Stopping or parking? The difference you need for your theory exam

Stopping (stilstaan) and parking (parkeren) are part of the CBR car theory exam topic "Use of the road". They sound alike, but in Dutch law they are two different things, each with its own signs, its own road markings and its own places where it's not allowed. Once you really get the difference, these questions go much faster. Below we explain it our way, using the rules in the Dutch traffic regulations (RVV 1990). We give the Dutch exam words in brackets, because those are the words you will see at the exam.

The difference in one sentence

By law, parking means letting your vehicle stand still longer than needed to let passengers get in or out straight away, or to load or unload goods straight away (RVV art. 1). Anything shorter is stopping.

• Stopping (stilstaan): you stop briefly so someone can get out right away, or to take a box out right away.
• Parking (parkeren): you leave the car and walk away, but also: you stay in the car and wait for someone to come back. That waiting takes longer than getting out straight away, so it counts as parking, even with the engine running.

Remember: parking is a form of stopping. So where stopping is forbidden, parking is forbidden too. Not the other way round: where only parking is forbidden, you can often still stop briefly.

The two signs

• Sign E1 (round blue sign, red border, one red diagonal line): no parking. A quick stop to let someone get in or out straight away, or to load or unload straight away, is allowed.
• Sign E2 (round blue sign, red border, red cross): no stopping. You may not stop here at all, not even for a moment (RVV annex 1).

Yellow lines along the road

• Solid yellow line (gele doorgetrokken streep): no stopping (art. 23).
• Broken yellow line (gele onderbroken streep): no parking, a quick stop is allowed (art. 24).

Our memory trick: a solid line is "stricter", so you can't even stop there for a moment.

No stopping here (so no parking either)

• On a junction (kruispunt) or a level crossing (overweg) (art. 23).
• On a cycle lane (fietsstrook), or on the carriageway next to a cycle lane.
• On a pedestrian crossing (oversteekplaats, such as a zebra crossing) or within 5 metres of it.
• In a tunnel.
• At a bus stop: next to the chequered marking or, if there isn't one, within 12 metres of the sign. Letting passengers get in or out straight away is allowed there (art. 23(2)).
• On the carriageway next to a bus lane.
• On the carriageway of a motorway (autosnelweg) or expressway (autoweg) (art. 43). The hard shoulder (vluchtstrook) is only for emergencies.

Stopping is fine here, but no parking

• Within 5 metres of a junction (art. 24).
• In front of a driveway or exit (inrit or uitrit).
• Outside built-up areas (buiten de bebouwde kom) on the carriageway of a priority road (voorrangsweg).
• In a loading and unloading spot, or a permit-holders' space without a permit.
• Double parking is never allowed, and where there are marked bays you may only park inside them.

Watch those 5 metres

Two times 5 metres, but not the same rule: near a pedestrian crossing you may not even stop within 5 metres, near a junction you may not park within 5 metres (and on the junction itself you may not stop at all). This is exactly the kind of detail exam questions are built on.

Tip from The Bro School

In every question, first read what the driver is doing: dropping someone off straight away, or waiting? That one detail decides whether it's stopping or parking. Practise these questions in our exam packages and after each exam read the explanation for the questions you got wrong.

Source: Dutch traffic regulations RVV 1990 (wetten.overheid.nl), art. 1, 23, 24, 43 and annex 1, and CBR, Topics in the theory exam