The driver in case of green signal

Explanation

Must give way to the lorry driver.

In the picture the light has lit red and amber at the same time; that is, it will turn green in a few moments. At the same time the blue lorry is in the middle of the junction and has not yet finished crossing.

The rule is: when the permitting signal comes on, the driver is obliged to give way to vehicles that are completing their passage through the junction and to pedestrians who have not finished crossing the carriageway. Green only permits movement; it creates no priority over someone who entered the junction earlier and lawfully. Someone inside the junction has nowhere to retreat to, and the law always places the burden of decision on the one who has not yet moved.

The safety reason is technical too: a loaded lorry needs several seconds and several dozen metres to clear the junction and accelerates slowly. If you put your foot down at the first instant of green, you strike the side of a vehicle that can neither stop nor get across quickly.

Worth memorising: the red-and-amber combination means "get ready to move", not "move". The correct habit is, at the moment of green, first to clear the junction with your eyes and then set off. The exam trap is the common notion that "green means absolute priority".

• This option equates green with priority; green gives permission to enter, but a vehicle that entered the junction earlier and is completing its passage still takes precedence.

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