every road user is obligated to follow all directions given by an authorised person. In addition, there are traffic controllers (also known as lollipop men or crossing guards) of which you should follow the directions. They are only allowed to stop traffic.

Mandatory cooperation

When you are stopped by a police officer or another authorised person, they are allowed to ask you for several documents. You are required to carry these documents and show them when this is asked. These documents are:

• the driving licence;
• the vehicle registration card of the vehicle you are traveling with;
• a disability parking card if you need it for the vehicle you are driving or the place where you park.

In addition, an authorised person may require you to cooperate in an investigation into alcohol, drugs, or medication use.

This means that you are required to cooperate with a breath analysis (a breathalyser test), exercises to check if you can still see and speak properly, or a saliva test for the detection of drug use. You may even be required to have blood drawn, for example, if you refuse a breathalyser test or if the breathalyser test fails. There must then be a presumption that you are under the influence.

Causing hinder or danger

Most of the rules are described in the legislation. You are not allowed to ride faster than is allowed, you are not allowed to ignore signage and you are not allowed to run a red light. But there are many other obstructive or dangerous behaviours that are not literally mentioned.

For this behaviour Article 5 of the Road Traffic Act (kapstokartikel) is meant. Herein is stated that no one is allowed to act in a way that causes, or may cause, hinder or danger on the public road. How this hinder or danger is caused, does not matter for this rule. This rule also applies when you are not participating in traffic yourself.

Kapstokartikel

Article 5 of the Road Traffic Act prohibits you from causing hinder or danger in traffic. It is also called ‘kapstokartikel’. It is called like this, because dangerous behaviour that is not literally mentioned in the legislation, can be ‘hung’ on this article. If you do something that is not immediately prohibited by a sign or a traffic rule, but you do cause hinder or danger on the public road by doing so, then you can still be punished by article 5 of the Road Traffic Act.

Leaving an accident

Did something happen anyway and were you involved? Then you are not allowed to leave the place of the accident until you gave your details and the details of the vehicle involved in the accident to the other people involved or the police. It does not matter whether you were at fault of not.

If you do leave without leaving behind your details, you are committing a crime. Only if you voluntarily go to the police within 12 hours of the accident, you can still get out of your punishment. You must not have been apprehended as a suspect by the police before then.

Road race

It is prohibited to race another driver on public roads. You are not allowed to make a competition on who can accelerate the fastest at a traffic light. In those cases, not only the driver, but also the owner or holder of the vehicle is responsible.

Confiscation of driving licence

The police can confiscate your driving licence. This means that your driving licence will be taken from you if you have been stopped for misbehaving in traffic. They will send your driving licence to a public prosecutor.

Disqualification from driving

A prohibition for driving motor carriages, also known as a driving driving licence suspension. This is a prohibition of multiple months up to several years. This can be imposed on you by a public prosecutor or a judge, after you have misbehaved in traffic.

The disqualifications can lead up to two years for lighter offenses or crimes and up to five years for more serious offenses or crimes. With the last one you should think of death or injury at fault, driving under the influence and driving during a driving licence suspension. If are at fault again within a short time, these penalties can be doubled.

Invalidation of driving licence

Are you repeatedly at fault or are no longer fit or able to drive for any other reason, then your driving licence may be invalidated. You are then no longer allowed to drive any motor carriages for which you need this driving licence. In that case, you are still allowed to ride a bicycle, or ride in or on a vehicle that does not need a driving licence. You can also receive an invalidation for just one category of the driving licence, where the other obtained categories will still be valid.

Life-threatening driving behaviour

If, by purposefully violating a traffic rule, danger arises where someone could die or get seriously injured, then this can be punished extra severely under Article 5a of the Road Traffic Act. Even if no one got hurt. This makes it easier to take tougher actions against reckless driving behaviour. Behaviour that falls under reckless driving includes dangerous overtaking, running a red light, ignoring a red cross and holding a mobile phone.

Enforcement on driving behaviour

If you misbehave yourself too much in traffic, your driving licence may be confiscated. This means that it is taken from you by the police. Your driving licence will be sent to a public prosecutor. They decide, within 10 days, if you lose your driving licence for a longer period or if you get your driving licence back. In both cases, the judge may be asked to determine the final sentence. They can impose a fine or a disqualification from driving.

During the period that you are disqualified from driving, you may no longer drive any motor vehicle.

The confiscation of your driving licence based on your driving behaviour is done when you:

• exceed the speed limit by 50 km/h or more;
• cause hinder or danger.

A notification can also be made at the CBR (Central Bureau for Driving Proficiency). In that case, they will investigate whether you are still fit and able to ride a motorcycle.

It can then be decided to impose a compulsory course. With dangerous driving behaviour it is the EMG, the Educational Measure Behaviour and Traffic.

A notification to the CBR can already be made if you:

• tailgate on the motorway (because you are keeping a too short following distance);
• cut off other road users;
• run a red light;
• exceed the speed limit by 50 km/h under normal circumstances;
• exceed the speed limit by 30 km/h during roadworks.

Prohibited to drive

If you still drive in or on a motor carriage during a disqualification from driving, you are committing a crime. This also applies when you start driving in a vehicle for which you need a driving licence while this driving licence has been invalidated.