Trams and right of way: why the tram goes first even from the left
The tram is the best-known exception to "traffic from the right goes first". In Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht you meet it every day, and in the exam almost always.
A tram almost always goes first — even when it comes from the left. The 'right before left' rule does not apply to trams.
The tram is a giant, stubborn elephant on steel rails: it can't swerve and can't stop quickly. Whether it comes from the left or the right, you're the mouse that jumps aside — never the other way round.
Exception: You only go before the tram when the tram itself faces shark's-teeth or another give-way sign, or when traffic lights control the junction and the tram has to wait. Even on green, always check left and right along the rails.
The tram almost always has priority — even from the left
When in doubt, always let the tram go — from any direction.
- Equal-value junction: tram first, even from the left
- Exception to 'traffic from the right goes first'
- Lights and shark's teeth override tram priority
- On a priority road the tram waits for you
- Turning: always yield to a straight-ahead tram
Exceptions and pitfalls
- Priority from the left applies only at an equal-value intersection; as soon as there are traffic lights or priority signs / shark's teeth, those govern and the tram obeys them too.
- On a priority road you have priority over a tram emerging from a side street — the tram then has shark's teeth itself and must wait.
- When turning, you always give way to a tram going straight, including a tram passing you from behind on your right or left.
- A tram too must let pedestrians go first who are crossing at a zebra or about to. (Belgium is different: there the tram goes first.)
- A tram on its own dedicated track with its own tram signals (white bars/lines instead of red-amber-green) may have a go signal while your direction is red — read your own signal.
- Police or fire vehicles showing blue lights and sirens take priority over the tram; the tram must yield to them too.
- Amsterdam trap: on many squares (e.g. around Centraal Station, Leidseplein, Frederiksplein) several tram tracks cross at once from unexpected angles — expect trams from left and right simultaneously.
Never stop or park on the tram rails
Never enter a junction or the rails unless you can fully clear them.
- On shared rails: keep moving, never stop
- At red, stop so the rails stay clear
- Parking on/beside rails means towing
- Tram track (trambaan) is off-limits to cars
- Amsterdam enforces with cameras on trams
Exceptions and pitfalls
- Driving over rails set into the carriageway is allowed; it is standing still or parking on them that is forbidden.
- The dedicated tram track (raised, grass, different paving, or a tram sign) is entirely off-limits to cars — not even a brief entry to turn around.
- Never enter a junction with rails if you cannot clear it on the far side; if you end up stopped on the rails you block the whole line.
- In a breakdown or collision on the rails: alert others immediately and get off the rails as fast as possible — a standing tram cannot go around you.
- Amsterdam gotcha: loading/unloading or 'just dropping someone off' half on the rails is fined via the tram cameras and your car can be towed at once.
- Cyclists and mopeds must not 'wait' on the rails either; in narrow canal streets you get trapped between the tram and the kerb.
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