I am currently learning driving in CH. I have several questions:
1) when I want to turn right at the junction, should I occupy the bycicle line first and then turning to the right? It‘s quite confusing for me. As I was told, it deponds on different situations, for example, the junction with traffice light or not? with additional solid/dotted yellow lines for bycicles? driving thought a roundabout?
2) For parking, sometines the parking area is so narrow, the tyres of my car stop on the solid white line. Is this still ok?
3) about U-turn. When the turn left sign gets green at the junction, can I make a U-turn as well? If no, when/where is it allowed?
4) when I drive from the expree road to a motor way, normally there is speed limit sign showing at the entry of the motor way, such 80 or 100. however, sometimes there is only a motor way sign showing at the entry. Does that mean the speed limit is 120 km/h?
4. Motorway speed limits are 120kph unless otherwise posted. Between towns the limits are 80kph unless otherwise posted and in town the limit is 50 unless otherwise posted.
1) Generally you will cross the bicycle lane when turning right, but you should not occupy it. Bicycles have right of way on that lane as well, so let them go first.
2) For parking, your vehicles wheels should be inside the white lines, possibly on the lines depending on how friendly the parking attendant is. Do you have much space left over on the kerbside? I know parrallel parking is not taught in every country so maybe this needs a little practice.
I'll admit to not knowing the rules on U-turns in this country.
1) You are not allowed to cross a solid line. So, it depends on the situation and how the marking looks like.
2) If no part of the car goes over the white line you should be safe. A tiny bit of rubber, fender, mirror over etc. outside the white line and you might be fined. In normal circumstances the control personnel will not care much, in an exam situation you should tell the examiner, that the parking spot is too narrow and you would look for an wider spot where you could legally park.
3) AFAIK and very strictly speaking no u-turn, as the arrow in the traffic light and the markings on the road tells you to turn left. So you must turn left.
4) "Motorway" could mean Autobahn (Green sign with road and bridge forming the letter A) or Autostrasse (Green sign with a white car).
On the Autobahn the default speed limit otherwise posted is 120 km/h.
On the Autostrasse the default speed limit otherwise posted is 100 km/h.
At the end sign the speed limit drops to 80 km/h, unless otherwise posted.
On the cycle lane thing, I was talking to someone who had been taught that it was good practice to block the cycle lane if you are turning right and waiting (e.g. at lights or a junction) to prevent anyone coming into your blind spot.
It didn't sound unreasonable from a common sense point of view, but it didn't sound legal to me either. Was anyone else taught this?
Bicycles have the right of way, so don't occupy the lane, unless you look back and see now bicycles then you can pull into the lane. My instructor even recommended that but then some people argue this point. I would say if you see no bicyclists at all it's totally fine to pull into that lane.
My kids (who have passed recently, or are currently learning to drive) have been taught that if you are waiting to turn right and the line is not solid, you should block the cycle lane. If you don't on the test, it's a minor failure.
If I am the very first car at a red light wishing to turn right, and the marking permits to cross into the bicycle lane I will pull to the far right as mandated by Art. 36 SVG and block the lane. As the traffic light is red the cyclist can not proceed legally further anyway so there is no right of way which is being refused. Additionally, a cyclist is only allowed to pedal on the right of standing traffic in case there is enough room AND he would not hinder or obstruct the onward movement of the stopped traffic Art. 42 VRV
what do you mean by marking permits crossing into the bicycle lane? you mean if the bike lane stops or is there an explicit marking which permits this? normally, i see the bike lane extend ahead of where cars must stop. (apologies if explained in the link - i can't access right now as blocked by firewall)
while we're on the topic of bikes and turning right. in the situation where:
- the bicycle is going straight ahead at a crossroad
- the car is going in the same direction as the bike but needs to turn right across the bike's path
who has right of way if the car is ahead of the bike, but would force the bike to stop by crossing the path e.g. if the car is slightly in front of the bike?
Bike lane, the one painted on the road, which is not a pike path: I would say you can block off the cyclist.
Bikes haves no absolute right of way like a police car, ambulance, or fire truck. Sometimes you can not go forward at your desired speed. A vehicle blocking your way because it wishes to turn is the course of normal traffic and thus I see no hindrance. Unfortunately, the law only says you are not allowed to overtake a vehicle on the left if it indicates to turn to the left but says nothing in the vice versa situation when a vehicle indicates to the right.