Signs, signals and pavement markings
You arrive at an intersection where the traffic signal is completely dark because of a power failure. What should you do?
- Stop as if there were STOP signs in all directions, then proceed cautiously when it is safe. Correct answer
- Treat it as a green light if you are on the larger road.
- Slow down and drive through without stopping if no one is coming.
Why
A dark or malfunctioning signal turns the intersection into an all-way stop. Every driver stops, the first to arrive goes first, and when two arrive together the one on the left yields to the one on the right. Being on the wider or busier road gives you no priority, and rolling through because nobody seems to be coming ignores the drivers on the cross street who are doing exactly the same calculation. Stop behind the limit line or crosswalk, look left, right and ahead, and go only when it is your turn and the way is clear.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Stop as if there were STOP signs in all directions, then proceed cautiously when it is safe.
The rule behind this one
California road signs, signals and pavement markings goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on signs, signals and pavement markings
- The light is green, but traffic ahead is backed up and you are not sure you can get all the way across the intersection before the light turns red. What should you do?
- You are driving next to a carpool (HOV) lane that is separated from your lane by double solid white lines. When may you cross them to enter the HOV lane?
- You see a five-sided (pentagon-shaped) sign ahead. What does it tell you?
- You are waiting in a left turn lane when the green arrow changes to a solid yellow arrow. What is that signal telling you?