Negotiating Intersections, Right-of-Way, Roundabouts, Curves, Highways and Parking

Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Pennsylvania non-commercial Class C knowledge test. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.

Source: Pennsylvania Driver's Manual (PUB 95), Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, chapter 3 "Learning to Drive", "Negotiating Intersections" through "Parking" (pp. 48–53).

Right-of-way

The law never gives anyone the right-of-way; it only says who must yield, and if a driver who should yield does not, everyone else must still stop or yield to avoid a crash. Never insist on it. In more than a third of crashes involving 16-year-old Pennsylvania drivers, the teen was pulling out from a stop sign or turning left across traffic. Without signs, signals or police, these rules decide:

1. Drivers yield to pedestrians crossing at any intersection without a signal (with or without a crosswalk), in any marked crosswalk, on a sidewalk across a driveway or alley, and when turning while pedestrians cross with the light; always to a blind pedestrian with a white cane or guide dog. 2. A driver turning left yields to oncoming vehicles going straight. 3. A driver entering a roundabout yields to drivers already in the circle. 4. Two vehicles arriving at about the same time from different roads: the driver on the left yields to the right. 5. A vehicle entering from an alley, private road or driveway waits until the road is clear. 6. At a four-way stop everyone stops; the first to arrive goes first; two arriving together, left yields to right; facing each other, both may go with caution, watching for turns.

Approaching intersections

Read the signs and markings early and get into the correct lane well in advance. In a lane marked turn only you must turn even if you meant to go straight, and in a lane marked for through traffic you must go straight even if you meant to turn. In dual left-turn lanes you may turn from either lane, but never change lanes during the turn, and watch the driver beside you.

One-way, wrong way and do not enter: ONE WAY signs and cars parked facing the same direction on both sides mark a one-way street. A divided highway is two one-way roads with a barrier, marked at intersections by ONE WAY, WRONG WAY and DO NOT ENTER signs and usually a DIVIDED HIGHWAY sign on your approach. A right turn onto it is ordinary. The danger is the left turn: turning before the divider puts you head-on into traffic from the left. Cross the first roadway in a gap from the left, then turn left beyond the barrier in a gap from the right on the second roadway.

Gaps you need: to cross a 30-mph street from a two-way stop, about a 6-second gap each way, about a block of clear space, looking left, right and left again; to turn right, look left, ahead, right and left again and allow about 8 seconds from a vehicle approaching on the left; to turn left from a minor onto a major street, allow 9 seconds from a vehicle approaching on the right, with cross traffic stopped. Picture an X in the intersection center and turn before it to avoid a "tangle turn" with the opposite left-turner, and always turn into the lane nearest the center line so you do not meet the right-turner from the other side. Never start a left turn until every lane you must cross is clear.

Jughandles: on divided commercial roads signed NO LEFT TURN, NO U-TURN and ALL TURNS FROM RIGHT LANE, you turn left by taking a right-turn lane that loops back to the main road at a signal, then turning left across it.

Roundabouts

Roundabouts and traffic circles carry counterclockwise traffic so every turn in and out is a right turn, eliminating head-on, left-turn and right-angle crashes; roundabouts are replacing old high-speed traffic circles and signals, sometimes at ramp ends. They have YIELD signs and yield lines at every entry and usually a destination sign on the approach. The most frequent roundabout crash is a driver who fails to yield before entering. Slow down and yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk; pull to the yield line, look left, and enter when there is a gap, since circulating traffic has the right-of-way; once in, you have the right-of-way, proceed counterclockwise, signal right as you approach your exit, yield to pedestrians and exit. Do not enter when an emergency vehicle approaches; if inside, exit and pull over, and never stop in the roundabout. Bicyclists may act as vehicles or pedestrians; never overtake one riding as a vehicle in the roundabout. Yield to pedestrians entering and exiting; they cross each leg using the crosswalks and splitter islands.

Curves

You cannot beat physics: too fast in a curve and the car keeps going straight, off the road on a left bend or into the oncoming lane on a right bend, even at modest speed on a sharp, wet or icy curve. The most frequent crash for 16-year-olds is a single-vehicle run-off-the-road crash. Slow down before you enter the curve. Keep slightly right of the lane center on right curves and in the middle of the lane on left curves; the sharper the curve, the more you slow; watch for oncoming drivers straying into your lane; and steer by looking at the inside edge of the curve, as far ahead as you can.

Highways and interchanges

Highway crashes are the most severe, with the greatest risk at interchanges, during lane changes, and when traffic suddenly slows. Entering: never mistake the exit ramp, which carries ONE WAY, DO NOT ENTER and WRONG WAY signs, for the entrance, sometimes marked HIGHWAY ENTRANCE; a white line on your right and a yellow line on your left mean you are headed the right way. Where entrance and exit share a short weaving lane, the entering driver yields to the exiting driver. Use the acceleration lane to reach traffic speed, looking over your shoulder and in the side mirror for a gap. Exiting: get into the exit lane early, do not slow until you are in it, and if you miss the exit take the next one; never stop, back up, swerve across lanes or cross the median, all illegal and dangerous; ramps post a maximum safe speed. Traveling: half of fatal highway crashes are run-off-the-road crashes from speed or fatigue; at 65 mph you cover almost 100 feet per second. Change one lane at a time, signaling each time and early; courteously change lanes to let a driver enter from a ramp, after checking around you, though the entering driver must yield. Beware highway hypnosis, staring straight ahead without scanning; 20 percent of fatal highway crashes are rear-end collisions, mostly inattention and following too closely.

Parking

With a curb, park within 12 inches of it; without one, pull as far off the road as possible. Parking on the roadway itself, use the four-way flashers, leave room to pass, and be visible for 500 feet in both directions. Park facing the direction of traffic, set the parking brake and shift to Park (or Reverse or First on a manual). On a hill, downhill with or without a curb and uphill without a curb, turn the wheels fully to the right; uphill with a curb, turn them to the left so the tire rests against the curb.

Except in an emergency or when an officer directs, never stop, stand or park: on the roadway side of a parked vehicle (double parking); where signs prohibit parking or stopping; in front of a public or private driveway; on a sidewalk; within 15 feet of a fire hydrant; within an intersection; within 20 feet of a crosswalk at an intersection or on a crosswalk; along or opposite street work; on a bridge, elevated structure or in a highway tunnel; within 30 feet of a flashing signal, stop sign, yield sign or roadside traffic control device; on railroad tracks; within 20 feet of a fire station driveway; between the roadways of a divided highway, including crossovers; where you would block a streetcar; within 50 feet of the nearest rail at a railroad crossing; or on a limited access highway unless devices allow it.

Parallel parking at a right-hand curb: stop even with the vehicle ahead and two feet from it; turn the wheels sharply right and back slowly toward the vehicle behind; as your front door passes the rear bumper of the vehicle ahead, straighten the wheels and keep backing; when clear of it, turn the wheels sharply left and back slowly toward the vehicle behind; then turn the wheels right and pull toward the center of the space. Before leaving the car, turn off the engine, take the key, lock the doors and check for traffic behind you before opening the door.

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