A distributor road is a road that links up access roads and through roads.
The Dutch system of 'Sustainable Safety' means that all Dutch roads and streets have to be classified as either an access road, through road, or distributor road, under the principle of monofunctionality. Access roads should not involve the movement of motor traffic elsewhere; that is the function of distributor or through roads. Distibutor roads are actually the most problematic roads in safety terms in the Netherlands, due to their mixed function, with street users of differing mass moving at different speeds in different directions. Ideally the length of distributor roads should be minimised, with journeys (particularly for more vulnerable road users) taking place on access roads or through roads.