Netherlands: held your licence for less than 5 years? Your limit is 0.2 ‰. On motorways only 100 km/h during the day, roads are toll-free, and the car must be registered to you.
Key points for young drivers:
Everyone wears a seat belt, and children travel in child seats suited to their height and weight. Exemptions include passengers on buses with standing room.
Amber means red is coming – except at traffic lights before bridges, level crossings and pedestrian crossings. On the motorway, a red cross above a lane means: you must not drive in this lane.
According to the Dutch government you don’t have to carry any mandatory equipment in your car – a warning triangle and a high-visibility vest are not required, but they come in handy.
Note: Your Europe (2024) lists the warning triangle as mandatory, while the Dutch government (rijksoverheid.nl) says it isn’t. So just take one with you.
No specific requirements in the sources.
Winter tyres are not mandatory – official sources give no such requirement.
While driving you must not hold a phone or any other device (including a tablet or music player) in your hand. You can use your phone in a holder or through a hands-free kit. You also must not wedge your phone between your ear and shoulder.
Drugs: driving under the influence of THC, methamphetamine, MDMA and other substances that impair your ability to drive is banned. The fact that cannabis is sold in coffee shops has nothing to do with driving a car.
No other vehicle may use a cycle path separated by a solid line.
Motorways are free and there are no vignettes. Exceptions: the toll tunnel on the A24 (Blankenburgverbinding) – a camera reads your number plate and you pay online no later than 3 days after passing through, or via an agreement with the operator (this also applies to foreign cars) – and the local Kiltunnel near Dordrecht. Since the end of 2024 the Westerschelde Tunnel has been free for cars.
Many cities have low-emission zones (milieuzones) for older diesels: diesels from Euro 4 can enter “green” zones, and from Euro 5 “blue” zones. Petrol cars have no restrictions, and you don’t need to register before entering. Check at milieuzones.nl.
Your driving licence from an EU/EEA country (plastic card) is valid here. You don’t need a Green Card – your third-party motor insurance covers you.
Important: Dutch police check in the EUCARIS database (data from the vehicle register of the country where the car is registered) whether the car is registered to you. If you have bought a car, re-register it before you travel – a purchase contract or invoice is not enough. If the car isn’t registered to the driver, the police can tow it away and won’t give the number plates back. Driving a borrowed car? Take a clearly legible authorisation from the owner.
Remember: Abroad, the rules of the country you are driving in apply – including lower alcohol limits for novice drivers. Road signs take precedence over the values in the table. Vignettes, toll booths and toll-free motorways: motorway tolls and vignettes in Europe.
Sources: European Commission – Your Europe, “Road rules and safety” (data from EU and EEA countries and Switzerland); Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Odyseusz, country profiles (in Polish); German Federal Foreign Office (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia); official national websites (listed for each country). Last updated: September 2026. Rules change – check them on the official websites before you travel.
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