BOA / Enforcer

On the basis of Article 82, paragraph 1a of the Traffic Rules and Signs Regulations 1990 (RVV 1990), BOAs and Enforcement Officers can be deployed as civil servants who issue road signs, provided this has been approved by the competent authority.

Paragraph 1a states: Road users are obliged to follow the directions given orally or by means of gestures by:

a. the authorized and recognizable officials

This implies that the civil servant must be authorized and can be clearly deployed as such. However, this must be described by the competent authority. So it is not a standard, but can be part of the task.

As a BOA / Enforcer, this official (recognizable as such, i.e. in uniform) may give directions to traffic. This will certainly not pose a problem in emergency situations. It is, after all, an incidental act. However, the incidents you encounter as a BOA / Enforcer are inherent to the profession. That makes it complicated. All in all, these are incidents. The fact that there is a good chance that these incidents will occur ensures that they are no longer incidental actions, but related to the profession.

We see that municipalities interpret this differently throughout the country. On the one hand, BOAs / Enforcement Officers act without separate traffic controller authority. On the other hand, there are many municipalities that only allow their BOAs / Enforcers to regulate traffic after they have had a professional training and appointment.

We recommend the latter for security reasons, although we have no authority in this regard. This advice should therefore be regarded as a non-binding consultation. Incidentally, if your official indeed wants to become an authorized traffic controller, he must pass the regular exam, regardless of experience and knowledge. Unfortunately, an exemption is not possible.