Right of way, drawn out
Right of way questions are the hardest part of most permit tests, and not because the rules are complicated. They fail people because a paragraph of text is a poor way to picture two cars arriving at a junction. So here they are as pictures, with the answer and the reasoning underneath.
Work through all 8. Each one takes about a minute and covers a rule that turns up in some form in every state bank.
Four way stop, simultaneous arrival
You and car B stop at the same instant. Who goes first?
Uncontrolled intersection
Neither road has a sign or a signal. Car B is approaching from your left. Who yields?
Left turn on solid green
You have a solid green light and want to turn left. Car B is coming straight towards you, also on green. What do you do?
T intersection
Your road ends at a through road. Car B is travelling along the through road. Who has the right of way?
Roundabout entry
You are approaching a roundabout and car B is already going round it. What should you do?
Emergency vehicle behind you
An ambulance is behind you with lights and siren on. What are you required to do?
Pedestrian, unmarked crosswalk
Someone steps off the curb to cross at a corner with no painted crosswalk. What is your obligation?
Freeway merge
You are on the acceleration lane of an on ramp and car B is in the right hand lane of the freeway. Who yields?
The order the rules are applied in
Almost every right of way question resolves if you apply the checks in the same order each time. First, 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. Second, does the road layout decide it, as at a T junction where the ending road gives way, or an on ramp joining a freeway. Third, and only then, the right hand rule settles ties between drivers who arrive together.
Two things sit outside that order and 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.
Once these feel automatic, put them under time pressure in a state practice test, where right of way questions are mixed in with signs and rules the way the real exam does it.