Anyone who gets a first driving licence is a novice driver. Stricter rules apply then: a lower alcohol limit and penalty points for serious offences. Here you read how long that lasts, what counts and what happens if it goes wrong.
How long are you a novice?
Everyone who obtains a first driving licence is a novice driver. It does not matter how old you are or which vehicle the licence is for. How long it lasts depends on your age and the type of licence.
Which licence are you getting?
5 years as a novice
Get your first licence at 17 or later and you are a novice driver for 5 years.
7 years as a novice
For an AM licence (moped, scooter, light moped, speed pedelec, light four-wheeler) it is 7 years. That is the licence you can already get at 16.
Back to 5 years
If you also get a category B licence at 17 after your AM licence, it goes back to 5 years.
You notice nothing of it as long as things go well. There is no mark on your licence and nothing to apply for: the scheme simply runs alongside.
A lower alcohol limit
| Novice | Experienced driver | |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol in your blood | Up to 0.2 per mille | Up to 0.5 per mille |
| Breath test | 88 micrograms per litre of exhaled air | 220 micrograms per litre of exhaled air |
The same 0.2 per mille limit applies to moped riders. That is less than one drink, and there is no reliable rule of thumb for how much you can have: how alcohol hits you depends on your weight, what you have eaten and how fast you drink.
Drive anyway and you risk a fine, a driving ban, a prison sentence or a combination of those.
Penalty points: what counts?
Not every ticket is a penalty point. You only get a point for a serious offence for which you have been stopped and convicted:
- Causing danger or obstruction in traffic.
- Causing an accident resulting in death or serious injury.
- Tailgating at more than 80 kilometres per hour.
- Speeding: more than 40 kilometres per hour over the limit on the motorway, or more than 30 over on other roads.
- Breaking traffic rules in a way that causes an accident with injury or damage.
Does this count as a penalty point?
Driving a few kilometres per hour over the limit
Doesn't count. An ordinary speeding fine for a few kilometres over is not a penalty point.
35 kilometres per hour over the limit in a built-up area
Counts. Off the motorway, more than 30 kilometres per hour over the limit counts.
35 kilometres per hour over the limit on the motorway
Doesn't count. On the motorway it only counts at more than 40 kilometres per hour over.
Tailgating at 100 kilometres per hour
Counts. Tailgating at more than 80 kilometres per hour counts.
Your points are not registered with the CBR but with the CVOM.
Two penalty points: what then?
- Second convictionHand in your licence
On the second conviction you have 2 penalty points. You must hand in your licence and the public prosecution service reports you to the CBR.
- InvestigationThe driving ability investigation
It takes about two and a half hours: a theory part of 70 minutes with 50 questions about traffic situations, of which at least 44 must be correct, and a practical part of 70 minutes in a dual-control car. You pay the costs yourself; the amount is listed in the CBR's current fees.
What is the outcome of the investigation?
You are fit to drive
You can usually get back on the road straight away. As a novice driver who went wrong twice within 5 years, you also follow the course on behaviour in traffic. If you do not cooperate with it, your licence is declared invalid after all.
Your licence becomes invalid
You may not drive and have to retake both the theory and the practical exam. Everything you paid for lessons and exams starts over.
Sources: Rijksoverheid: what is the beginner's licence?, Rijksoverheid: which offences count?, CBR: what is the driving ability investigation?