Who has right of way, explained in English

Every priority question at a German junction is answered by the same four sources, checked in the same fixed order. The first rung that actually gives an instruction decides; everything below it is silent.

Rung 1 — a person directing traffic. Signals of police officers override everything, including green lights and priority roads (§ 36 Abs. 1 StVO).

Rung 2 — traffic lights. While they show colours, they outrank the signs mounted next to them (§ 37 Abs. 1 StVO). A dark or amber-flashing light gives no instruction — the rung goes silent and control drops down.

Rung 3 — priority signs. Give way (Zeichen 205), stop (Zeichen 206), priority at the next junction (Zeichen 301), priority road (Zeichen 306). This is why a give-way sign hangs under most traffic lights: it is the pre-installed fallback for rung 2 failing.

Rung 4 — right before left (§ 8 Abs. 1 StVO). The default that applies when every rung above is empty. Check the direction carefully: you yield to whoever comes from YOUR right; you do not 'beat' whoever is on your left — they yield to you, which is their problem to get right, not your licence to force.

Two boundaries keep the model honest. The ladder orders traffic on CROSSING roads; conflicts on your own road — chiefly a left turn against oncoming traffic — are settled outside it by § 9 StVO, on top of whatever the ladder said. And § 1 StVO caps the whole structure: priority is never a licence to collide. The exam wants the rung; the road wants the rung plus judgement.

§ 36 Abs. 1 StVO · § 37 Abs. 1 StVO · § 8 Abs. 1 StVO · § 9 Abs. 3 StVO · Zeichen 205 · Zeichen 306

Rules that sit outside the ladder

These do not compete with the ladder for an answer — they apply on top of it, or replace it entirely in situations it was never designed to answer.

Turning left across oncoming trafficTurning left cuts across the oncoming lane; going straight or turning right does not. § 9 Abs. 3 StVO puts the burden on whoever turns left: let oncoming traffic through first. This is not a priority question between crossing roads at all — it applies on top of whatever the ladder decided, even on a priority road. Two vehicles both turning left in front of each other pass without their paths crossing (§ 9 Abs. 4 StVO), unless the junction layout forces one behind the other.

§ 9 Abs. 3 StVO · § 9 Abs. 4 StVO

Rail vehicles (trams)Germany has no general priority rule for trams. At an unmarked junction a tram is a vehicle like any other under § 8 Abs. 1 StVO — right before left applies to it exactly as to a car: from your right it has priority, from your left it does not. What is special is a turning rule, not a priority one: when you turn across tram tracks you must let a rail vehicle through, even one running in your own direction (§ 9 Abs. 3 StVO). Most real tram junctions also carry their own signs or signals overriding the default, and § 1 Abs. 2 StVO's duty not to endanger applies with extra force regardless — a tram cannot swerve and brakes far worse than a car.

§ 8 Abs. 1 StVO · § 9 Abs. 3 StVO · § 1 Abs. 2 StVO

Emerging from a property or a parking spacePulling out of a property, a petrol station, a car park, a pedestrian zone, or a parking space is not a junction as far as the ladder is concerned. You give way to everyone else on the road — full stop, whichever direction they come from — and if the sight lines are poor you may need someone to guide you out.

§ 10 StVO

Work through nine junctions