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Introduction

The highway code

The highway code describes the rights and obligations of road users on the public highway. All road users are expected to know and apply this highway code. A road user is any person who uses the public highway as a pedestrian or a driver. Note: the driver of a rail vehicle must comply with the specific regulations of his transport company. It has always priority.

A public highway is any road made available to road users. This also applies for private roads when these are used with the permission of the owner.

A public place is:

  • any public highway as described above;
  • any public land freely accessible to the public, e.g. a supermarket car park;
  • any non-public land accessible for a specific number of persons, e.g. a private car park or football stadium with paid parking.

So, any public highway is in this sense a public place, but any public place is not always a public highway.