Special maneuvers: reversing, parking, turning around, pulling away, hill starts and towing

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

Reversing: you yield to everyone

• Yield to cars, cyclists, mopeds and pedestrians
• Look over right shoulder through the rear window
• Check both mirrors and blind spot first
• Reverse slowly, ready to stop instantly
• Forbidden on motorway and autoweg, including hard shoulder
• Amsterdam: watch fast cyclists and pedestrians

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• Reversing into a side street, driveway or parking bay is allowed, but you remain the party that must wait — never force your way through just because you have 'already started'.
• Backing up a short distance to let someone pass or to make room is allowed and also counts as a special maneuver: so look first and give way.
• The reversing camera and parking sensors often miss the blind spot and fast-approaching cyclists; they do not replace turning your head to look.
• Amsterdam trap: when reversing into a garage or gateway, cyclists pass along the pavement or cycle path — they have priority.
• On the hard shoulder or after a missed exit on the motorway, NEVER reverse; carry on to the next exit.

Pulling away and the mirror + blind-spot check

• Pulling away is a special maneuver: give way
• Order: interior mirror, left mirror, indicate
• Check left blind spot over shoulder last
• Blind spot is what mirrors miss
• Only indicate once it is safe
• Move off smoothly without forcing others to brake

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• Common mistake: indicating first and only then looking. The over-the-shoulder blind-spot check is precisely the last thing you do before you steer out.
• Do not forget the right-hand blind spot if you have to avoid something on the right or are joining the road from the right verge.
• In Amsterdam cyclists, delivery scooters and shared scooters often shoot past very close; look twice before you merge.
• Pulling away on a slope or bridge combines with the hill-start technique: keep the handbrake on until the clutch bites, so you do not roll back.
• Even at a green light after stopping you remain responsible for your blind spot: the cyclist on your right as you pull away is a classic.

Parking: parallel, bay and reverse parking

• Parallel: reverse in for a straight fit
• Bay: reverse in for safer forward exit
• Park in direction of travel, right-hand side
• Leave in gear, handbrake firmly on
• On slope: turn wheels toward the kerb
• Amsterdam: paid, blue zone, check the signs

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• Parking is not allowed: on or within 5 metres of a junction, in front of a driveway/entrance, alongside a broken yellow line (stopping allowed, parking not) or on/beside a solid yellow line (even stopping forbidden).
• Do not park at a bus stop, in a disabled bay without a permit, in loading/unloading zones, or on a taxi rank.
• In a parking-disc/blue zone the disc must be visible behind the windscreen; parking outside the marked bays in a blue zone is not allowed.
• Amsterdam trap: canal-side parking with water beside your bay — turn the wheels away from the water and use the handbrake; cars end up in the canal every year.
• Paid parking in large parts of Amsterdam often runs until late in the evening and sometimes 7 days a week; read the sign, not your assumption.
• Leaving a car where you cannot 'drive off immediately' is parking; only briefly getting in/out or loading/unloading is stopping (stilstaan) and has looser rules.

Turning around (keren) and U-turns: where it is allowed and where it is forbidden

• Special maneuver: give way to all traffic
• Do it on a quiet, wide road with visibility
• When unsure, turn in more stages
• Check mirrors and blind spot, indicate
• Forbidden on motorway, autoweg, at no-U-turn signs
• Amsterdam: better to loop around the block

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• The F7 'no U-turn' sign (white round sign with a red border and a black U-shaped arrow, with no diagonal bar) applies until the next junction; do not confuse it with 'no left turn'.
• On the motorway and expressway turning around is never allowed, even if you miss an exit — carry on to the next exit and turn there safely.
• Turning across or via tram tracks is extremely dangerous and usually forbidden; a tram brakes slowly and always has priority.
• Even without a prohibition sign, turning around is wrong if it makes traffic brake or swerve; you then breach the core rule of the special maneuver.
• Amsterdam trap: turning around on a canal looks possible but the road is narrower than it seems and cyclists approach from both sides; drive a loop instead.
• On a one-way street a U-turn is pointless if you would then have to drive against the direction of travel — which is not allowed.

Hill start: pulling away on a slope or bridge without rolling back

• Rolling back is dangerous and an exam fault
• Manual: handbrake on, gas, clutch to biting point
• Feel the car pull, then release handbrake
• Do not skip mirror and blind-spot check
• Automatic: give gas as you release the brake
• Amsterdam bridges are short and steep, practise there

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• Classic mistake: releasing the handbrake first and then hunting for the biting point — you roll back. The order is biting point first, then handbrake.
• Too little gas as you release the handbrake stalls the engine; that costs time and overview in the middle of a bridge.
• Pulling away downhill can simply be done on the foot brake; the handbrake technique is mainly for going up.
• In an automatic, moving off without gas on a steep bridge sometimes still lets the car creep back; deliberately give a touch of gas.
• Amsterdam trap: on a narrow bridge there is often a cyclist right behind you — mirror and blind-spot checks matter even more here.
• Do not forget the blind-spot check: the hill start is also pulling away, so you give way to traffic already coming onto the bridge.

Towing and driving with a trailer or caravan

• B licence: trailer up to 750 kg
• Car plus trailer together max 3500 kg
• Heavier: needs BE licence or code 96
• Speed: 50 in town, 80 outside, 90 motorway
• Distribute load, working lights and brake light
• Amsterdam: avoid the centre, plan a spacious route

Watch out: exceptions and pitfalls

• Category B tows up to a 750 kg trailer, or heavier provided the combination stays under 3500 kg; above that you need BE or code 96 — check the registration document and the combined weights.
• The speed limits (outside the built-up area and expressway 80, motorway 90) are often forgotten; a caravan may therefore not drive the normal 100/130.
• A trailer over 750 kg (and sometimes lighter) needs its own braking system (overrun brake); you may not drive without working trailer brake lights.
• When towing on the motorway you may only drive to the nearest exit; towing any further along the motorway is forbidden.
• Mind the trailer swinging wide on bends and when being overtaken by lorries; take bends more widely so the trailer does not hit the kerb or a cyclist.
• Amsterdam trap: narrow canal streets, short steep bridges and tram tracks make long combinations almost impossible — avoid the centre and choose edge parking with P+R.

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