What are the most common German driving-rule mistakes, even among experienced drivers?

This is the single most widespread German driving myth. A Streckenverbot such as Zeichen 274 stays in force until Zeichen 278 or 282 lifts it, or until a new limit replaces it — passing a junction does nothing at all. A ZONE sign (Zeichen 274.1) is different again: it covers every street inside the area until the matching end sign. OLG Hamm has treated believing otherwise as a vermeidbarer Verbotsirrtum — an avoidable mistake of law, which is not an excuse.

§8 Abs. 1 StVO gives rechts vor links exactly two exceptions: priority signs, and vehicles coming off a Feld- oder Waldweg. Rail vehicles are not on that list, so at an unsigned crossroads a tram from your left waits for you like anything else. What trams do get is §9 Abs. 3 — when you turn, you let them through, including when they run alongside you in your own direction — plus the practical duty never to obstruct a vehicle that cannot steer around you.

When a bus indicates to leave a marked stop, you must let it go. The rule is written without any built-up-area restriction, so it applies on a country road exactly as it does in a city. Many study guides add an innerorts qualifier that the statute simply does not contain.

You may pick up a phone or any electronic device only when the vehicle is standing and the engine is completely switched off. The statute anticipates the loophole in as many words: “allein die automatische Motorabschaltung im Rahmen eines Start-Stopp-Systems ist kein vollständiges Ausschalten des Motors”. So at a red light with start-stop active, the phone is still forbidden. Hands-free is fine as long as you do not hold the device.

§24a StVG is the general 0,5 ‰ Ordnungswidrigkeit that applies to every driver. The absolute zero-tolerance rule for learner drivers in the two-year Probezeit and for everyone under 21 sits in its own paragraph, §24c StVG, and it also forbids starting a journey under the influence at all. Cannabis is treated the same way for that group.