Right-of-Way: Intersections, Railroad Crossings, Emergency Vehicles, School Buses and Pedestrians

Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Texas Class C knowledge exam. The facts follow the official handbook; the wording is ours.

Source: Texas Driver Handbook (DL-7), Texas Department of Public Safety, rev. January 2026, chapter 4 "Right-of-Way" (pp. 20–24).

The principle

Right-of-way is something you give, not take. The rules say who should yield, but if the other driver does not follow them, let them go. A driver who commits an offense with failure to yield as an element and causes bodily injury pays a fine of $500 to $2,000; causing serious bodily injury raises it to $1,000 to $4,000.

Intersections

• Signs and signals: obey them; the rules below apply where there are none.
• Small road meets big road: on a single- or two-lane road crossing a divided road or a road with three or more lanes, yield to the traffic on the bigger road.
• Unpaved meets paved: traffic on the paved road has the right-of-way.
• Uncontrolled intersection (no signs, signals, extra lanes or paving difference): yield to any vehicle that has entered or is approaching from your right. Go when the road to the right is clear or the approaching vehicles are far enough away, but check the left too, and make sure the other driver actually yields before you proceed.
• Turning left: yield to any vehicle coming straight through from the opposite direction.
• Private road, alley, building or driveway: stop before the sidewalk and yield to every approaching vehicle and pedestrian.
• T-intersection: the driver on the street that ends must stop and yield to traffic on the through street.
• Frontage roads: a driver on the frontage road of a controlled-access highway yields to vehicles entering the frontage road from the highway and to vehicles leaving the frontage road to enter the highway.
• Three or more lanes in one direction: a vehicle entering a lane from the right yields to a vehicle entering the same lane from the left.

Railroad crossings

Stop between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest rail when a visible railroad signal warns of a train, a gate is down or a flagger warns of a train, a traffic-control device or signal requires a stop, a train is within about 1,500 feet and sounding its horn, or a train is visible and close. Stay stopped until it is safe or you are allowed to proceed. Disobeying the railroad crossing law costs $50 to $200.

Safe practice: where the crossing has only a crossbuck or a reduce-speed sign, look both ways and listen for the whistle, stop if a train is coming, otherwise cross with caution. Flashing red lights mean stop and stay stopped until the train has passed and the lights stop. Lowered gates mean stop and wait until the gates rise. Check that all tracks are clear: one train can hide another. Never stop on the tracks. If your car stalls there, get out and push it clear; if you cannot and a train is coming, get out and run toward the approaching train, angled away from the tracks, to avoid flying debris. Trains cannot stop at crossings and always have the right-of-way. Whistles can be hard to hear: roll the windows down and the radio down. Report a broken crossing signal to the DPS Communications Center at (800) 772-7677 or local police, quoting the crossing's identifying number.

The blue-and-white Emergency Notification System (ENS) sign at each crossing gives the railroad's emergency number and the USDOT National Crossing Inventory number that identifies the crossing. In an emergency, call the number on the sign, give the crossing number and describe the problem.

Emergency vehicles

Yield to police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles using a siren, bell or flashing red light: if traffic allows, pull to the right edge of the road and stop; if you cannot, slow down and leave a clear path. Do not follow within 500 feet of a fire truck answering an alarm or an ambulance with its red lights flashing; do not drive or park on the street where a fire truck is answering an alarm; do not park where you would block an ambulance.

Move Over or Slow Down: unless an officer directs otherwise, when you approach a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights on, either vacate the lane closest to it (on a road with two or more lanes in your direction), or slow to 20 mph below the posted limit where the limit is 25 mph or more, or to less than 5 mph where the limit is below 25 mph.

School buses

Approaching a school bus from either direction while its alternating red lights flash, you must stop, and may not pass until the bus moves again, the driver signals you on, or the red lights stop flashing. You need not stop when the bus is on a different road, or on a controlled-access highway where it is stopped in a loading zone and pedestrians may not cross.

Pedestrians

Watch for people on foot whether or not they have the right-of-way. Drivers must yield to a pedestrian at an uncontrolled intersection (no signs or signals for the pedestrian), to a pedestrian with a WALK signal, on a green light where there is no pedestrian signal, and to a pedestrian already in the crosswalk when the light changes.

• Yield Here to Pedestrians signs stand at yield lines placed ahead of a marked crosswalk on an uncontrolled multi-lane road.
• In-Street Pedestrian Crossing signs sit in the road at the crosswalk, on the center line, a lane line or a median island, never at the roadside; Overhead Pedestrian Crossing signs hang over the road at the crosswalk. Both remind drivers of the right-of-way law at unsignalized crosswalks.
• A pedestrian hybrid beacon is a pedestrian-activated signal installed only at a marked crosswalk. To drivers it is dark until a pedestrian pushes the button, then flashing yellow, steady yellow, steady red (stop; the pedestrian starts crossing), then alternating flashing red, which means stop, then go if the crosswalk is clear while the pedestrian's signal flashes.
• In-roadway lights set into the pavement warn of a condition you may not see, usually at midblock and school crossings, uncontrolled marked crosswalks and ahead of roundabouts; slow down and be ready to stop.

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