Vorfahrenlinie

Vorfahrenlinie is a term used in German road traffic engineering to denote a line on the roadway that marks the go-ahead point for a vehicle. The line serves to indicate where a driver may begin to move forward again after stopping or after yielding, and it helps to prevent blockages in intersections and to preserve a safe clearance from cross-traffic, pedestrians, and other road users.

In practice, a Vorfahrenlinie can appear near intersections of unequal and equal priority, at pedestrian crossings controlled by signals, or where buses or trams stop and re-enter traffic. The marking may be a solid or dashed white line aligned with the lane boundary and is typically used together with other markings such as the haltelinie (stop line) or a Vorranglinie in the same area. The precise meaning of the Vorfahrenlinie and its appearance vary by country and jurisdiction; in many German-language references the term may be used descriptively and the official regulations might use related terms such as Vorfahrtlinie or Stoplinie.

Etymology: from vorfahren, to drive forward.

Regulatory context: The use of road markings is dictated by national standards and the Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung (StVO) or equivalent, with field guides and traffic-engineering handbooks providing the practical interpretation for drivers and planners.

See also: Vorfahrt, Haltelinie, Stoplinie, Straßenmarkierungen, StVO.