An EU driver’s licence is valid for travel anywhere within the EU. The only exception is for provisional driving licences which are only valid in the country of issue. Everything you need to know about cars, driving licences, insurance and registration throughout the European Union is listed in the getting a driving licence section on the europa.eu’s youreurope website.
Throughout your Euregio (slightly) different driving ages, speed limits and regulations on the use of alcohol apply, as you can see in the map below. You face three differing systems for registration, insurances and fees.
Especially the comparably higher taxes in Belgium and the Netherlands might lead to negative surprises for German cross-border commuters.
Laws & regulations:
(Motor-)bikes
In the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, driving age is 18 for cars (but Netherlands and Germany allow for supervised driving from the age of 17). For mopeds (autocycles), age limit is 15/16. Regulations and fines for cycling do also vary slightly – you are advised but not obligated to wear a helmet.
According to their sounds, Dutch and Flemish call mopeds “bromfietsen” and mofas “snorfietsen”. But their most important small-scale private transport are the “fietsen”, the bikes. Note that for cycling, age limits only distinguish between using the open street or the sidewalk. If interested, find a whole background analysis on cycling in the Netherlands.
Driving schools
You might want to learn cycling and take lessons. Find an overview of cycling teachers in the Netherlands. As for cars, and without the chance of ever giving a full picture, three comments on driving schools in the Euregio:
- Especially around Maastricht, you find some English-speaking overviews such as (commercial) Drivingschoolmaastricht.com. Note that often, driving teachers speak English although they might not take the effort to translate a whole webpage.
- Driving schools in Belgium tend to be cheaper than in Germany and the Netherlands, but note that you need to be registered in Belgium to follow the driving licence in this country
- Some services throughout youRegion specialise in trainings for people with a handicap
