The Narrow Priority Road: A Sign, a Marking and an Oncoming Lorry
You drive a coach on a narrow two-way street in a Belgian town. Ahead, parked cars narrow your side to a single lane. There is a blue square sign with a white arrow pointing up and a red arrow pointing down, and the road narrows with a white arrow marking on your side pointing towards you. An oncoming articulated lorry has already entered the narrow section. Your coach is 2.55 m wide and the gap beside the parked cars is tight. A car behind you is close. You are carrying 40 passengers and are running 5 minutes late.
1. Who has priority in the narrow section, and what does the sign and the road marking tell you?
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The blue square sign with a white upward arrow and a red downward arrow means priority over oncoming traffic is granted to your direction; the white arrow marking on your side pointing towards you confirms that you have priority. However, priority is not an absolute right to force through. The lorry has already committed to the narrow section, so the sensible and safe course is to stop before the restriction and let it clear, even though the sign favours you. The marking and sign resolve the legal question; the physical situation - an articulated lorry already in the gap - resolves the practical one. Never enter a gap you cannot clear.
2. What should you do about the close-following car and the 5-minute delay?
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Do not let the follower pressure you into entering the narrow section before the lorry has cleared. Slow early and smoothly so the car behind has time to react, and use the brake lights progressively rather than a late, hard stop. The 5-minute delay is irrelevant to the priority decision: squeezing past a committed lorry risks a collision, injury to 40 passengers and far greater delay. Wait, then proceed when the gap is clear. If the car behind tries to overtake into the gap, hold your position and do not move left into the parked cars.
3. If the lorry had not yet entered, would your answer change, and how would you judge the gap?
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If the lorry had not entered, the priority sign would let you proceed first, but only if you could clear the narrow section without forcing the lorry to reverse or stop dangerously. Judge the gap by the coach's width plus a safe margin on both sides; 2.55 m plus mirrors in a tight street leaves little room for error. If in doubt, yield. Priority rules decide who goes first when both can proceed safely - they do not require the other driver to make an emergency stop. With a heavy vehicle, the cost of being wrong is high, so a brief wait is almost always the better judgement.