Anticipating and distraction
| What we know for certain | Where it goes wrong | What you do | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stopping within the sight distance | The rule is not a speed but an ABILITY: being able to stop within the distance you can see AND that is clear. Two conditions, both required. | Thinking you are safe as long as you are under the limit. In fog, on a bend or over a crest the permitted speed is often already too high for art. 19. | Adapt your speed to what you can see, not to what the sign allows. |
| Holding the device | What is forbidden is HOLDING, not using. The law expressly names phone, tablet and media player — and says “in any case”, so the list is not exhaustive. | Reading it as “calling is banned”. Hands-free calling is not banned; holding a phone in your lap at a red light is — you are still driving. | Device in the cradle or away — holding it is forbidden, including when stationary. |
| What actually raises the risk | According to SWOV it is mainly activities that keep the EYES off the road for long that raise crash risk: dialling, texting, reaching for something in the car, staring at something outside. Rear-end collisions increase the most. | Lumping all distraction together. The distinction is not “phone or no phone” but “how long are your eyes off the road”. Setting a satnav counts; talking to a passenger far less. | Do everything that takes your eyes away for more than an instant before setting off. |
| The effect lingers | SWOV cites an Australian simulator study: AFTER a distracting task ends, detection of peripheral signals and the variation in speed and lateral position remain worse for about 40 seconds, the effect being largest in the first 10. | Thinking you are back the moment you put the screen away. At 100 km/h, 40 seconds is well over a kilometre — and the first ten are the worst. | After an interruption deliberately rebuild: increase your distance and let your speed drop. |
| Compensation is not a solution | SWOV reports an apparent contradiction: a US analysis found no higher crash risk for calling (hands-free or handheld), while simulator studies do show degradation. One possible explanation is compensation — drivers pick calmer moments to call. | Reading this as “calling is safe then”. Compensation works only while the situation stays predictable — and the unexpected is exactly where distraction catches you. | Call only where the situation is predictable, and hang up as soon as that changes. |
| Horn and flashing lights | Permitted SOLELY to avert imminent danger. One purpose, and the law names no second. | Using them to “say thanks” or wave someone through. That is not averting danger, and it is ambiguous: the other driver cannot tell warning from invitation. | Save the horn for imminent danger and otherwise use your hand to thank someone. |
| Following distance | Art. 19 names no seconds and no metres — it requires that you can stop within what you can see and what is clear. | Memorising a fixed figure and not adjusting it in rain or darkness. The rule is an ability, not a distance. | Increase the distance as soon as anything reduces visibility or grip — that is the only way to keep meeting art. 19. |
| Allowing for another driver's mistake | The law obliges you to be able to stop within what is CLEAR. Whether the road stays clear also depends on what others do. | Relying on being in the right. Having priority changes nothing about whether you can still stop. | For every other road user plan for a mistake he might make, and keep room for it. |
The law itself
- RVV1990 art. 19
«De bestuurder moet in staat zijn zijn voertuig tot stilstand te brengen binnen de afstand waarover hij de weg kan overzien en waarover deze vrij is.»
- RVV1990 art. 61a
«Het is degene die een voertuig bestuurt verboden tijdens het rijden een mobiel elektronisch apparaat dat gebruikt kan worden voor communicatie of informatieverwerking vast te houden. Onder een mobiel elektronisch apparaat wordt in elk geval verstaan een mobiele telefoon, een tabletcomputer of een mediaspeler.»
- RVV1990 art. 28
«Bestuurders mogen slechts geluidssignalen en knippersignalen geven ter afwending van dreigend gevaar.»
- RVV1990 art. 3 lid 1
«Bestuurders zijn verplicht zoveel mogelijk rechts te houden.»
- SWOV Factsheet Afleiding in het verkeer (juli 2020)
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