Common combinations in Belgium

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The additional panel combinations you meet most often on Belgian roads, and how to read the sign they qualify correctly.

Cover, Common combinations in Belgium

Lesson objectives

Recognize common combinations of signs and additional panels in Belgium Correctly apply time, day, and vehicle category restrictions Interpret additional panels that modify the scope of a main sign

Blue zone + additional panels: the essential combinations

The limited-duration parking zone, the « blue zone », is the most frequent combination. Its signal has no specific code: it is the E9a completed with a parking disc drawing , to which zonal validity has been conferred (art. 27.1.1 and 65.5). There is no « ZE1 » signal in the code. The signal alone does not say when, how long, or for whom: these details are specified by the information on the signage.

ZE1 - Beginning

You are entering a blue disc parking zone. Throughout this zone, parking is limited in time. You must absolutely display a parking disc, it is a blue card with a clock, indicating your arrival time. The maximum authorized duration is specified on the sign or on the additional panel.

This sign marks the entrance to a blue zone. From this point, parking is subject to special rules. But when? How long? For whom? Additional panels answer these questions.

Time and day additional panels

Article 27.1.2 sets the default rule, and its exception: « Unless particular conditions are indicated on the signage , the use of the disc is mandatory from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on working days and for a maximum duration of two hours . » Information on the sign therefore takes precedence, over times, days, and duration.

Type V

Additional validity period panel: article 65.2 specifies its form, black text on white background or white text on blue background. It indicates hours, days, or both. The Roman « types » and articles 12.1ter or 13.1 do not correspond to any provision of the code.

Example: blue zone with modified hours

A limited-duration parking zone bearing the mention « 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. »: the disc is mandatory only during this period. Outside of it, parking is free, this is the exception « unless particular conditions » of article 27.1.2 that applies. Pay attention to the second independent rule: Saturday is a working day under the code. Only Sundays and public holidays are not.

Type IV a

Additional panel designating a category or exception: « except local traffic » (closed list of article 2.47), « except residents » for holders of the resident card of article 27.1.4, « except 2+ » or « 3+ » under a C5, or a mass under a C23 or a C43, in which case it is the MMA that is targeted.

Under a parking sign, the mention « except residents » specifically targets persons in possession of the resident card of article 27.1.4 , and the same article adds that the municipal parking card replaces the disc . The mention « paid » requires the use of a paid parking card (art. 70.2.1, 2°).

Type IV b Residents

The code does not classify additional panels into « types ». Article 65.2 gives their definition and form; articles 66.2, 66.3, 67.3, 68.2, 69.2, 70.2.1 and 70.2.2 provide for their particular uses, sign by sign. Article 70.2.1, 3° cited by the previous version actually deals with E9 signals authorizing or regulating parking.

Example: blue zone except residents

You see ZE1 with an additional panel « Residents excepted ». If you live in the street, you are not required to use the disc. Other drivers are.

Parking disc

Parking disc: the arrow is positioned on the line following the one of the arrival time (art. 27.1.2). Unless particular conditions are indicated by the signage, the disc is mandatory from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on working days, for a maximum of two hours, and the vehicle must have left the space at expiration. It is forbidden to display inaccurate information on it or to modify it before departure (art. 27.1.3).

Speed + additional panels: common exceptions

A speed limit sign (e.g. C43 at 50 km/h) generally applies until the next intersection. But an additional panel can restrict this scope or clarify to whom it applies.

C43

C43, Speed limit. You must not exceed the indicated speed, whether it is 50, 70 or 90 kilometers per hour. This limit replaces the normal speed for this type of road. It applies until the next speed limit sign, until the end sign C45, or until the beginning or end of a built-up area.

Type I

Pay attention to the meaning of an additional panel bearing a distance: article 68.2 is explicit, « A prohibition sign may be announced by an identical sign completed by an additional panel indicating the approximate distance at which the prohibition begins . » The distance therefore indicates where the rule begins , not over what length it applies. Article 69.2 says the same thing for mandatory signs, and article 66.2 for danger signs.

Example: speed limit over a specific distance

A C43 « 50 » preceded by an additional panel « 200 m » means that the 50 km/h limit will begin in 200 meters , this is an announcement (art. 68.2), not a validity duration. Length is signaled differently: article 66.3 for the length of a dangerous section, and article 70.2.2 for the distance over which a stopping or parking regulation applies.

Type IV c

Under a C43, article 68.3 expressly provides for the case of mass: « when a mass is indicated on an additional panel, the prohibition only applies to vehicles whose maximum authorized mass exceeds the fixed limit ». A limitation accompanied by « 3.5 t » therefore does not concern private cars.

A Type IV additional panel can also indicate that the speed limit only concerns certain vehicles . For example, a limit of 60 km/h for trucks, while cars can drive faster.

Exam tip

Always read the main signal then the additional panel. Article 65.2 describes exactly what the second does: it completes, clarifies or limits the meaning of the first. And check the color : white on blue background as a general rule, but black on white background for models M1 to M24, bicycles, mobility devices, two-wheeled mopeds, as well as for letters B, C, D or E of signals C24a and D4, and for validity period panels, which allow both presentations.

Warning: a permanent zone 30

The zone 30 delimited by signals F4a and F4b applies throughout the zone, permanently (art. 22quater). Two devices nevertheless allow a limitation in time: variable message signage from article 65.3 , which allows a signal to appear or disappear, school surroundings make common use of it; the school street from article 22undecies , whose regime only applies during the signaled periods.

The most common additional panels in Belgium

Mention shown on the additional panel Effect Basis A distance under an advance warning signal The signal will begin at this distance 66.2, 68.2, 69.2, 67.3 A length Extent of the dangerous section, or of the stopping and parking regulation 66.3, 70.2.2 A period , hours, days The signal only applies during this period 65.2, 70.2.1 A category or an exception « except local traffic », « except residents », « except 2+ » 2.47, 27.1.4, 68.3 A mass Only concerns vehicles whose MMA exceeds this mass 68.3 A parking disc reproduced Makes the use of the disc mandatory 27.1.4, 27.2, 70.2.1 Symbol M1 to M24 , black on white Concerns bicycles, mobility devices and two-wheeled mopeds 65.2 Letter B, C, D or E Tunnel category for dangerous goods (C24a, D4) 65.2, 68.3

Belgian urban street with blue zone panels and additional panels

Belgian intersection with speed limit and distance additional panel

Key points to remember

The additional panel completes, clarifies or limits the main signal, it never expands it (art. 65.2). Blue zone : mandatory disc from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on working days , 2 hours maximum, except for special arrangements indicated on the signage (art. 27.1.2). Saturday is a working day . A distance on an advance warning panel indicates where the signal begins , not the length over which it applies. A mass under a C43 or C23 concerns the MMA , not the actual mass. Colors : white on blue background; black on white background for models M1 to M24 and tunnel letters; both are allowed for validity periods. The « types I to XI » do not exist in the code: it is articles 65.2, 66.2, 66.3, 67.3, 68.2, 68.3, 69.2, 70.2.1 and 70.2.2 that regulate the matter.

Congratulations!

First do the quiz for this lesson to validate your learning, then practice on the exam simulator and the MCQs . You have completed this entire course. Congratulations, time for practice!

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