Let’s stop confusing the two 😅

In theory, the right-hand priority rule in Belgium is simple.

In practice?
Some intersections look more like an improvised diplomatic negotiation between stressed drivers 🚙, fearless cyclists 🚴 and pedestrians who have completely lost faith in humanity 🚶‍♂️💀

📖 What Belgian law actually says

Under Belgian traffic law, when there are no traffic signs regulating priority, drivers must give way to vehicles coming from the right.

✅ Simple.
✅ Clear.
✅ Civilized.

Well… at least on paper 📄

Because at real-life intersections, many drivers seem to follow completely different rules:

• 🚘 “My car is bigger, so I go first.”
• ⏰ “I’m in a hurry.”
• 👀 “I looked at you, so you should understand my intentions.”
• 🤏 “I was already halfway in.”
• 👋 “Someone waved me through.”
• 🧓 “I’ve known this intersection for 20 years.”

⚖️ Legal spoiler alert:
none of these rules exist in the Belgian Highway Code.

👋 The classic: “But he let me go first”

This usually comes up after an accident 💥

One driver says:

🙋 “Yes, but the other driver waved me through.”

The other responds:

😤 “Yes, but he was supposed to give me priority.”

Welcome to the wonderful world of traffic litigation ⚖️🚓

Because legally speaking, right of way does not magically disappear because someone made a vague hand gesture resembling a papal blessing ✋⛪

Courts will analyze:

• 📍 priority rules,
• 🚦 negligent behavior,
• 👀 expected caution,
• 🌫️ visibility,
• 🏎️ speed,
• 🤷 and sometimes even… the interpretation of “the gesture.”

Yes, a simple wave of the hand can end up in a legal file hundreds of pages long 📚

🚦 Belgian intersections: a laboratory of human behavior

Unregulated intersections are fascinating 🔬

They are places where:

• 😇 some people suddenly rediscover the right-hand priority rule,
• 🙈 others completely ignore it,
• 🤝 and a few decide to become aggressively polite.

The “overly polite driver” is actually a dangerous species 🐼

They let everyone pass.
They block traffic 🚗🚗🚗
They create hesitation 😬
And sometimes… they cause accidents 💥

⚖️ Traffic law generally prefers predictability over spontaneous generosity.

🤔 “I thought he was going to stop”

One of the greatest hits in intersection accidents 🏆

Belgian traffic law relies heavily on:

• 🔍 anticipation,
• ⚠️ caution,
• 🚘 reasonable driving behavior.

In other words:

Even if:

• ✅ you have priority,
• ✅ you are legally right,
• ✅ the other driver made a mistake,

that does not allow you to storm through an intersection like a Roman conqueror entering Brussels 🛡️🐎

Having priority never removes the duty to remain careful.

🔁 Turn signals: society’s greatest fiction

Special mention for the driver who:

• 👉 turns on the right indicator,
• 👀 looks left,
• ⬆️ then drives straight ahead.

Belgian law unfortunately does not recognize telepathy as an official traffic communication system 🧠📡

🏁 Conclusion: right of way is a legal rule, not a gut feeling

An intersection is not:

• ❌ a philosophical debate,
• ❌ an improvisation exercise,
• ❌ a mind-reading contest.

It is a place where:

• ⚖️ rules matter,
• 🚦 caution matters,
• 💸 and where “I thought…” can become very expensive.

The right-hand priority rule remains a fundamental principle of Belgian traffic law 🇧🇪

The challenge is distinguishing:

• 📘 what the law actually says,
• 🤯 from what people invent in the middle of the intersection.

Because between legal theory and real-life traffic…
there are often several honks of difference 🚗📢😅

For all questions related to road traffic law, don’t forget to contact your favourite lawyer. 🚗⚖️