Even the most skilled drivers can be perplexed by the right-of-way rule. Here’s what the highway code says.
Priority on the road can cause a lot of confusion, even among the most expert. Often at an intersection, we see drivers uncertain about what to do and who has priority. A good review of traffic rules, including priority rights, can therefore be very beneficial for everyone.
There are several priority signs and signals that all drivers are familiar with. The “stop” sign means that you must stop and give way. On a road with a sign in the shape of a triangle, the sign indicates that you must give way to all vehicles, coming from the left or the right. That’s the easy part.
But what happens at a crossroads if no sign is present? The theory says that the first vehicle to leave is the one with the free right, then the others which, in turn, have the free right. But it is sometimes more complicated than that as in this example:
In this case, the yellow car advances to the red car and lets it pass. The red car passes the yellow car first and then advances to the blue car and lets it pass. The blue car goes into third and finally the red car moves forward and finishes its last turn. So it happens in 4 steps as shown in the picture below.
And what if there are 4 vehicles in the junction? There it gets complicated since everyone has someone on their right. In this case, the simplest thing is to be courteous and let the first car that arrives pass. Then, the theory is that priority to the right applies again since a vehicle can pass.
But be careful because it often happens that when drivers have let the first comer pass, they expect the next one to pass to be the second comer even if he does not have the right of way. In these situations, it is better to talk to each other with signs, to remain calm. Because no one wants to end up in the garage for a priority story!
