Traffic Law and Road Signs
This domain tests your command of the Greek Highway Code (Κώδικας Οδικής Κυκλοφορίας, ΚΟΚ - Law 2696/1999 as amended), the signals of traffic officials, the meaning of each sign family, road markings, and the priority rules that decide who moves first. Questions are usually short scenarios: a bus at a junction, a sign you must identify from a description, or an obligation or penalty point.
Sign families
- Danger signs: white triangle with a red border, warning of a hazard roughly 50 m ahead inside built-up areas and 150 m outside them.
- Regulatory signs: circles. A red border means prohibition or restriction; blue means a mandatory instruction (a blue circle with a bus marks a bus-only route).
- Priority signs: the STOP octagon (a full stop at the line, then proceed only when clear) and the inverted give-way triangle.
- Information and special signs: blue squares and rectangles, including motorway and built-up-area signs.
Priority hierarchy
Official hand signals outrank traffic lights; lights outrank signs; signs outrank road markings; markings outrank the general rules. At an unmarked junction in Greece you give way to traffic approaching from the right. At a signposted roundabout you give way to traffic already circulating.
Speed limits
50 km/h in built-up areas, 90 km/h outside, 110 km/h on expressways and 130 km/h on motorways for cars. Buses run under lower ceilings, typically 80 km/h outside built-up areas and 100 km/h on motorways. A posted sign always overrides the general limit.
Worked example
A coach reaches a T-junction with a STOP sign on its own approach and a priority-road sign on the through road. The driver sees the through road empty and rolls across the line at 20 km/h. That is a fail: STOP requires a complete stop at the line in every case, whatever the traffic, and the priority sign merely confirms that the through road has right of way.
Traps
- Confusing the give-way triangle with the danger triangle.
- Assuming a bus has priority because of its size or timetable.
- Applying give-way-to-the-right at a junction where signs already allocate priority.
- Forgetting that an officer's signals override lights and signs.