Roadworks & changing conditions

Yellow markings: the basic rule

In roadworks new yellow lines are often laid over the existing white ones. The rule is simple and comes up regularly in the test:

Yellow overrides white. As long as yellow markings are present, the white ones do not count – even if they are perfectly visible.

In the same way, temporary signing overrides fixed signs, and the instructions of an official override everything else.

Narrowed lanes and site staff

• Narrower lanes: reduce your speed and keep clear lateral distance from cones and neighbouring vehicles.
• Staff on the carriageway: workers sometimes stand centimetres from moving traffic. Slow down markedly – an appropriate speed here is not courtesy, it is a duty.
• Site vehicles: these may pull out, reverse or turn without warning.
• Lane ends: merge in turn at the point of the narrowing, not 200 metres before it.

Surface and changing conditions

Roadworks bring changes in grip: gravel, steel plates, planed asphalt, mud at the site exit. Each reduces grip, often without warning.

• Planed asphalt: grooved, it tugs at the steering – hold the wheel firmly.
• Steel plates: very slippery when wet.
• Gravel: greatly lengthens braking distance and throws up stones.

Remember: in roadworks, match your speed to what you can see – not to what the sign permits at most.