There is more than one yellow line, and they mean different things
Before anything else, work out which one you are looking at. Where it is painted decides the answer.
| Where it is | What it is | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| A solid yellow line along the left edge of your lane | Left edge line | The edge of the roadway. Everything left of it is shoulder, and you may not drive there |
| A yellow line at or near the kerb | No parking line | You may not park alongside it. Solid means all day and all night; broken means the times on the sign |
| A broken yellow line beside a traffic lane, with a symbol or word painted in it | Exclusive use lane line | That lane is reserved. Do not drive, stop or park in it unless you are the class shown |
| Yellow diagonal or chevron bars inside white boundary lines | Painted island | Not a line at all. You may not drive across it, stop on it or park on it |
Notice what is missing. The lines down the middle of a South African road are white, never yellow. The yellow centre line you may have seen elsewhere does not exist here.
What the left edge line actually marks
The line is not there to keep you tidy. It is the legal boundary of the road surface you are allowed to drive on.
The Act defines the roadway as the part of the road built or intended for vehicular traffic between the edges of the roadway; the edge of the roadway as the boundary between the roadway and the shoulder; and the shoulder as the strip between the edge of the roadway and the kerb line. A solid yellow line is how that boundary is marked. So when you drift left of it, you have not moved to the side of your lane. You have left the roadway.
When you may drive on the shoulder — all four, together
- The default
- You may notDriving on the shoulder is prohibited. Everything below is the one exception, and the conditions are cumulative.
- Time of day
- Between sunrise and sunsetAfter dark the exception simply does not exist.
- Type of road
- One lane of traffic in each directionAn ordinary two-lane road. Not a dual carriageway, not a freeway, not a multi-lane road.
- What is happening
- You are being overtakenNot that someone might want to. The vehicle behind is actually passing you.
- Safety and visibility
- Safe, and 150 m of clear sightYou can do it without endangering yourself, other traffic, pedestrians or property, and people and vehicles on the road are clearly visible at 150 metres or more.
The thing almost everyone gets wrong: it is not compulsory
Moving onto the shoulder to let a faster driver past is a courtesy. It has never been a duty, and the Department of Transport's own learner manual says so in as many words: it is not compulsory to drive to the left of the line when you are being overtaken, and you have very little room when you do.
What the law does require of you is different and less dramatic. When you become aware of traffic behind you wanting to pass, you must bring your vehicle as near to the left edge of the roadway as is possible without endangering yourself or anyone else, and you may not accelerate until they have passed.
Read that again: as near to the left edge of the roadway. Up to the yellow line, not over it. And not accelerating is the part drivers skip.
You may never overtake on the shoulder
This one has no exception at all, and the two situations feel similar from inside the car.
The regulation that permits passing on the left in certain cases — where the vehicle ahead is turning right, on a one-way road wide enough for two lines of traffic, and so on — ends with a flat proviso: in no event shall any such passing be done by driving on the shoulders of the roadway or on the verge. So being overtaken on the shoulder can be lawful. Overtaking on the shoulder never is.
The marking itself says the same thing where it is painted on a road with more than one lane in either or both directions: do not drive on the shoulder to the left of the line, and do not use that shoulder to overtake another vehicle.
Stopping and parking: which side of the line
Outside an urban area you may not park on any part of the roadway at all, and you may not park with any part of your vehicle within one metre of the edge of the roadway, unless it is a demarcated parking place. On a rural road you park well beyond the yellow line, not against it.
In an emergency stop the marking itself tells you what is expected: make every reasonable effort to move your vehicle completely to the left of the line. The learner manual puts it practically — if you break down, get as far left of the line as you can and switch your hazard lights on.
On a freeway, stopping is prohibited outright except in compliance with a sign or an officer's direction, inside an area marked for stopping, or for a cause beyond your control. A breakdown is a cause beyond your control. Getting tired is not.
Yellow on the left, white on the right
On a one-way carriageway — a dual carriageway or a freeway — there is a solid line down the right-hand edge too, and it is white, not yellow. That is the right edge line, and it guards the median: you may not cross it onto, over, across or within the median island, dividing space or barrier.
So the colour of an edge line tells you which edge you are at. Yellow is the left edge, with the shoulder beyond it. White is the right edge, with the median beyond it — and the white one you do not cross at all.
A yellow line at the kerb is a different rule entirely
In town, a yellow line painted at or near the kerb is a no parking line. It does not stop you from stopping — it stops you from parking, which in law means keeping the vehicle stationary for longer than is reasonably necessary to load or unload people or goods.
The solid and broken versions differ by time, not by severity. A continuous solid yellow line means the prohibition applies 24 hours a day. A broken yellow line means it applies during the time periods shown on the accompanying sign, and outside those hours it does not apply at all.
The strict one at the kerb is red, not yellow. A red line is a no stopping line, and it works the same way: solid for all day and all night, broken for the periods on the sign. Red means you may not even come to a standstill there.
One yellow line in town is neither of those. A broken yellow line running alongside a traffic lane, with a bus or a bicycle or a word painted inside it, marks an exclusive use lane, and you may not drive, stop or park there unless you are the class of vehicle shown.
The mistake
Treating the shoulder as a slow lane. It is not part of the roadway, it is often not built to carry a vehicle at speed, and the exception that lets you use it lasts only as long as somebody is actually passing you.
The second is thanking a driver who pulls left by overtaking them across the yellow line yourself. Passing by driving on the shoulder is prohibited in every case, without exception, whichever of you is on it.
The third is importing a foreign rule. A yellow line here is not a centre line, and what separates a solid kerbside yellow line from a broken one is the hours it applies, not how serious it is.
Markings are examined with the signs
Road markings are not a section of their own — they sit inside the road signs section, which is the largest of the three. Our free practice mixes them in the way the paper does, with an explanation on every answer.
Practise road signs and markings freeCommon questions
Can you drive on the yellow line in South Africa?
Only in one situation. You may drive on the shoulder to the left of the yellow line between sunrise and sunset, on a road with one lane of traffic in each direction, while you are being overtaken, if you can do so safely and if people and vehicles on the road are clearly visible at at least 150 metres. At night, on a freeway, or when nobody is passing you, no.
Is it compulsory to move over for a faster car?
No. You must move as near to the left edge of the roadway as is safely possible and you may not accelerate while the other vehicle passes — but you are not required to cross the yellow line onto the shoulder, and the Department of Transport's own manual says so.
Can I overtake using the yellow line?
Never. The regulation that allows passing on the left in certain situations ends with a proviso that in no event may such passing be done by driving on the shoulders of the roadway or on the verge. Being passed on the shoulder can be lawful; passing on it is not.
What does a yellow line at the kerb mean?
No parking. Solid means it applies 24 hours a day; broken means it applies only during the times shown on the accompanying sign. Stopping briefly is not parking, which in law means standing longer than is reasonably necessary to load or unload.
Sources
- SADC Road Traffic Signs Manual, Volume 1, Chapter 7 (May 2012) — §7.2.8, left edge line RM4.1 and right edge line RM4.2A LEFT EDGE LINE "shall comprise a continuous solid yellow line with a minimum width of 100 mm" and, where marked on a roadway with more than one lane in either or both directions of travel, imposes a mandatory requirement on drivers "(i) not to drive on the area (shoulder) to the left of such a line; (ii) not to use the area (shoulder) to the left of such a line for the purpose of overtaking another vehicle; (iii) to make every reasonable effort to move their vehicle completely to the left of such a line in the event of an emergency stop". A RIGHT EDGE LINE "shall comprise a continuous solid white line with a minimum width of 100 mm" and, where used to demarcate a dividing space or barrier not protected by kerbs, requires a driver "not to drive a vehicle in such a manner that it crosses such RIGHT EDGE LINE so as to travel on, over, across or within the median island, dividing space or barrier".
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 298A"Prohibition on driving on shoulder of public road, except in certain circumstances." (1) Subject to subregulation (2) and regulation 298(1)(e), no person shall drive a motor vehicle on the shoulder of a public road. (2) The driver may, "during the period between sunrise and sunset", drive on the shoulder of a public road "which is designated for one lane of traffic in each direction — (a) while such motor vehicle is being overtaken by another vehicle; and (b) if he or she can do so without endangering himself or herself, other traffic, pedestrians or property on such public road; (c) if persons and vehicles upon a public road are clearly discernible at a distance of at least 150 metres".
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 298(1) and 298(3)The circumstances in which passing on the left is permissible, ending: "Provided further that in no event shall any passing referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) be done by driving on the shoulders of the roadway or on the verge of the public road concerned." And 298(3): on becoming aware of traffic wishing to pass, a driver shall "cause his or her vehicle to travel as near to the left edge of the roadway as is possible, without endangering himself or herself or other traffic or property on the roadway, and shall not accelerate the speed of his or her vehicle until the other vehicle has passed".
- National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 — section 1 definitions"roadway" means that portion of a road improved, constructed or intended for vehicular traffic which is between the edges of the roadway. "edge of the roadway" means the boundary between the roadway and the shoulder. "shoulder" means that portion of a road between the edge of the roadway and the kerb line. "park" means to keep a vehicle, whether occupied or not, stationary for a period of time longer than is reasonably necessary for the actual loading or unloading of persons or goods.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 305(3)"No person shall park a vehicle on any portion of the roadway (excluding the shoulders) of a public road outside an urban area or with any part of such vehicle within one metre of the edge of such roadway except in a parking place demarcated by an appropriate road traffic sign."
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 323(2)(c)No person shall stop a vehicle on a freeway except in compliance with a road traffic sign or a direction given by a traffic officer, within an area reserved for stopping or parking by an appropriate sign, or for any cause beyond his or her control.
- SADC Road Traffic Signs Manual, Volume 1, Chapter 7 (May 2012) — §7.2.17 no parking line RM13, §7.2.16 no stopping line RM12, §7.2.13 exclusive use lane line RM9, §7.2.9 painted islands RM5A NO PARKING LINE is yellow: "for 24-hour applicability, a continuous solid yellow line with a minimum width of 100 mm; OR for applicability during limited periods of the day, a broken yellow line", the periods being those "indicated by an accompanying road sign". A NO STOPPING LINE is red, on the same solid-for-24-hours and broken-for-limited-periods basis. An EXCLUSIVE USE LANE LINE is "a broken yellow line with a minimum width of 150 mm" and, with the relevant symbol or word marking, means drivers "shall not drive, park or stop in a lane with such markings" unless their vehicle is of the class indicated. A PAINTED ISLAND is yellow sloping bars within white boundary lines and may not be crossed, stopped on or parked on.
- SA Learner Driver Manual, Section 2: Road Traffic Signs (Department of Transport, June 2012) — §7.1, left-edge and right-edge line markings"Avoid driving to the left of the left-edge line. You may, however drive here only; whilst being overtaken by another vehicle, if you can [do] so without endangering yourself, other traffic, pedestrians or property, during daytime and if persons and vehicles on the road are clearly discernible at a distance of at least 150 metres. It is not compulsory to drive to the left of the line when you are being overtaken … If your vehicle breaks down, stop as far left from the line as possible and switch on your emergency lights. The right-edge line is usually found on one-way roads such as dual carriageways or freeways and may not be crossed."
- SA Learner Driver Manual, Section 3: Rules of the Road (Department of Transport, June 2012) — §6.39, §6.47 and §6.48The syllabus treatment of driving on the shoulder, of parking and of stopping, including that outside an urban area a vehicle may not be parked on the roadway excluding the shoulders, or within one metre of the edge of the roadway.
Last updated 2026-09-21.