Single-lane roadworks with a flashing amber signal
At 08:20 on a weekday you ride a motorcycle along a two-lane cantonal road towards a town, in an 80 km/h section. A 'Baustelle' advance sign appeared 600 m ago; 150 m ahead your lane is closed by red-and-white barriers standing in the middle of the road, and the left-hand lane is used by oncoming traffic. The temporary traffic light shows flashing amber, not red and not green. No worker with a sign paddle is visible. The old white centre line is still faintly visible, while a yellow line now guides traffic around the site. A 60 km/h temporary limit sign stands at the start of the works, but oncoming drivers are still coming fast. Behind you a queue of four cars has formed; ahead, a van and a lorry approach in the opposite direction. The road narrows to a single lane at the barriers.
1. What does the flashing amber mean here, and who has priority in the single-lane section?
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Flashing amber means the light is not regulating the traffic - it does not mean go.
A temporary signal in flashing-amber mode warns of the works and leaves priority to the rules that would apply without it: the signs on site and, where there are none, the general rules. Here there is no priority sign facing you, but the barriers close your lane. The obstacle is on your side, so you must give way to oncoming traffic using the open lane. That means slow to walking pace, be ready to stop in the narrow section, and enter only when the single lane is clear far enough that an oncoming vehicle cannot meet you in it.
Flashing amber is also an instruction to expect the unexpected: workers, plant crossing, an unmarked trench, or the signal being switched back on while you are inside the section. Never interpret it as a green light, and never use the closed lane to overtake the queue.
2. Which markings and which speed limit apply - the old white line and the previous 80, or the yellow line and the 60?
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Yellow lines win, and the 60 starts at its own sign.
- Markings. During roadworks the temporary yellow markings are authoritative; the old white line is obsolete as long as the yellow guide line is in place. Following the white line can put you into the barriers or into oncoming traffic. Where yellow and white contradict each other, follow yellow.
- Speed. A temporary 60 sign takes effect at the sign, not at the advance 'Baustelle' warning 600 m earlier, and it stays in force until it is cancelled by an end-of-restriction or end-of-works sign. The 80 sign further back does not override it. Ride at a speed from which you can stop within the distance you can see to be clear; in a single-lane section managed only by flashing amber that often means well below 60.
- End of the works. Do not accelerate back to 80 the moment the barriers end; a temporary surface, gravel and a changed line can persist for another 100 m.
3. How do you approach and merge at the narrowing, and how do you handle the queue behind you?
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Merge in turn at the narrowing point, not early, and not on the right-hand side of the queue.
- Ride up in your own lane at a moderate, predictable speed and merge where the lane actually ends, alternating one vehicle at a time with the car beside you. Merging 150 m early creates a second queue and an unpredictable stop; forcing in early also puts you between two streams of traffic.
- Signal, take a shoulder check, and make eye contact with the driver you are merging in front of. Do not assume a gap because you are smaller.
- Do not use the strip between the queue and the barriers to filter to the front. It is narrow, the surface is broken, and drivers changing their minds about lanes will not look there. On a motorcycle your advantage is visibility and braking, not squeezing through.
- Keep at least two seconds behind the vehicle in front so you are not hidden and have room to stop; a lorry ahead blocks your view of the merge point, so hang back rather than tuck in.
- If the signal changes to red while you are waiting, stop at the stop line and wait, however clear the road looks.