DLOC International Rally 2010: travel tips

This page provides fragments of information that might be useful for the continental part of your trips.

Telephone, breakdown service

Telephone country code for The Netherlands is 0031 (UK is 44, Germany 49). Please contact your local Automobile club for details of their breakdown service, especially with respect to their mutual cooperation with the Dutch automobile club ANWB. The telephone number for the ANWB breakdown service is 0031-88-269-28-88 Possibly useful information from the British AA is on their website.

Speed limits

Unless otherwise indicated the Dutch road system has four basic speed limits:

• Motorways: 120 km/h = 75 mph. Motorways are marked with the sign shown to the right. Most motorways have variable speed limits as well, and these prevail over the fixed speeds. If the variable signs show 50 then be prepared for a congestion ahead with cars fully stopped. The fixed speed limits are enforced where indicated by a sign depiciting a photo camera, and with incidental mobile units elsewhere. The word "trajectcontrole" shown with a camera means: "average speed check" and this usually covers a fairly long stretch. The variable speed limits are much less enforced.
• Major roads: 100 km/h = 62 mph. They are marked with this sign and may resemble motorways in their appearance. The lower speed limit usually is motivated by less hard shoulder, or an occasional intersection or traffic light. The speed difference with motorways is usually only enforced on very busy stretches, and is then in most cases accompanied by an explicitly indicated lower speed.
• Outside urban areas: 80 km/h = 50 mph. This is the default speed outside urban areas. It usually is enforced quite strict with the help of speed cameras (see below).
• Urban area: 50 km/h = 30 mph. An urban area starts with the "white-on-blue" city name which automatically implies this speed limit. Quite often a separate sign showing the number 50 is attached, but don't count on it as a rule. This speed limit may be enforced very strict, with even speeds only a few miles above the limit being photographed and fined.

Speed cameras? You bet! Gatso is a Dutch company, and their home market is their testing ground.

Are you safe from fines with "foreign" license plates? Well, not really if you are a citizen of the European Union. You may have heard about the recent agreement between the EU countries that fines are collected by one's home country, with the incentive being that the collecting country keeps the money. So your "immunity" depends on the greediness of your own government, which must be a reassuring thought.

Petrol

The continent has pretty much standardised on "Euro-petrol" which is a 95 octane unleaded fuel. This usually is indicated by a green coloured nozzle on the pump, and the octane number is virtually always displayed near it.

All leaded fuel is banned, but the larger petrol stations sell "lead-substitute-additive" in bottles. Personally I prefer the Shell brand (product name "Shell Millenium") because it is very easy to use. The Dutch term for "lead substitute" is "loodvervanger".

Most petrol stations sell 98 octane petrol as well, although the stations along the motorways are phasing out the simple variety. It is then replaced with a "premium" or otherwise miracle promising product, also rated around 98 octane, but at a higher price. Most petrol stations off the motorways still have the plain 98 octane product. Look for a yellow nozzle on the pump, and again the 98 indicated. The yellow colour is not used universally, but the 98 is.

Ratings expressed as ...-star are unheard of. You must pick your choice from 95 or ~98.

Petrol prices in France are rather high. Belgium is cheapest. Prices in Holland are comparable to the prices in Britain, although the price fluctuations do not happen in sync with the British ones.

Headlight prisms

Most headlight glasses have embedded prisms to shed extra light on the shoulder of the road. Obviously, if your car is equipped to drive on the left hand side, this extra light will be directed to the left. When driving on the "wrong" side of the road, this may blind the oncoming traffic, and must therefore be shielded off. When disembarking, the ferry company usually announces that appropriate stickers are for sale in their shop. There is no legal requirement to use pre-formed stickers; a few simple pieces of insulation tape will do. But you are required do it by law, although I personally have never heard of an actual situation where not doing it had any practical consequences.

 
It may be somewhat confusing that if you stand in front of a car equipped to drive on the left side of the road, the light shines to the left (where the hard shoulder is), but the prism is on the opposite side of the centre of the glass.
 
The first photo is of a UK-style headlamp. The area to be masked off for driving on the continent is indicated. If you click on the image you'll see a very large magnification just in case you would want to study the pattern in detail.

 
This is my own DS420 limousine, with continental style headlamps. When I travel in the UK the area as indicated is masked off. Note that this is on the other side compared to the UK-style headlamps. Also note that the high beams do not have a hard shoulder prism and thus don't need any treatment. Again you may click to see a very large magnification.
 
Finally, here below, is how I travelled in the UK recently with my everyday (continental style) car: