A method for assisting an operator of a vehicle which is approaching a set of traffic lights which permits a stop line to be crossed in at least one first operating state and does not permit the stop line to be crossed in a second operating state. The method provides that (i) a signal which describes the current operating state of traffic lights and the time period until the operating state changes is received in the vehicle, (ii) in the vehicle, verification is carried out on the basis of the received signal as to whether the vehicle can reach the stop line at a speed from a predefined speed range while the set of traffic lights is in the first operating state, and (iii) a speed of the vehicle is influenced and/or a recommendation for influencing the speed is generated as a function of the result of the verification.