Verkehrszeichen und Verkehrseinrichtungen
What this domain tests
Verkehrszeichen und Verkehrseinrichtungen tests whether you can read warning signs, regulatory signs, direction signs, road markings and installations such as barriers and traffic lights. D1 candidates must recognise signs quickly while driving a large vehicle, and must understand supplementary plates that change a sign's meaning. The exam often tests sign shape, colour and where a sign ends.
Core rules
- Warning signs are generally triangular with a red border. Regulatory signs are usually round: red border for prohibitions, blue for mandatory instructions. Direction and priority signs have their own shapes.
- Zeichen 205, Vorfahrt gewähren, is a downward-pointing triangle. Zeichen 206, Halt! Vorfahrt gewähren, is an octagon and requires a stop. Zeichen 306, Vorfahrtstraße, is a yellow diamond and marks a priority road.
- Supplementary plates below a sign can limit it to certain times, vehicles, distances or users. Read them as part of the sign.
- Road markings can repeat or extend signs: stop lines, yield lines, lane arrows, bus lane markings and zebra crossings. A marking can remain effective where no upright sign is visible.
- Traffic lights and police signals are traffic control installations. A flashing amber light does not mean free passage; it warns of a hazard or pedestrian crossing.
- Signs may end at the next junction, at an end-of-restriction sign or by a supplementary distance plate. Do not assume a speed limit lasts forever.
Worked example
You see an octagonal sign with Halt! Vorfahrt gewähren and a stop line. The crossing road looks empty. You must still stop at the stop line, check both directions, then proceed when safe. If the sign were the triangular Zeichen 205, you would not be required to stop completely when the road is clear, but you would still have to yield. The shape and wording change the legal duty. If a supplementary plate showed a bicycle symbol, the rule would apply specifically to cyclists, not to all traffic.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing the yield triangle with the stop octagon; ignoring supplementary plates; assuming a sign applies only where it is first seen; missing road markings; and treating a flashing amber light as a green light. Another trap is to read a sign while the bus is moving and fail to scan for pedestrians, cyclists or low barriers that the sign warns about.