Key:priority_road

Specifying roads signposted as priority roads.

In countries where the default rule is to give priority to the right, traffic entering most major roads pass a yield/give way sign or a stop sign at all entries to the major road. Some of those major roads can be signposted as being a priority road so that the drivers on the major road don't need to visually scan every side road intersection for the backside of the triangular yield/give way sign or a stop sign.

In some countries the designation as a priority road is valid until an end of priority road sign, or a yield sign, or a stop sign. In others the priority road sign is, and must be, repeated after every intersection of a public road.

Mapping

When considering the "all traffic on the way" the mapper should naturally only consider legal routes onto the road in question.

Where the intersecting side road is a service road, a driveway, a track or other insignificant entry point to the public highways, traffic entering from such roads does not qualify for consideration of who has passed the priority road sign. (But do check you local legislation, if the traffic sign is valid only up to the next intersection, i.e. whether it refers to "public road" or "any intersection".) Just as any driver who started their journey from a roadside parking spot on the main road, if such parking is available, would not see the sign on the first section.

In countries where the sign does not need to be repeated after every intersection, it can be considered an acceptable interim solution to skip some short minor sideroads (as defined above), on a first pass of mapping these, if the main road has not yet been split for other reasons: even if the side road of an intersection is a public road, but is only a short (50 m at most) dead end stub without any more sideroads branching from it - mainly a public road for few lots only - one can, but doesn't have to, take for granted that the traffic coming from such stubs just previously travelled on the main road and the main road does not need to be split, even if the priority road sign is not repeated after that intersection. But eventually the road will be split at those junctions, too, and the priority_road tag value amended accordingly.

Values

• priority_road=yes: Somewhere there are signs indicating that this is a priority road. All side roads will have yield/give way sign or stop sign . Traffic on this way will not encounter such a sign, unless it implicitly ends the priority road without an explicit end of priority road sign .
  If you know the exact locations of the traffic signs, you can use the more specific value designated or yes_unposted:
  • priority_road=designated: All traffic on the way has passed a traffic sign designating the road as a priority road, at least before the first intersecting highway. All drivers thus know the side roads will have yield/give way signs or stop signs .
  • priority_road=yes_unposted: In countries where the designation as a priority road does not end at the first intersection, sections of roads where some, but not all, traffic has passed a priority road sign.
• priority_road=no: The road is not a priority road.
  If the priority road has just ended, you can use the following more specific value:
  • priority_road=end: Traffic entering the way at the start passes an end of priority road sign .

Where the road is not a two carriageway road, and if the signage is present only in one direction, one can use the higher ranking sign for priority_road=* and give the other direction signage as, for example, priority_road:forward=*. For example a way that has priority road sign at one end for the traffic in the direction of the OSM way, but only some of the traffic in the opposite direction has passed a similar sign, would be tagged as priority_road=designated + priority_road:backward=yes_unposted.

Countries using a sign for priority roads

The priority road signs are part of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, which allows the signs to be either yellow or orange .

The vast majority of European countries use these signs, with notable exceptions being Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Parking restrictions on priority roads

Some countries forbid parking on roads designated as a priority road, everywhere or only outside built-up areas (see zone:traffic=*). If the parking restrictions on a priority road differ from the default rules in the local jurisdiction, see street parking on how to tag this.

See also

• priority=* - Traffic priority for narrow parts of roads, e.g. narrow bridges.
• JOSM Mappaint style