Road Markings

Most junctions and hazardous stretches carry a sign and a matching road marking together — the marking repeats the instruction at the one place you're already looking: the road surface directly ahead of your wheels.

A broken white line across your side of the road at a junction is a give-way line — give priority to traffic on the road you're joining, and proceed only when it's clear. A single solid white line across the road, always paired with a STOP sign, marks the exact point where you must come to a complete stop, every time, whether or not another vehicle is visible.

An ordinary broken white centre line — short dashes with longer gaps — separates opposing traffic and may be crossed to overtake when it's safe. Approaching a hazard, that same line often changes to longer dashes with shorter gaps — a hazard-warning line — telling you a hazard is ahead (a bend, a junction, a hill crest) before you can necessarily see it, so think twice before overtaking across it.

Double white lines are stricter still. If the line nearer to you is solid, you must not cross or straddle it except to enter a side road or property, to pass a stationary vehicle, or to overtake a cyclist, horse rider or slow-moving road-maintenance vehicle. If one line is broken and it's on your side, you may cross to overtake when it's safe, returning before the lines become solid on your side again.

A continuous white line along the outer edge of the carriageway marks where the carriageway ends and the verge or hard shoulder begins — useful at night or in poor visibility for judging your position. Within a lane, painted arrows tell you which direction that specific lane is committed to — left, right, or ahead — before you reach the junction itself, so you can move into the correct lane in good time.

A box junction — yellow criss-cross hatching painted across an intersection — has one rule: don't enter it unless your exit is clear. The only exception is turning right, where you may wait in the box if you're only prevented from completing the turn by oncoming traffic, or by other vehicles also waiting to turn right. A KEEP CLEAR marking, often outside a school entrance or fire station, means exactly that — don't stop there, even briefly, so the entrance stays usable.

Zig-zag lines painted on the approach to a pedestrian crossing mean you must not stop or overtake within them — they keep the crossing visible to pedestrians and to you. A bus lane marking (the word BUS painted in the lane, alongside a lane line) is reserved for buses, and sometimes taxis or cycles, typically during hours posted on a nearby sign. A cycle lane marked with a solid white line is mandatory — other traffic must not enter or park in it during its hours of operation; one marked with a broken line is advisory, shared space that other traffic may use if necessary.