Signs, signals and pavement markings
A single set of double solid yellow lines separates your side of a two-way street from oncoming traffic. When may you cross them?
- To turn left into or out of a driveway or private road, or to make a U-turn. Correct answer
- To pass a slow vehicle when you can see the road ahead is clear.
- To move into a carpool lane on your left at any point you choose.
Why
Double solid yellow lines tell you to stay to their right and not to pass over them, with three exceptions. You may turn left across a single set of them to get into or out of a driveway or private road, or to make a U-turn. You may be in an HOV carpool lane whose designated entrance is on the left. And you may drive on the other side when construction or other signs send you there because your side is closed or blocked. The carpool exception depends on that designated entrance, which is what sinks the third option: you enter and leave an HOV lane at the designated entrances and exits, never by crossing double solid lines wherever you like. Passing is exactly what these lines forbid. Two sets of double yellow lines two or more feet apart are a different marking, a barrier you cross only at designated openings.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is To turn left into or out of a driveway or private road, or to make a U-turn.
The rule behind this one
California road signs, signals and pavement markings goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on signs, signals and pavement markings
- The yellow center line right next to your lane is broken rather than solid. What does that tell you?
- You see a shared roadway bicycle marking painted in your travel lane. What does it tell you?
- Looking only at the pavement, how can you recognize a carpool (HOV) lane?
- In the middle of a two-way street, a lane is bordered on each side by a broken line on the inside and a solid line on the outside. What may you use it for?