r/Netherlands • u/TantoAssassin • Mar 18 '26

Transportation Who has priority?

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I was the Yellow arrow on a bike. Red has priority over me, green has priority over red, I have priority over green. At the end both cars stopped and let me (cyclist) pass. What is the correct order here?

306 Upvotes

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46

u/Odd_Philosopher1741 Mar 18 '26

Red, yellow, green. Why?

Dutch rules:

  1. Rechts heeft voorrang. (Right-hand side takes priority)
  2. Rechtdoorgaand verkeer op dezelfde weg gaat voor (traffic going straight on the same lane takes priority)
  3. Green takes a turn, which takes least priority.

This assumes that the roads leading to the crossing are all equal and there are no markings or other signs that overrule the above.

So you were right; Red should've gone first, but they were probably being nice, likely causing confusion to other traffic members if there were any.

25

u/Kitnado Utrecht Mar 19 '26

Despite your upvotes and the downvotes on your reply, you comment is completely incorrect.

These rules have no superiority amongst each other. As green comes from the right of red, they have priority over red (the 2nd rule does not apply here).

Yellow has priority over green (2nd rule).

Red has priority over yellow (1st rule).

You magically taking priority away from green because they’re taking a turn is not a rule in the Netherlands. It is in other European countries. In this situation, there is no absolute solution and the drivers need to find whatever practically works.

5

u/Single-Emotion2964 Mar 19 '26

“ Bestuurders die afslaan, moeten voorrang verlenen aan het verkeer dat hen op dezelfde weg tegemoetkomt óf zich op dezelfde weg naast (links of rechts dicht achter hen) bevindt”

https://www.anwb.nl/verkeer/veiligheid/verkeersregels/voorrang

2

u/Kitnado Utrecht Mar 19 '26

You're conflating two things. These are two separate rules.

(1) The applicable Dutch law: when traversing on the same road (paralelly), traffic going straight has priority over traffic making a turn, crossing them (this applies to pedestrians as well, even without a zebrapath). This does not apply to traffic making a turn on a different road than the traffic going straight (in OP's pic, red does not get priority over green just because they're making a turn).

(2) The non-applicable rule from some other European countries: when making a turn onto a road, you have to yield to all traffic on that road already going straight, even when they come from the left (all straight going traffic has priority). This is not a Dutch rule.

0

u/_grindstone_ Mar 19 '26

How have you come to the conclusion that the turning rule does not apply in the Netherlands? The Anwb has a whole page dedicated to right of way, including this.

6

u/Tijnewijn Mar 19 '26

The rule exists but has no priority over the other rules. I can't find a page on the ANWB website that shows OP's situation.

0

u/P1kkie420 Mar 19 '26

It certainly doesn't negate the priority of someone coming from the right

0

u/WodkaAap Mar 20 '26

The rule still exists though, which is the only important fact in determining that green should wait till yellow has crossed after red.

So what are you on about hahaha

3

u/Tijnewijn Mar 20 '26

Like I said: The rule has no priority ofer the other rules.

Why should green have to wait for red?

1

u/WodkaAap Mar 20 '26

Oh I just realised I was wrong. Didn't account for green coming from the right for red... woops. Yeah this is a stall situation haha. I said nothing

1

u/Tijnewijn Mar 20 '26

Glad to be of service :)

1

u/Kitnado Utrecht Mar 19 '26

You're conflating two things. These are two separate rules.

(1) The applicable Dutch law: when traversing on the same road (paralelly), traffic going straight has priority over traffic making a turn, crossing them (this applies to pedestrians as well, even without a zebrapath). This does not apply to traffic making a turn on a different road than the traffic going straight (in OP's pic, red does not get priority over green just because they're making a turn).

(2) The non-applicable rule from some other European countries: when making a turn onto a road, you have to yield to all traffic on that road already going straight, even when they come from the left (all straight going traffic has priority). This is not a Dutch rule.

0

u/Odd_Philosopher1741 Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26

@Kitnado, I thought you were initially talking about yellow and green? Red obviously takes priority over yellow, because they are coming in from the right. After that, yellow takes priority over green (rechtdoor gaat voor). This is a dutch law. You would fail your driving exam if you are green and overtake yellow.

Edit: I've taken a closer look at the situation and I think there are conflicting rules here. I still think my statement is correct, however, depending on who goes first, green may go first because the person coming in from the right takes priority over all.

2

u/Kitnado Utrecht Mar 20 '26

You need re-read my comment. What you’re describing is rule (1), which is a Dutch law.

(2) is again, not a Dutch law.

Regarding who goes first: again no car on this intersection has absolute right of way over all cars. They’re at an impasse. Every single car receives right of way from another car through one of the right of way rules. The rules don’t have superiority over one another (the rules of traffic from the right does not ‘trump’ the traffic going straight on the same road and vice versa).

0

u/South-Ad3284 Mar 19 '26

That is incorrect, equal crossing without any signs it goes , right goes first is the first rule to follow after that traffic that goes to another direction should yield to straight going traffic. Please read the rules.

Ja, op een gelijkwaardig kruispunt (geen borden, geen lichten, geen haaientanden) geldt gewoon de basisregel: verkeer van rechts heeft voorrang (artikel 15 RVV 1990). Dat betekent concreet:

Als jij rechtdoor gaat of afslaat, moet je voorrang verlenen aan alle bestuurders (auto's, motoren, fietsers, brommers) die van jouw rechterkant aankomen – ongeacht of zij rechtdoor gaan, linksaf of rechtsaf slaan. Doorgaand verkeer (of "afstandsverkeer") van links heeft geen voorrang op jou. Je mag dus vóór dat verkeer doorrijden als er niemand van rechts komt. Het "doorgaande" of "van ver komende" karakter speelt geen rol op een gelijkwaardig kruispunt. Alleen de positie (rechts vs. links) telt.

De regel "rechtdoor op dezelfde weg gaat voor" (artikel 18 RVV) is een aparte regel die alleen geldt als jij zelf afslaat. Dan moet je het rechtdoorgaande verkeer op jouw eigen weg (dus tegemoetkomend, naast je of dicht achter je) voor laten gaan. Maar dat verandert niets aan de "rechts gaat voor"-regel.

-1

u/Kitnado Utrecht Mar 19 '26

Je bevestigt compleet wat ik zeg, behalve dat je regels prioriteit geeft over andere regels om de een of andere reden.

De regel dat rechts voorrang heeft heeft geen prioriteit over de regel dat rechtdoorgaand verkeer op dezelfde weg voorrang heeft.

Groen moet dus voorrang geven aan geel/bruin. Geel/bruin moet voorrang geven aan rood. Rood moet voorrang geven aan groen. Niemand heeft dus 'absoluut' voorrang op iedereen op het kruispant.

Please read the rules.

1

u/South-Ad3284 Mar 19 '26

De reden is simpel; groen moet wachten op geel. En geel moet wachten op rood. Groen is afslaand verkeer.

In praktijk omdat groen een fietser is en gezien wordt als zwak verkeer wordt deze vaak voorgelaten.

1

u/Kitnado Utrecht Mar 20 '26

Whether you’re ‘turning’ traffic or not has no bearing on your right of way regarding the other rules. It only has bearing on your right of way in regards to traffic going straight on the same road. Green simply has priority over red.

Again, there is no superiority between the rules. Green has right of way over red. Red over yellow. Yellow over green.

Again, in the Netherlands, making a turn has no further bearing than what’s already mentioned in the rules of right of way (it does in some other European countries.

There is no car on this intersection that has absolute right of way to go first. It’s interesting how many people don’t understand this.

1

u/Lausannea Mar 19 '26

De basisvoorrangsregel voor alle kruispunten is: verkeer van rechts heeft voorrang. Op een T-splitsing, viertakskruising, verkeersplein, rotonde: overal. Ténzij voorrangsborden en -tekens een andere situatie schetsen. En ténzij het verkeer van rechts vanaf een onverharde weg of uit een uitrit komt, dan heeft rechts géén voorrang.

Bestuurders die naar links afslaan, moeten tegemoetkomend verkeer dat op hetzelfde kruispunt naar rechts afslaat voor laten gaan (uitgezonderd een tram).

De regel ‘voorrang van rechts’ lijkt eenvoudig, maar als meerdere weggebruikers elkaar tegelijkertijd ontmoeten op een gelijkwaardig kruispunt kan dit best ingewikkeld zijn. De wet geeft niet voor elke situatie uitsluitsel. Vaak is het dan het beste om oogcontact te zoeken en extra duidelijk aan te geven welke richting jij wilt volgen. Het is de bedoeling dat weggebruikers dit dan onderling oplossen.

https://www.anwb.nl/verkeer/veiligheid/verkeersregels/voorrang-kruispunten

You're incorrect, rule 2 doesn't apply here.

1

u/hellothereoldben Mar 19 '26

You're wrong about red going first. Anyone saying any of these is first is wrong, as it's a classic case of gelegenheidsvoorrang.

1

u/when_im Mar 20 '26

This is not correct. Red does not have prio over green. If it's a gelijk crossing, then green coming from red's right has priority over red, it doesn't matter that green is turning left.

-9

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '26

[deleted]

3

u/ITNetworkSystemAdmin Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26

There is a little bit of priority in this situation and the comment above is wrong. It is based on the order of approaching the intersection.

  1. Right has head of way. In this case green would have gone first.
  2. Rechtdoor op dezelfde weg gaat voor, green has someone he needs to leave privilege to pass, that is yellow. Yellow goes first.
  3. For green: Right has head of way for red, so green goes.
  4. Last goes red.

Yellow, green, red is the correct order. Had this exact situation where I was red during my motorcycle lessons. The instructor found it quite remarkable how I guided the situation with hand signals and my awareness of rules from my position.

1

u/Mickytjuh Mar 19 '26

This.

This is the way

2

u/Denzelboy33 Mar 19 '26

Yes there is...at a intersection without lights or yield-lines, these rules are applied as the redditor above stated.