This road marking has the following purpose:

Explanation

Designating public-transport stops and taxi ranks.

The zigzag shape you see in the picture is drawn along the edge of the carriageway and marks the zone of a bus stop and a taxi rank. Its broken shape deliberately differs from every other marking so that it can be identified from a distance and even at night and in rain.

The safety function of this marking is to keep the edge of the carriageway clear. If private cars park within the stop's zone, the bus is forced to set passengers down at a distance from the kerb and effectively in the middle of the carriageway; the passenger then emerges from between two rows of cars and the driver in the adjacent lane does not see him. A large share of urban pedestrian accidents comes from exactly this pattern.

So within the zone of this marking, stopping and parking by other vehicles is not permitted; the only exception is picking up and setting down passengers, and then only if it does not obstruct public-transport vehicles.

The exam trap is the option "designating parking places": both relate to a car standing still, which is why they look alike. Take the difference from the shape — a parking space is bounded by straight lines, a stop by a zigzag.

• Parking places are bounded by straight, regular lines; a broken zigzag line is never used to show a method of parking. • This option confuses the consequence of the marking with its meaning: it is true that parking is prohibited within the stop's zone, but the marking's primary message is to designate the position of the stop, not to declare a general no-parking area.

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