The category that fails people
Right of way, drawn out
Right of way questions are the hardest part of most permit tests, and not because the rules are complicated.
- 8 worked scenarios
- About a minute each
- Answer and reasoning on every one
The order the rules are applied in
They fail people because a paragraph of text is a poor way to picture two cars arriving at an intersection. So here they are as pictures, with the answer and the reasoning underneath. Almost every right of way question resolves if you apply the checks in the same order each time.
Is there a control
A signal, a stop sign, a yield sign, an officer or a flagger. A control overrides everything else, and a person directing traffic overrides the signals.
Does the road layout decide it
As at a T intersection where the ending road yields, or an on ramp joining a freeway.
The right hand rule
Third, and only then, the right hand rule settles ties between drivers who arrive together.
Two things always win
Pedestrians in a crosswalk, marked or not, and emergency vehicles running lights and siren. If either is in the picture, they are the answer.
Each intersection, drawn and answered
Open one, look at the cars, then read the rule as a caption under the diagram.
Four way stop, simultaneous arrival
When two vehicles reach a four way stop at the same time, the driver on the right goes first.
Uncontrolled intersection
At an uncontrolled intersection, a driver yields to any vehicle approaching from the right.
Left turn on solid green
A solid green permits the turn but does not protect it. Oncoming traffic and pedestrians have the right of way.
T intersection
When two vehicles enter an unsigned T intersection at the same time, the driver on the road that ends yields to traffic on the continuing road.
Roundabout entry
At a roundabout entry with a yield sign, entering traffic yields to vehicles already circulating and enters only when there is a safe gap.
Emergency vehicle behind you
When an emergency vehicle approaches with its siren and emergency lights on, pull over to the right edge of the road, clear of any intersection, and stop until it has passed. Florida requires this for a siren alone or for blue or red lights alone.
Pedestrian, unmarked crosswalk
An unmarked crosswalk exists at most intersections. Pedestrians crossing there have the right of way.
Freeway merge
Traffic entering a freeway yields to traffic already on it, and uses the acceleration lane to reach traffic speed before merging.
Pulling out of a driveway or a parking lot
All four states with their own right of way set on this site ask a version of this one, and it is the right of way rule most people use most often.
You are joining, not meeting
When you leave a driveway, an alley, a gas station or a parking lot, you are joining a road rather than meeting it at an intersection. Yield to everything already on that road. There is no order of arrival to argue about and no right hand rule to fall back on, because you were never a party to the intersection in the first place.
The sidewalk comes first
You also yield to anyone on the sidewalk you cross on the way out, which is the half people forget, since the sidewalk crossing happens before you can see the road properly.
If the view is blocked
If a parked van or a hedge blocks the view, creep forward far enough to actually see, then wait for a gap you would be happy with if you were the driver already on the road.
Waiting does not promote you
How long you have been waiting does not change the answer.
Right turn on red is a yield, not a lane of its own
Where a right turn on red is allowed at all, the permission is narrow, and the narrow part is what gets tested.
Stop behind the line
You come to a complete stop first, behind the line, and only then look. A cyclist in a bike lane on your right counts as traffic too, and they arrive faster than they look from a stopped car.
Then yield
Yield to traffic coming from your left, to anyone turning into the lane you want, and to pedestrians in the crosswalk you are about to drive across, including the ones who stepped off the curb while you sat there.
Check the posted restriction
Last, check for a sign forbidding the turn at that particular intersection, because a posted restriction beats the general permission.
Do not roll it
The usual failure is treating the red light as a yield sign and rolling through. A stop that never happened is a violation whether or not the turn itself was safe.
When the signal is dark, and when a person is directing traffic
Two situations change the answer before any of the ordinary rules get a chance.
Signal completely dark
If the signal is completely dark, from a power cut or a fault, treat the intersection as an all way stop. Every approach stops, and then order of arrival and the right hand tie break take over exactly as they would at four stop signs.
Texas writes it as a power outage
The Texas set puts this one as a power outage, with the signal fully out rather than flashing.
Flashing red or flashing yellow
A flashing red means the same thing as a stop sign. A flashing yellow means slow down and go through with care. Sort those two out before the day, because the difference is one word in the question.
A person directing traffic
An officer, a flagger at road works or a school crossing guard overrides the signal completely. You follow the hand when the light in front of you is green, and you go when you are waved on even though it is red.
Pedestrians away from a crosswalk, and the ones who get more room
The unmarked crosswalk scenario covers the corner. The questions that catch people are the ones nowhere near it.
Mid block is different
A pedestrian crossing mid block, well away from any intersection, does not have the right of way and is supposed to yield to you. That is the correct answer, and it is not permission to keep driving at them.
You still must not hit them
You are still required to avoid hitting anyone in the road, so the full answer is that they were in the wrong and you slow down or stop anyway.
White cane or guide animal
A pedestrian using a white cane or working with a guide animal has the right of way wherever they are crossing, and the right response is to stop and stay still rather than wave them on, because a wave is not something they can use.
Already partway across
And a pedestrian already partway across when your light turns green keeps their priority until they are clear of you.
When a lane ends, the merge is a yield as well
The on ramp scenario covers joining a freeway. The other kind of merge, where your lane runs out because of road works or a lane drop, works the same way, and it turns up in the California, New York and Texas question sets.
Through traffic has the right of way
Traffic already in the through lane has the right of way. You match its speed, find a gap, and move across, signaling early enough that the driver you are moving in front of can see it coming.
Stopping at the pinch, or arguing
Two habits go wrong here. The first is stopping at the end of the closing lane, which leaves you joining moving traffic from a standstill and is the same mistake as stopping at the end of an on ramp. The second is arguing about who was rude.
Adjust your speed and yield
The merge sign told everyone the lane ends. Using its full length and taking turns at the pinch point clears more cars than lining up early does. On a test, the answer is adjust your speed and yield, never assert.
The rule is national, the wording is your state's
Right of way itself barely varies across the country, which is why one set of diagrams works anywhere. What varies is the paperwork wrapped around it, and you can see it in the citation on every question here.
The national set has no state statute to point at, so it cites the Uniform Vehicle Code conventions the states drew from.
Move over distance
How far you have to move over for an emergency or service vehicle stopped on the shoulder is set state by state.
School bus and a median
Whether a median exempts traffic on the far side of a stopped school bus from stopping too.
Learn the reasoning from the diagrams above, then run your own state's right of way set, so the phrasing you meet on the day is phrasing you have already argued with.
Once these feel automatic, put them under time pressure.
A state practice test mixes right of way questions in with signs and rules the way the real exam does it.