1.2 Right of Way and Priority at Junctions

1.2 Right of Way and Priority at Junctions

Junction questions are some of the most practical on the DMT paper. The sample paper shows photographs of junctions and asks who may go, or what the driver of a particular vehicle may do. Three sources settle almost every case:

1. Section 148 of the Motor Traffic Act: the rules of the road, including the "give way to the right" rule.
2. Section 150 and the priority signs: which road is the main road.
3. Regulation 3(2) of the 2015 Signs Regulations: police directions override lights, and lights override priority signs.

Behind all of them sits section 149: whatever the rules say, every driver must take whatever action is necessary to avoid an accident. Having priority never entitles you to crash.

---

1. Who Controls the Junction?

Work down this list. The first thing present decides who goes:

---

2. STOP and GIVE WAY Junctions

• STOP (PRS-01): under regulation 12(a), stop at the transverse stop line (or at the sign if the line is not visible) before entering, then go only when you will not endanger traffic on the other road or force it to change speed or course. Section 148(14) also requires a vehicle entering a road to stop where stop lines are painted. A "rolling stop" is not a stop.
• GIVE WAY (PRS-02): under regulation 12(b), do not go past the broken give-way line in a way that endangers traffic on the road you are entering or forces it to change speed or course. If the road is clear, you need not stop. If traffic is coming, wait.

At either junction, look right, left and right again. Allow extra time for motorcycles and three-wheelers, which are small, quick and easy to miss.

---

3. Main Roads and Minor Roads

• s.148(8): a vehicle moving from one road into another must not be driven so as to obstruct traffic on the road it enters.
• s.148(9): a vehicle that turns into or crosses a road declared under section 150 to be the main road, and indicated by a notice, must not obstruct traffic on that main road.
• s.148(7): a vehicle coming from a place that is not a road, such as a driveway, fuel station, car park or private land, onto a road must not obstruct traffic on the road.

The DMT sample paper asks: "When entering a main road, you must give way to vehicles coming from which direction?" The answer is from both the right and the left. Traffic on the main road has priority in both directions.

At a T-junction, the driver on the stem of the T is usually entering the through road, so they wait for traffic from both directions on the through road. If the stem carries a STOP sign or stop line, the driver must stop every time, even if the road looks clear. If it carries a GIVE WAY sign or line, or nothing at all, the driver approaches ready to stop and goes only when they can enter without obstructing anyone.

---

4. Uncontrolled Junctions: The Rule of the Right (Section 148(10))

Where no police officer, light signals or priority notices control the junction, and two or more vehicles arrive at the same time from different directions intending to use the same part of the junction:

no such motor vehicle shall be driven along that part of the area of intersection until any other such motor vehicle coming from the right or off side has passed it.

                   N
                   |
         W --------+-------- E
                   |
                   S
   You approach from the south heading north.
   A car arriving from the EAST is on your RIGHT: it goes first.
   A car arriving from the WEST is on your LEFT: you go first, carefully.

Do not count on the other driver knowing the rule. Slow down enough to stop, and make eye contact where you can.

---

5. Turning Right Across Oncoming Traffic

Section 148(13) describes the right turn (section 1.1): position near the centre line, signal, go to a point close to the centre of the junction, and turn only when your path is clear of oncoming traffic. In practice:

• Oncoming traffic going straight on has priority over you.
• Oncoming traffic turning left into the same road as you also goes first, because it stays on its own side while you must cross its path.
• At signal-controlled junctions, regulation 32(3)(c) adds two rules. You must not cross the path of vehicles moving through on their signal in a dangerous way. Where two right-turning vehicles from different approaches must cross paths, the one with the other vehicle on its right gives way.

When two vehicles facing each other both turn right, each should turn around the centre point of the junction, as section 148(13) describes. Watch for oncoming vehicles hidden behind the other turning vehicle.

---

6. Emergency Vehicles

Section 140(2) exempts ambulances, fire-fighting vehicles and police vehicles on emergency duty from speed limits. Regulation 32(6) lets fire, ambulance, police and armed-services vehicles responding to an emergency pass a red signal, but only without endangering others. When you hear a siren or see flashing emergency lights:

• Check your mirrors and work out where the vehicle is going.
• Move to the left and slow down or stop where it is safe, leaving the centre of the road clear.
• Do not stop inside a junction or on a pedestrian crossing. Clear it first, then pull in.
• Do not follow the emergency vehicle through a red light or a gap in traffic. The exemption is theirs, not yours.

---

7. Summary of Priority

1. Police officer, then traffic lights, then priority signs and markings, then the main-road rule, then the rule of the right.
2. Traffic entering from a minor road, a driveway or private land waits for traffic on the road it is entering.
3. At an uncontrolled junction, give way to vehicles from your right.
4. Turning right, give way to oncoming traffic.
5. Priority is something you give, not something you take. Section 149 always applies.