Road traffic law and priority rules
This domain tests how well you know the Swiss legal framework and the default priority rules that apply when no police officer, traffic light, sign or marking says otherwise. For category F, the legal frame is the Swiss Road Traffic Act (SVG) and the Traffic Rules Ordinance (VRV), plus the fact that a category F vehicle is limited to 45 km/h and is not allowed on motorways or expressways.
Legal basics
- Category F covers motor vehicles with a maximum design speed of 45 km/h. The vehicle limit remains 45 km/h even where the road limit is 50, 80 or higher.
- Because it cannot reach motorway speeds, a category F vehicle must stay off motorways and expressways.
- You need a valid category F licence, third-party insurance and a roadworthy vehicle. The general alcohol limit is 0.5 per mille; stricter limits apply to novice and professional drivers.
Default priority
- At an unmarked intersection, right-before-left applies: yield to vehicles coming from your right.
- When turning left, you must yield to oncoming traffic and to pedestrians and cyclists crossing the road you are entering.
- Leaving a property, garage, parking area, field path or petrol station gives you no priority. Yield to all road users already on the road.
- At a zebra crossing, stop for pedestrians who are on it or clearly intending to cross.
- Hierarchy: police instructions, then traffic lights, then signs, then markings, then the general right-before-left rule.
Worked example
You drive a category F vehicle on a narrow road and reach an unmarked T-junction. You want to turn left. A car approaches from your right and wants to turn right into your road. You must wait. The car is coming from your right, and no sign or marking changes the default rule. Your left-turn indicator does not give you priority; indicating is only a signal of intent.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming a slow vehicle automatically has priority is wrong. So is treating a field exit as a normal junction with right-before-left: when you leave a field or yard, you must give way to everyone. Another common error is forgetting that the 45 km/h vehicle limit overrides a higher posted road limit.
Key points
- Category F: maximum 45 km/h; no motorways or expressways.
- Unmarked junctions: yield to the right.
- Left turns: yield to oncoming traffic and crossing pedestrians.
- Exiting property or a field: no priority at all.
- Apply signals, signs, markings, then right-before-left.