Road traffic law: SVG/LCR, VRV/OCR, signals and markings
This domain checks whether you can rank the sources of Swiss traffic law and apply them to a concrete situation at the wheel of a truck. SVG/LCR (Strassenverkehrsgesetz / loi sur la circulation routière) is the framework law with licensing, liability and penalties; VRV/OCR (Verkehrsregelnverordnung / ordonnance sur les règles de la circulation) contains the conduct rules; SSV/OSR governs signs and markings. Cantonal ordinances add local rules, permits and bans.
Order of precedence
When instructions conflict, the order is: police officer, then light signals, then signs, then markings, then the general rules of VRV/OCR. A green light does not authorise you to ignore an officer waving you to stop.
Core conduct rules
- Keep right; overtake on the left. Where a specific overtaking ban for heavy motor vehicles is signed, it applies to your truck even if cars may still overtake.
- Speed: 50 km/h in built-up areas, 80 outside, 100 on expressways (Autostrasse), 120 on motorways - but motor vehicles over 3.5 t are limited to 80 km/h outside built-up areas, motorways included.
- Default priority is right before left. The yellow diamond marks a priority road; a roundabout normally carries a yield sign for entering traffic, and circulating vehicles have priority.
- Trams run on rails and have priority; turning left you yield to oncoming traffic.
- Safety distance: the "half speedometer" rule of thumb (80 km/h → about 40 m) plus a two-second gap in good conditions.
- Pedestrian crossings: pedestrians who have started to cross have absolute priority; you may only overtake another vehicle at a crossing if no pedestrian is endangered.
- Markings: a double centre line may not be crossed; yellow markings mean parking/bus restrictions; white lines separate lanes.
Worked example
You approach an intersection on a priority road (yellow diamond) at 60 km/h with a green light, and a police officer signals you to stop. Reasoning: the officer's signal outranks the light, so you stop even though the light is green. If the same scenario had no officer but the light turned amber, you would stop unless you were too close to do so safely. Note also that the diamond would not help you at the roundabout beyond the junction - it ends at the roundabout and entering traffic must yield.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming 100 or 120 km/h applies to your truck on a motorway; treating right-before-left as abolished on quiet residential streets or car parks; believing a priority-road sign grants priority inside the following roundabout; forgetting that a truck's overtaking ban is sign-specific and does not release you from the general duty of care.