A driver assistance device for warning a driver of a motor vehicle of a risk of departure from the road or from the lane in which he is driving, said device having at least one image-transmitting sensor, an evaluation device, connected to the image-transmitting sensor, for detecting edge-of-lane and/or lane markings and/or edges of lanes in the area sensed by the image-transmitting sensor, and a warning device which is connected to the evaluation device, wherein in addition at least one sensor which, on the basis of different reflection behaviour of objects, permits differentiation between said objects, and optionally also a distance-transmitting sensor a is connected to the evaluation device, with which sensor(s) the distance from objects which are elevated with respect to the surface of the lane can be determined in the region of the edge of the lane, in particular a structural boundary of the edge of the lane, and/or from a border at which the surface of the lane ends in the region of the edge of the lane and drops away to a piece of lower surrounding land.