Speed limits
You reach an intersection with no stop signs on any corner, and buildings block your view of the cross street. Besides keeping within the speed limit, what does the handbook tell you to do?
- Move forward slowly until you can see. Correct answer
- Sound your horn and continue at the limit.
- Speed up so you spend less time in the intersection.
Why
With no stop sign at any corner, an intersection counts as blind, and a blind intersection has a 15 mph limit. The limit is only half the instruction. When something blocks your view of the cross street, ease forward slowly until you can see what is coming. Hurrying through to spend less time in the crossing gets it backwards: before entering any intersection, look left, right and ahead, and be ready to slow down and stop if you need to. The horn does nothing to show you the cross street, and the handbook gives no such instruction here.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Move forward slowly until you can see.
The rule behind this one
California speed limits and the basic speed law goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on speed limits
- At night you drive out of a brightly lit parking lot onto a dark road. What does the handbook advise?
- You are driving in strong, gusty winds. Which of these does the handbook recommend?
- You are driving past a school, less than 500 feet from it, and there are children outside or crossing the street. Unless a lower limit is posted, what is the speed limit?
- Unless a different limit is posted, what is the maximum speed limit on a two-lane undivided highway in California?