Free independent reference with original examples. Not official exam questions or a driving assessment. Follow current provincial rules, signs and authorized directions.
Practise pavement markings →Read the line beside your lane
The handbook distinguishes white lines for traffic travelling in the same direction from yellow lines separating opposing traffic. With a paired centre marking, read the line on your own side. A broken line on the opposite side does not give your vehicle the permission assigned to that other direction.
The NB handbook also states that a single solid yellow centre line prohibits passing. Do not import the single-line explanation from a different provincial handbook. Line colour, number and the side facing your lane all matter when interpreting the actual marking.
Source: New Brunswick Driver’s Handbook — §4.7, p. 37 ↗A broken line is only one condition
When the marking permits passing, the driver must still have a suitable view and enough clear space for the manoeuvre and return. A bend, crest, opposing car or changing traffic can remove that opportunity. The paint does not promise an empty road throughout the time needed to pass.
Section 154(2) prohibits crossing the specified clearly visible solid marking but includes selected exceptions for leaving the highway to the left or entering from a private road or driveway. Those are different movements from overtaking a slow car. This is a selected summary; separate passing and other traffic duties remain applicable.
Source: New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act — §§151–154 ↗Name the movement before choosing an exception
Original learning cases
The centre marking is solid on the driver’s side and broken on the other. An empty opposing lane does not transfer the opposite direction’s broken-line permission to this driver.
A broken centre line is present, but a hill hides approaching traffic. The marking alone cannot establish a safe passing opportunity.
A question describes a left turn into a private access rather than passing. Read the statutory exception and all other relevant duties; do not answer it as though every solid-line movement were ordinary overtaking.
Compare the sign, marking and available view
For practice, state which feature permits or restricts the move, then explain what would still prevent it. This avoids two common mistakes: calling a broken line an instruction to pass, and treating good visibility as permission to ignore a solid line.
The free marking and passing topics below test the surrounding decisions. This article does not reproduce every statutory exception or authorize a real manoeuvre. Consult the linked current law and the complete provincial handbook, especially when a scenario describes a different road user or a turn.
Source: New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act — §§151–154 ↗