In case of straight driving

Explanation

You must give way.

No priority sign is fitted in the picture and both roads have a hard surface; that is, this is a junction of equal-status roads. At such a junction the only criterion is the side from which the other vehicle approaches: any vehicle coming from your right takes precedence. The lorry is approaching the junction from the road on the right, so even when you are going straight you must stop and let it go first.

The safety reason for this rule is simple: junctions without signs are numerous in residential areas and on side routes, and if there were no fixed convention two drivers would enter simultaneously and a side impact would follow — the crash with the least structural protection, because the blow lands directly on the door beside the occupant. The right-hand rule is one uniform, exceptionless law for all such junctions.

Memorise two points. First, going straight in itself brings no priority; the precedence of straight-ahead movement over a turn means something only between vehicles facing each other, not against a vehicle coming from the side. Second, the lorry's lit indicator changes nothing; an indicator is a declaration of intent, not a surrender of priority. Before reaching an unsigned junction, reduce your speed so that you have time to decide.

• The width of your road and the open way ahead create the feeling that the priority road is beneath your wheels, but no sign confirms this; at an equal-status junction the lorry on the right takes precedence.

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