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Vorfahrt · §8 StVO

Who goes first at a German junction?

Run the ladder in order: a police officer beats the traffic lights, the lights beat the signs, and the signs beat rechts vor links (§8 Abs. 1 StVO) — which is only the fallback for an unsigned junction. 31 scenarios here drill that order, including the ones with no legal answer at all. Verified 2026-08-03.

The priority ladder — top to bottom

  1. 1

    A police officer (Polizeibeamter)

    Hand signals override everything else on the road, including a green light. §36 StVO. Rare, but it is the top of the ladder and the exam likes it.

  2. 2

    Traffic lights (Lichtzeichen)

    A working light overrides every priority sign at that junction. §37 StVO. When the light is off or flashing amber, the signs underneath wake up again.

  3. 3

    Signs and markings (Vorfahrtzeichen)

    Zeichen 205 (give way), 206 (stop), 306 (priority road), 301 (priority at next junction). These decide the junction whenever no light is working. §8 Abs. 1 Satz 2 StVO.

  4. 4

    Rechts vor links

    Only when nothing above applies. Whoever comes from your right goes first — and 'right' means your right in the direction you are travelling, not right on the map. §8 Abs. 1 Satz 1 StVO.

Junction trainer

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Level 1§8 Abs. 1 StVO

A car from your right, nothing signed

A plain crossroads in a residential Tempo-30 area. No lights, no signs, no markings. You are heading north; a car reaches the junction from the east at the same moment.

YOUA

Tap them in the order they may go — first to last.

2 still to place.

Every scenario in the trainer, in writing

The same 31 junctions the trainer animates, with the paragraph that decides each one. Tap a title in the picker above to jump straight to it.

Level 1 — the fallback rule6 scenarios

A car from your right, nothing signed

A plain crossroads in a residential Tempo-30 area. No lights, no signs, no markings. You are heading north; a car reaches the junction from the east at the same moment.

§8 Abs. 1 StVO

A car from your left, nothing signed

The same crossroads, the same moment. Only one thing has changed: A is now coming from the west.

§8 Abs. 1 StVO

Nothing signed, and cars on both sides

Unsigned crossroads, three cars arriving together, all going straight on. You from the south, A from the west, B from the east.

§8 Abs. 1 StVO

The give-way triangle is facing you

An upside-down red triangle faces you at the junction mouth. The crossing road carries the yellow diamond. A is on that road, coming from your left.

§8 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1 StVO

Stop, on an empty road at three in the morning

You reach an eight-sided red sign with STOP on it. There is a white line across your lane. You can see a long way in both directions and there is not a single vehicle in sight.

§8 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1 StVO (Zeichen 206)

This time you are the one on the priority road

You are on a road carrying the yellow diamond. A side road joins from the east — on your right — and A is waiting there behind a give-way triangle.

§8 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1 StVO

Level 2 — signs and lights14 scenarios

Priority road, and you are the one turning left

You are on the priority road and want to turn left into a side street. A is coming towards you on the same priority road, going straight on.

§9 Abs. 3 StVO

You turn left, they turn right — into the same street

You want to turn left. The car coming towards you is indicating right — and it is aiming for exactly the same side street you want.

§9 Abs. 4 Satz 1 StVO

Both of you turn left — the classic trap

You want to turn left. The car coming towards you wants to turn left too. Nothing is signed, no turning lanes are painted, the junction is an ordinary city crossroads.

§9 Abs. 4 Satz 2 StVO

T-junction: the through road does not automatically win

You are on a wide, obviously-more-important through road heading east. A narrow side street joins from the south, on your right. A is waiting at its mouth. Nothing at all is signed.

§8 Abs. 1 StVO

The priority road bends away — and you carry straight on

Under the yellow diamond is a small white plate showing a thick line that comes up from the south and turns off to the east. You are on the south arm and want to continue straight ahead, to the north. A is on the priority road coming from the east.

§8 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1 StVO

The priority road bends — and you follow it round

Same junction, same plate: the priority runs south arm to east arm. This time you follow it — you come up from the south and turn right into the east arm. A is on the north arm, which is an ordinary side road, and wants to come straight through.

§9 Abs. 1 StVO in Verbindung mit §8 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1 StVO

Plain green, and you want to turn left

The light above you is a plain green disc — no arrow. You want to turn left. The car coming towards you has a plain green too, and is going straight on.

§37 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 StVO in Verbindung mit §9 Abs. 3 StVO

A green arrow inside the lamp

Your signal head shows a green arrow pointing left — a lit arrow inside the lamp itself, not a plain green disc. The oncoming lane has a red light.

§37 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 StVO

Entering a roundabout

You approach a roundabout. At the entry there is a blue circular-arrows sign with a red-rimmed give-way triangle above it. A is already going round.

§8 Abs. 1a StVO

Turning right across people on foot

You are turning right into a side street. There is no zebra crossing and no light — just people walking across the mouth of that side street, the way people do.

§9 Abs. 3 Satz 3 StVO

Stop sign, and a tram on the priority road

You face a Stop sign. The crossing road carries the yellow diamond and has tram rails laid into it. A tram is approaching from your left.

§8 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1 StVO (Zeichen 206 / 306)

Pulling out of a supermarket exit

You are leaving a supermarket car park through its exit. A footway and a cycle track run across the exit before you reach the road. Out on the road, A is approaching from your left.

§10 StVO

Leaving a verkehrsberuhigter Bereich

You are driving out of an area marked by the blue sign with a house, a car and two children playing. At the exit, the sign is repeated with a red diagonal through it. A is on the ordinary road, coming from your left.

§10 StVO

You have priority — and you are the one turning off

You are on the priority road and indicating right, to turn into a side street. A is waiting at the mouth of that side street behind a give-way triangle, and starts to creep out as soon as your indicator comes on.

§8 Abs. 2 Satz 4 StVO

Level 3 — the ones that catch everybody11 scenarios

The black board with the green arrow (Grünpfeil, Zeichen 720)

Your light is red. Bolted to the right of the red lamp is a small black square board with a green arrow pointing right. You want to turn right. The east–west road has green: A is crossing in front of you, and people are walking across the road you want to turn into.

§37 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 StVO (Zeichen 720)

Zeichen 215 standing on its own

A small roundabout. The blue circular-arrows sign is there — but look under it: there is no give-way triangle, and no other priority sign anywhere at the entry. A is already circulating and is about to reach your entry.

§8 Abs. 1 StVO (weil §8 Abs. 1a nicht greift)

Leaving a roundabout across a zebra crossing

You are going round and your exit is next. About a car's length beyond the exit, white stripes cross the road and somebody is stepping onto them.

§26 Abs. 1 StVO in Verbindung mit §9 Abs. 1 StVO

Turning right across a cycle path

You want to turn right at a city junction. A cycle path runs alongside your road, on your right, in your direction of travel. A cyclist is coming up it, going straight on.

§9 Abs. 3 Satz 1 StVO

Does the tram really always have priority?

An unsigned city crossroads with tram rails laid flush into the road surface. No signs, no lights, no Andreaskreuz. You are heading north; a tram is coming from the west — from your left.

§8 Abs. 1 StVO

Blue light and siren

You have a green light and are about to go straight through a busy junction. A fire engine comes from the east with its blue light flashing and its siren going, crossing on red.

§38 Abs. 1 StVO

A car from your right — off a farm track

You are on a surfaced country road heading north. From the east, on your right, a vehicle is about to join from a rough unmade track that runs off between two fields. No signs anywhere.

§8 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 2 StVO

Two aisles cross in a supermarket car park

A big DIY-store car park. Two driving aisles cross, with parking bays down both sides and no markings or signs at the crossing point. A comes from your right. A parked van means neither of you saw the other until the last second.

§1 StVO (BGH, Urteil vom 22.11.2022, VI ZR 344/21)

Four cars, one on every arm

An unsigned crossroads. Four cars arrive at the same instant, one from each direction, all going straight on.

§11 Abs. 3 StVO in Verbindung mit §1 StVO

Three cars that look like a deadlock — and are not

Unsigned crossroads, three cars, and turns in the mix. You come from the south and want to turn left. A comes from the east going straight on. C comes from the north and wants to turn left.

§8 Abs. 1 StVO in Verbindung mit §9 Abs. 4 Satz 2 StVO

A police officer standing under the lights

The junction is signal-controlled and your light is green. In the middle of it, an officer is directing traffic with both arms stretched out sideways — across your direction of travel. A is crossing from the west.

§36 Abs. 1 StVO

Common questions

Does rechts vor links always apply in Germany?

No. It is the fallback rule for a junction with no officer, no working traffic light and no priority signs — typically a residential grid. Anything higher on the ladder overrides it. There are also two situations where it never applies: a road leaving a field or forest track (Feld- oder Waldweg) has no priority at all, and anyone joining the carriageway from a driveway, a car park or a traffic-calmed area must let everyone else pass first (§10 StVO).

Do trams have priority even coming from the left?

No — that is one of the most repeated myths. §8 StVO gives trams no general priority at an unsigned junction; rechts vor links applies to them as it does to a car. Trams get priority where signs give it (Zeichen 201 Andreaskreuz, or a priority sign), on their own right of way, and in the specific overtaking and passing rules of §9 and §11 StVO. Practically you yield anyway, because a tram cannot swerve or stop quickly — but that is physics, not §8.

What is the rule for a roundabout (Kreisverkehr)?

Traffic already circulating has priority when the roundabout carries Zeichen 215 with Zeichen 205 — the standard German combination. You do not indicate on the way in; you do indicate on the way out (§8 Abs. 1a StVO). Without the signs it is an ordinary junction and the normal ladder applies.

Original practice questions — not the amtlicher Fragenkatalog. Every question, sign description and scenario here is written by us and covers the same StVO rules as the official Klasse B test. We are not TÜV, DEKRA or a Fahrschule, and we do not reproduce the official catalogue. Road signs themselves are amtliche Werke (StVO Anlage 1–3). Rules checked against StVO and FeV on 2026-08-03.

Fines and Punkte are indicative. The amounts shown come from published Bußgeldkatalog tables, not from statute, and are last verified 2026-08-03. The binding figure is the one on your own Bußgeldbescheid.

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Last updated: 2026-08-03