ABSTRACTVehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are very changeable networks due to the highly dynamic movement of their nodes, resulting in frequent link disconnection and variable node density. One of the most challenging issues in VANETs is to propose a suitable routing scheme that is adapted to the characteristics of such a dynamic topology. Position‐based routing schemes that are effective in handling dynamic changes in the topology of VANETs are proposed. This article proposes an efficient routing protocol based on a greedy forwarding approach called ERGF. The proposed protocol is a position‐based routing protocol that uses fresh vehicular traffic information in the routing process. ERGF consists of two main algorithms: the vehicle traffic freshness dissemination algorithm and the greedy forwarding algorithm. The both algorithms work together to provide fresh, up‐to‐date information about vehicle traffic, enabling the proposed routing protocol to effectively withstand dynamic changes in VANET network topology. The proposed protocol has been developed over OMNET++ simulator, evaluated and compared with some other protocols. The simulation results showed that the proposed protocol provided better performance in terms of packet delivery rate and end‐to‐end delay than the EGyTAR and PBRP protocols. The packet delivery ratio of our proposal is approximately 75% and 6% higher than EGyTAR and PBRP, respectively, and the end‐to‐end delay of our protocol is reduced by 37% and 7%, respectively, compared with EGyTAR and PBRP for most scenarios.