However, if there is an accident, a yellow caution flag is raised. This means neither of the race cars is permitted to overtake and pass the other car. The two race cars represent the input and output frequency of the PLL in a locked state. Each driver will measure the phase difference (a fraction of the distance around the lap) between themselves and the other race car. If the hind driver is too far away, they will increase their speed to close the gap. If they are too close to the other car, the driver will slow down. The result is that both race cars will circle the track in lockstep with a fixed phase difference (or constant distance) between them. Since neither car is allowed to lap the other, the cars make the same number of laps in a given time period. Therefore the frequency of the two signals is the same.