Roadworks occur when part of the road, or in rare cases, the entire road, has to be occupied for work relating to the road, most often in the case of road surface repairs. They can, however, also happen when a major accident occurs and debris from the crash needs to be cleaned.
Roadworks are often signposted, although it is possible that the signage comes too late or too sudden or is missing.
In some countries, where lanes must be altered so as to accommodate roadworks, the new lanes (or interim lanes) are marked with a different colour and take precedence over the previous lanes. In Germany, it is yellow; in Switzerland, it is orange.
