A yellow line, be it solid or broken, means traffic moving in opposite directions. Good to know, esp. if you’re new to a road, and you don’t know how many lanes it has, etc. A white line, typically broken, separates lanes on a highway.
And I always assumed a solid line means DO NOT CROSS, under any circumstance. (Yes, they could have just sprung for a barricade there. But they were too cheap to do it, for some reason.) For example, sometimes as you merge into a new highway, they have a solid line, so you wait to change lanes (changing lanes being very precarious at that exact moment). But I recently saw a local news program where the announcer said it means, “Don’t cross unless ‘absolutely necessary’”.
Now, I realize that is what most people do anyways. Perhaps that is what he actually meant, I honestly don’t know. But what does the rule book (i.e., the LAW) actually say?
I assume the law is universal throughout the USA. But if there is a difference, in different locales, please specify that in your answer.
The USA doesn’t have universal traffic laws, but the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices gives states guidance on what the lines should mean. In the section on markings, it says:
I don’t see the double lines much. Usually just in places like tunnels.
I always assumed that the very existence of the double white line implies that the single solid line allows for the crossing of that line. After all, why would the double line exist if the single line meant the same thing?
I certainly see plenty of people crossing the single solid white lines on Lake Shore Drive near the Drake Hotel.
Thing is, though, I’m actually having a difficult time of thinking of where I’ve seen a double white line in Chicago. Double yellows, sure, but I can’t with certainty recall a double white. So, it would not be strange for someone to think, well, if broken white means you can change lanes, then surely single solid white means you can’t.
Well thats just not right at all. I think Illinois made a mistake. Single solid separates traffic traveling in the same direction, conversely, double solid separates traffic moving in **opposite ** directions.
I can’t imagine a situation where I need to be told that the traffic on the other side of the road is moving in the opposite direction.
Are you on a two-lane or four-lane road and you think it might be a one-way street? Or is it a five-lane highway (where the middle one changes, dependent on traffic) and the signs are messed up?
Not being snarky, really I’m not. Just finished my first coffee of the morning. There must be something very obvious that I’m missing.
I dont think color is anything more than what the state decided to use.
Double lines are used when you have two way traffic to identify when it is legal to pass. Solid double is a no pass zone. A dashed line indicates a passing zone for the side that has the dashed line. There is no reason to have double lines on a multi lane highway, the lines are simply to indicate lanes.
This case, for instance. If signs are obstructed, the presence of yellow vs white lines at intersections or when merging onto a roadway via a ramp can be helpful in showing you the allowed lane usage/expected traffic pattern.
A situation I can think of is where a dual carriageway tuns to a single carriageway. I’m not sure of the US terminology - I mean going from two lanes in each direction (divided highway?) to a single lane in each direction.
Here in the UK, dual carriageways are quite often separated by a hedge down the middle, so you can’t see the lanes in the other direction. So it can be possible to think you’re still on one side of a dual carriageway, with the other side hidden behind a hedge, when in fact it’s a two lane road with cars coming towards you in the other lane.
In situations where this is a danger, there are often directional arrows painted on the road surface as a reminder. Here is an example of what I’m talking about.
Note in the link above, the central line is still broken. This means overtaking is not prohibited. Here is what the central lines look like when overtaking is prohibited (this is a single-carriageway road, obviously). Closest to the camera, the solid line on the left means cars travelling in the left lane (i.e. in the direction the camera is facing) cannot overtake, while cars travlling in the opposite direction can overtake. Where the lines switch to double solid lines, that indicates that overtaking is prohibited in both directions.
I can see his confusion, though, because here in Illinois (in my experience), single solid white lines are - aside from turning lane dividers - used in construction zones where lanes are constricted and are just about always accompanied by “Stay In Your Lane” signs.
So I certainly would assume that single solid white lines meant “traffic moves in the same direction, but don’t change lanes” while double solid yellow lines means “traffic moves in opposite directions and neither side can cross this line to pass someone.”
Some of the access/feeder roads for the highway near where I live are two lane two-way on both sides of the highway and some are two lane one-way. There are some intersections where it changes from one-way to two-way.
Drive in Europe (at least, France) sometime. They don’t use the yellow line convention, a broken white line can separate either two lanes going the same direction or two lanes going opposite directions. The use of the large arrows Colophon mentions helps, but it a bit unnerving when you’re going down a country road with a broken white line and you see a car coming at you (in the opposite lane). I never even noticed how much I depend on the yellow line when I drive until I went over there. I find it creepy.
It’s the same in England, but since they are on the wrong side of the road, when you drive there, you are already out or your element.
Another thing about France, at an intersection, the car on the right has the right-of-way, unless there is a sign or traffic light indicating otherwise. Every time. Going down the highway, if there is a car on a side street to the right, he has the right to pull right out in front you you, since you are expected to slow down and let him either pull out or cross.
As to the OP, I had been taught that a solid white line means cross with caution; the wider the line, the more caution needed. Double white lines mean do not cross (change lanes).
Hmmm… There’s a country road, by which I presume you mean it to be a lonely place with not much traffic. Such roads (in my experience) might be unpaved dirt, but that’s clearly not the case if there is a painted line there. And, given that there is a line, it must be at least two lanes wide. Along comes a car driving towards you, and it is in the opposite lane, so no one is doing anything unsafe.
But it unnerves you, and I’m trying to figure out why. I think the broken white line has something to so with it. From the various posts above, there are different interpretations of what a broken white line might mean, such as “it’s okay to pass the car in front, if absolutely necessary”, or “drive in whichever lane you prefer”. I’m guessing is that you are unnerved because you didn’t realize that you need to stay out of the other lane. I’m guessing that this lack of realization is because you were relying on the brokenness of the line, but why would you think that? Dd you expect this to be a one-way road?
Maybe Europe is different than the USA. In my experience, one-way roads are extremely common at the exit/entrance ramps to an interchange, and as traffic-control measures in busy streets, and in general for unusually narrow roads. But I’d never expect a two-lane country road to be one-way.
Double solid lines are commonly found on interstate HOV lanes where they prohibit traffic from moving freely in and out of the HOV lane. I do not know what states have this but Virginia and Maryland are two examples.
Where? I have driven the entire Beltway and have not seen this, unless you are thinking about where the new HOT lanes merge into the main lanes northbound just past the Dulles Toll Road. I take that to be more like a double line on the express lane and a double line on the main lane and they just kind of merge, rather than being a true quad.
I’ve always meant to look up what “Stay in Your Lane” means. Does it mean A. you can’t change lanes, or does it mean B.“Be careful not to drift out of your lane; there is a sharp curve, or skinny lanes here.”
I guess I don’t look it up because I like option B, and want deny-ability in case I get pulled over for A some time.
