Rules of the Road and road safety (bus/truck categories)
What the exam tests
This domain checks your knowledge of the Irish Rules of the Road as they apply to bus and truck drivers: signs, road markings, traffic lights, junction procedure, speed limits, bus lanes, stopping and parking, and motorway rules. Questions often place a heavy vehicle in a situation where the standard car answer is wrong.
Core rules
- Keep left; overtake on the right except when traffic is in lanes or when passing a vehicle signalling to turn right.
- At a zebra crossing, yield to pedestrians on or waiting to cross. Do not park within the zig-zag lines.
- Yellow box junctions: enter only if your exit is clear. A bus or truck must not block the box.
- Bus lanes: buses may use them; other vehicles only during the permitted hours shown on the sign. Do not stop in a bus stop clearway.
- Speed limits are maximums, not targets. Built-up areas default to 50 km/h; national roads 100 km/h; motorways 120 km/h; regional and local roads 80 km/h. Your vehicle category may have a lower limit, and signs can lower the limit further.
- Motorways: no learners, no pedestrians, no reversing; use the hard shoulder only in an emergency.
Worked example
You are driving a bus in a 50 km/h zone and approach a yellow box junction. The light ahead is green, but traffic is queued beyond the box. The correct action is to wait before the box even though your light is green. The box is not a holding area, and blocking it can trap cross-traffic. The exam often tests whether you enter because of the green light; the deciding factor is whether there is space to clear the box.
Traps
Assuming a car speed limit applies to your bus or truck; entering a bus lane outside its hours when the sign restricts other vehicles; stopping on a bus stop clearway “for a minute”; treating a green light as permission to block a junction.