Weather and conditions: rain, fog, ice, wind, sun and water

By Mustafa Aybek · maker of Rijtheorie Hub · sources: RVV 1990, cbr.nl · last updated 2026-10-11

Rain and aquaplaning

• Increase following distance from 2 to 3-4 seconds
• Most dangerous: first rain after dry spell (slippery film)
• Aquaplaning: tyres float on water, steering feels light
• If it happens: don't brake, ease off gas, wheel straight
• Risk rises with high speed and worn tyres
• Tread: legal min 1.6 mm, grip drops below 3 mm

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• The first 10-15 minutes of rain after a dry spell are the slipperiest; the road is more dangerous then than during a long heavy downpour that has already washed the dirt away.
• In Amsterdam wet tram rails are notoriously slippery: never brake or steer while directly on the rails; cross them as squarely as possible at a steady speed.
• Autumn leaves on wet canal streets (around the Vondelpark and the canal ring) act like soap on top of the already slick surface.
• Trucks and buses throw up huge clouds of spray that can wipe out your view for several seconds; leave extra room before overtaking.
• Switch off cruise control in heavy rain: during aquaplaning the system may keep applying throttle and let the wheels spin.

Fog: lights and speed

• Use dipped beam; high beam is forbidden and dazzles
• Front fog lamps allowed when visibility seriously reduced
• Rear fog lamp only when visibility under 50 metres
• Switch rear fog lamp off as soon as visibility improves
• Rule: metres you can see = max speed in km/h
• Motorway: hectometre posts stand every 100 metres

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• Common mistake: leaving the rear fog lamp on after it has already cleared — this is not only annoying but also illegal and fineable.
• Side lights or parking lights alone are not enough in fog; you must use dipped beam, even in the middle of the day.
• Automatic headlights and daytime running lights can mislead you: DRLs often leave your rear lights off, so switch your dipped beam on manually in fog.
• Amsterdam's canals and the port areas (around the IJ and Westpoort) produce sudden local fog banks in the early morning — visibility can halve within a hundred metres.
• In dense fog do not become a 'tail-light chaser': hanging too close to the red lights ahead gives false security and far too little braking margin.

Black ice, snow and slipperiness — bridges and viaducts freeze first

• Pull away, steer and brake — all gently
• Black ice is treacherous: road still looks wet and black
• Bridges and viaducts freeze first and stay frozen longest
• Amsterdam canal bridges can be sheet-ice slippery
• If sliding: no brake, clutch in, correct slightly
• With snow: clear windows, mirrors, lights and roof

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• Amsterdam trap: you drive from a normal wet street onto a canal bridge — that highest point is exactly where the black ice sits; ease off and do not brake on the bridge itself.
• A thaw is not automatically safe: meltwater that refreezes in the evening makes the road slippery again the next morning, and grit salt fails to work in extreme cold.
• Behind tall vehicles or trucks in snow: snow or ice blowing off their roof or tailgate can suddenly render your windscreen useless.
• ABS does not prevent skidding — it only keeps the steering usable; on ice your braking distance stays extremely long, so anticipate far earlier.
• Cyclists and mopeds often fall on slippery bridges right in front of or beside you; on Amsterdam bridges keep extra lateral distance and low speed.

Strong cross-wind on open roads, dikes and when passing trucks

• Worst on dikes, high bridges and open plains
• Hold wheel with both hands, moderate your speed
• Sudden transitions after shelter are most dangerous
• Passing a truck: first pulled in, then full gust
• Correct in two stages: counter-steer ready, then release
• Empty vans, caravans and motorcyclists extra sensitive

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• The biggest gust does not come in the middle of the open road but exactly at the sheltered-to-exposed transition (end of a noise barrier, end of a bridge railing, gap between buildings).
• When passing a truck the wind switches direction twice; a driver who builds in only one correction swerves past the mark after overtaking.
• Amsterdam's high bridges and the dikes of Waterland and the IJmeer combine cross-wind with possible ice — a double risk.
• An empty or high van (popular in the city) feels the wind far more than an ordinary car; if you rent one, expect more steering corrections.
• Wind-blown branches and leaves, or half-open doors of parked delivery vans along the quay, can suddenly enter your path in a storm.

Low sun, driving in the dark and driving through water

• Low sun dazzles: keep windscreen clean, use sun visor
• Wear sunglasses, slow down; cyclists hard to see
• Dark: clean lights, high beam when no one is near
• Switch back to dipped beam in time; don't outdrive your lights
• Never drive blindly into a deep puddle or flooded underpass
• Through shallow water: go slowly, then test brakes

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• A low sun directly behind you dazzles too: oncoming traffic and you see each other poorly, and your own rear lights vanish against the bright light — keep extra distance.
• At a junction facing the sun you sometimes see cyclists coming from the right only at the last moment; at Amsterdam intersections full of cyclists this is deadly.
• High beam is not banned in town, but you must dip it as soon as you meet another road user or are following someone closely (RVV art. 32) — with street lighting and cyclists and pedestrians everywhere it rarely makes sense there; on the dark dikes of Waterland it is genuinely useful, but dip in good time for oncoming traffic and cyclists.
• Flooded underpasses (typically beneath rail viaducts in and around Amsterdam) are deeper than they look; even half a metre of flowing water can lift a car.
• After driving through water you cannot brake hard straight away: brake gently a few times first to 'wipe' the brake discs dry.

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