How many traffic lanes does a road have where traffic lanes of opposite directions are separated by double solid lines?

Explanation

Four lanes or more.

The marking of two parallel solid lines you see in the picture separates the opposing flows on roads with four traffic lanes or more. In other words, as soon as you see such a marking on the carriageway, you know without counting the lanes that there are at least two lanes in each direction.

The safety logic of this choice is speed and volume. On a wide road with four lanes or more, speeds are higher and the speed difference between lanes is greater; if the separation of the flows were done with a single line, every small deviation would mean a head-on collision at high speed. Besides the legal prohibition, two solid lines create a wider, more visible band that reduces errors of perception.

The practical ruling matters more to a driver than the number of lanes: crossing two solid lines, or occupying part of them, is prohibited in all cases; not for overtaking, not for a U-turn and not for a left turn. If you want to go to the left, you must drive on to the first junction or permitted place where the marking is interrupted.

The exam trap is the "two" and "three" lane options; on those roads a single solid line or a broken line is usually used, not two solid lines.

• On a two-lane road a single solid or broken line is usually enough for separation; two solid lines are not defined for that width. • "Two or three" is a combination of two near-misses and repeats the same mistake with a cautious appearance. • On a three-lane road the middle lane must remain available to both directions; two solid lines destroy precisely that possibility.

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