Dutch bike priority rules

At any unmarked intersection - no signs, no traffic lights, no road markings - the default rule in the Netherlands is right before left. Traffic approaching from your right has priority over you. Traffic approaching from your left must yield to you.

This applies to every unmarked junction regardless of how the roads look. It doesn't matter if you're on a wider road, a busier road, or a road that looks like the 'main' road. Without explicit markings or signs, road appearance means nothing. Right-before-left is the universal fallback.

The rule applies per vehicle, not as a batch. If a car is coming from your right and another from your left, you yield to the car on your right and proceed before the car on your left. Each interaction is evaluated separately.

Shark teeth - haaientanden in Dutch - are white triangular markings painted on the road surface. They look like a row of small triangles pointing toward you. If they're on your side of the crossing, you yield. Full stop.

Shark teeth override the right-before-left default. This is the critical thing most expats miss. If someone is coming from your left and you would normally have priority, but shark teeth are on your side of the road, you still yield. The markings always win over the default rule.

Conversely, if the shark teeth are on the other road - pointing toward the crossing traffic - then they yield to you. You have priority. The teeth bite whoever they point at.

You'll see shark teeth at roundabout entry and exit points, at crossings where a minor road meets a major one, and at cycle path crossings. Always scan the road surface for them before applying right-before-left. Markings first, then defaults.

A yellow diamond sign (the voorrangsweg sign) means you're on a priority road. All crossing traffic must yield to you at every junction along that road - until you see the end-of-priority-road sign (the same diamond with grey diagonal lines through it).

Priority road status overrides right-before-left. A car coming from your right at a priority road junction does not have priority over you - the sign takes precedence.

But priority road signs only govern vehicle-to-vehicle priority at junctions. They do not give you priority over pedestrians on a zebra crossing. If a pedestrian steps onto a zebra crossing on your priority road, you must still yield to them. The sign protects you from cars at junctions, not from pedestrian crossings.

A vehicle that is turning must yield to traffic going straight. This applies everywhere - at junctions with traffic lights, at roundabouts, and on roads with cycle paths. If a car is turning right and you're cycling straight on the adjacent cycle path, the car must yield to you because it is crossing your path to complete its turn.

This is one of the rules that creates the most conflict with cars, because drivers don't always check for cyclists before turning. You are legally in the right, but a truck turning right with a large blind spot might not see you at all. The law is on your side, but physics isn't - so approach any turning vehicle with caution, especially large ones. Slow down, try to make eye contact, and only proceed when you're confident the driver has seen you.

When multiple priority rules apply at the same junction, there's a hierarchy that determines which one wins. From highest to lowest:

Emergency vehicles with lights and sirens active take absolute priority over everything. When you see or hear them, move to the right and stop.

Trams are next. Tram priority overrides traffic lights, priority road signs, and right-before-left. A tram always has right of way regardless of what other signals or markings say.

Then come specific road markings and signs - shark teeth, priority road signs, traffic lights. These override the default.

Right-before-left sits at the bottom as the fallback. It only applies when nothing else does - no signs, no markings, no traffic lights.

In practice, most junctions have some kind of marking or signal, so right-before-left applies less often than you'd expect. But when it does apply, it applies absolutely.

The tricky situations arise when two rules apply at the same time. You're on a priority road, but shark teeth are painted at a specific crossing. You have a green cyclist light, but a tram is crossing on its own green phase. A car is turning right across your path, but you also have shark teeth on your side.

The approach is always the same: work down the hierarchy. Check for emergency vehicles first. Then trams. Then markings and signs. Then right-before-left. The highest-ranking rule wins. If shark teeth override right-before-left, and a priority road sign overrides shark teeth, then the sign wins.

The common mistake is to fixate on one rule and ignore the others. Right-before-left is the rule most expats learn first, so they apply it everywhere - even at junctions where markings clearly indicate otherwise. Always scan for markings before reverting to the default.

If you're from a country where main roads automatically have priority over side roads, the Dutch right-before-left system feels deeply counterintuitive. You're cycling on a wide, busy road - surely you have priority over the car pulling out of a quiet residential street on your right? In the Netherlands, without explicit signs or markings: no, you don't. That car has right of way because it's approaching from your right.

This catches expats in their first weeks more than any other rule. The instinct to assume road importance equals priority is strong, and it takes deliberate practice to override it. The mental shortcut that helps: ignore how the roads look. Only signs and markings grant priority. Without them, the only rule is direction - right has priority.

Emergency vehicles with blue lights and sirens active sit at the very top of the priority hierarchy. When you see or hear an emergency vehicle approaching, move to the right side of the road and stop. Don't just slow down - actually stop and let them pass. This applies regardless of what road you're on, what signs are present, or what colour your traffic light shows.

In practice the challenge for cyclists is hearing the siren early enough when wearing earbuds (one reason both earbuds are illegal) or when cycling on a busy road with wind noise. Stay alert and check behind you regularly.