Priority, junctions and roundabouts
Priority questions are the backbone of the Swiss theory exam: almost every scenario picture asks who may go first. You need the default rule, the signs that switch it off, and the special priority of rail vehicles and buses.
The default: right before left
At any junction without signs or lights, you yield to traffic coming from your right ("Rechtsvortritt"). This applies even if the other road looks smaller. Leaving private property, a garage, a petrol station or a field path is not a junction: there you yield to everyone already on the road.
Signs and special cases
- Priority road (yellow diamond): you go first at the junctions ahead until the sign is cancelled.
- Give way (inverted triangle): slow, be ready to stop, yield to the priority road.
- Stop (octagon): a full stop at the line is compulsory, even with nothing in sight.
- Trams have priority over road traffic; buses pulling out of a marked stop inside a built-up area must be given way to.
- Turning left: yield to oncoming traffic and to pedestrians crossing the road you enter. Turning right: check your blind spot for cyclists going straight on.
Roundabouts
Traffic already circulating has priority, so you give way on entry - normally without stopping if the way is clear. Do not indicate when entering. Indicate right just before your exit. Pick your lane before the roundabout, stay in it, and watch for cyclists and pedestrians at the exits; long vehicles may need both lanes, so give them room.
Worked example
You reach a two-lane roundabout and want the third exit. A car is already circulating from your left with no indicator. Circulating traffic has priority, so you wait at the give-way line. When you enter, you do not signal, you hold your lane, and you indicate right only as you pass the exit before yours. If a lorry beside you is straddling both lanes on the inside, you stay back rather than try to squeeze past - its trailer will cut across your path.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming priority because your road "looks" like the main road, without a yellow diamond.
- Missing the "priority road ends" sign (diamond with a bar) and continuing to claim priority.
- Indicating left when entering a roundabout.
- Rolling through a stop sign because the road looks empty.
- Forgetting that a bus leaving a stop in town has priority.