To safely avoid a collision of two transport units in the switch area during operation of a conveyor in the form of a long stator linear motor with a switch, a collision zone is provided in the switch area, wherein the collision zone extends from the beginning of the switch in each case a length on the respective conveyor section, and to define the collision zone, the transport units are considered as two-dimensional objects and a position of the first transport unit on the first conveyor section is determined, which the first transport unit is allowed to occupy, so that the second transport unit can be moved as a two-dimensional object along the second conveyor section without collision through the switch and a distance between this first position and the beginning of the switch is determined and at least this distance is used as the first length.