What Drivers Should Know About Right-of-Way Rules

Most drivers want to avoid a collision. That fact highlights the reason why the same drivers ought to become familiar with all the right-of-way rules. A driver’s readiness to obey such rules helps to lower the chances that the same person might one day get involved in an on-road collision. And then they seek out the services of a personal injury lawyer in Collingwood in filing a claim for compensation.

The spots where such rules apply:

An intersection with signs or signals: If the intersection has 4 stop signs, the driver that gets there first has the right of way. If two drivers get to such an intersection at the same time, the driver approaching from the right has the right-of-way.

An intersection with no signs or signals: The rules here is the same as the ones that apply to an intersection with 4 stop signs.

Where a yield sign has been posted: Drivers must yield to traffic on the intersecting road. In other words, each driver must slow down, when coming up to that particular road, and stop if any vehicle is approaching.

When about to make a left turn: Yield to any oncoming traffic.When turning right or left, watch for any person that is walking across the street.

When entering a road from a private driveway: Plan on yielding to those on the main road, and to any pedestrians or any cyclists in a bike lane. This rule does not make clear how close to the road a driver must be, in order to qualify as someone that is entering that same road. Does someone coming out of a garage have to yield to a pedestrian or cyclist?

When traveling down a street: Plan on yielding to any pedestrian in a crosswalk, or any pedestrian in a crossover (a place where 2 crosswalks intersect).

Situations in which the rules about yielding to a pedestrian do not apply:

Yielding by a driver is not required in any situation in which a pedestrian has chosen to run out onto the street and act as though the traffic should stop for him or for her. True, drivers must watch for a potential hazard, and someone crossing the road would qualify as a hazard. Still, the rules of the road do not provide pedestrians with the freedom to assume the right-of-way at all times and in all situations.

Drivers have begun to complain about the tendency of law enforcement officers to fine anyone that seems about to hit a walker, after he or she has become focused on texting a message, rather than on the path in front of that same walker. Time will tell, whether or not such a situation will get added to those in which walkers (pedestrians) do not have the right of way.