Right of way in California: who goes first

Right of way is something you give

The phrase makes it sound like a possession, and that is the source of most mistakes on this topic. Nothing in the rules entitles you to move; they only ever say who has to wait. Two drivers can each be technically correct and still collide, and the collision is what the rules exist to prevent.

Read every right-of-way question with that in mind. When an option describes taking a turn you are owed and another describes waiting to be sure, the second one is usually what the handbook says.

• Whoever gets to the intersection first goes first. Everybody else waits, whether they are driving, cycling or walking. p. 39
• Never count on another driver handing you the right of way, and give up yours whenever doing so avoids a crash. p. 39
• Before you enter an intersection, look left, look right and look ahead for vehicles, bicyclists and people on foot, ready to slow down or stop. p. 39
• An intersection is anywhere one road meets another. Signs or signals make it a controlled one; uncontrolled and blind intersections have neither. p. 39
• People on foot come first at an intersection, and that holds even when your light is green. p. 39

Intersections with nothing to tell you

The tie-breaker is the one rule everybody half remembers: the driver on the right. It only applies when you genuinely arrive together, which is why the questions spend so much effort describing who got there first.

The second half of this section is about turning, and about the difference between the rule and a habit. Turning left, the obligation is not to yield to traffic that is close; it is to yield to traffic that is close enough to make the turn dangerous. Turning right, the danger is rarely in front of you.

• With no stop or yield signs, first to arrive goes first. If you and somebody else get there at the same moment, the one on your right goes first, and that includes a bicyclist or a pedestrian. p. 39
• At a stop sign with a stop on all four corners, stop first and then apply the same order of arrival. p. 39
• At a T intersection with no signs, whoever is on the road that continues straight through has the right of way. p. 39
• Turning left, look for people crossing, and give way to any pedestrian or oncoming vehicle close enough to be dangerous. p. 39
• Turning right, look for people in the crosswalk and for motorcycles and bicycles traveling alongside you. p. 39
• Joining traffic, go carefully and give way to whatever is already occupying the lanes. p. 39
• It is against the law to stop in an intersection, or block it, when there is not enough room to clear it before your light turns red. p. 39

Roundabouts

A roundabout has exactly one right-of-way rule, and everything else about it is procedure. Traffic already going around has priority; you wait for a gap. Most wrong answers on this topic describe stopping inside the circle or changing your mind about the exit, and both of those are what the procedure exists to stop you doing.

• Traffic in a roundabout runs one way around a central island. p. 40
• Slow down as you come up to it and give way to everything already circulating. p. 40
• Enter heading right, once the gap in traffic is big enough for you to merge safely, and follow the signs and lane markings. p. 40
• Go counterclockwise, and do not stop or pass while you are in there. Signal when you change lanes or leave. p. 40
• Miss your exit and the answer is to keep going around until it comes back. p. 40
• In a roundabout with more than one lane, pick your entry and exit lane by where you are going: right lane in and right lane out for a right turn, either lane to go straight leaving by the one you entered. p. 40

Pedestrians and crosswalks

The heading is misleading, because the rules here are not only about crosswalks and not only about walking. California treats a wheelchair and a skateboard as pedestrians, and it gives people priority whether the crossing is painted or not.

Two of these rules are the ones that show up again and again, because they are counterintuitive from behind the wheel. A vehicle stopped beside you at a crosswalk is not an opportunity to go around; it is the reason you cannot see what is about to walk out. And stopping in the middle of a crosswalk to wait is worse than not stopping at all for a person who cannot see your car.

• A pedestrian is anyone walking, anyone on something that is not a vehicle or a bicycle such as skates or a skateboard, and anyone with a disability using a tricycle, a quadricycle or a wheelchair to get around. p. 41
• People on foot have the right of way, and they also have to follow the rules of the road. p. 41
• When somebody is crossing, with or without a crosswalk, be careful, slow down or stop so they can finish crossing safely. p. 41
• Do not overtake a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk: someone may be crossing where you cannot see them. p. 41
• Eye contact from somebody at the curb means they are about to step out. Let them. p. 41
• Give people the time they need. Older people, people with small children and people with disabilities may want more of it. p. 41
• Crosswalks are usually painted in white lines, school crossings may be yellow, and plenty of crosswalks are not marked at all. p. 41
• Pedestrians have priority in crosswalks whether marked or not. Where a limit line comes before the crosswalk, that is where you stop. p. 41
• Some crosswalks have flashing lights. Look for people and be ready to stop whether the lights are going or not. p. 41
• A pedestrian with a guide dog or a white cane has the right of way at all times. Take extra care turning and backing up, and remember that a hybrid or electric car gives them almost nothing to hear. p. 42
• Do not stop in the middle of a crosswalk: it can push a blind pedestrian out into traffic to get around you. Do not sound your horn at them either. p. 42
• When a blind pedestrian draws the cane back and steps away from the corner, that normally means they are letting you go. p. 42

Emergency vehicles, officers and mountain roads

These are the cases where the right of way stops being about two drivers negotiating and becomes an order. An officer directing traffic outranks the signs and the signals; an emergency vehicle with its siren going outranks everyone.

The mountain-road rule is the one people get wrong by reasoning about fairness instead of about physics. It has nothing to do with who arrived: reversing uphill is controllable and reversing downhill is not, so the vehicle pointing down is the one that moves.

• Give way to any police vehicle, fire engine, ambulance or other emergency vehicle running a siren and red lights: pull over to the right edge of the road and stay stopped until it has gone by. Not pulling over can cost you a ticket. p. 45
• Coming up on an emergency vehicle stopped with its lights flashing, move over and slow down. p. 45
• If you are already inside the intersection when one appears, carry on through it, then pull right and stop as soon as it is safe. p. 45
• Do what a law enforcement officer or a firefighter tells you, even when it contradicts the signs, the signals or the usual rules. p. 45
• Following closer than 300 feet behind an emergency vehicle with its siren or lights on is against the law. p. 45
• Driving to the scene of a fire, a collision or another disaster can get you arrested: you are in the way of the people working there. p. 45
• Where two vehicles meet on a steep narrow road and neither can get past, the one facing uphill has the right of way. The one facing downhill backs up, because reversing up the hill is the controllable half of the maneuver. p. 42