The driver of which vehicle must give way?

Explanation

The motorcycle driver.

The yellow diamond beside the red car means "priority road", and the inverted red triangle facing the motorcyclist means "give way". Those two signs alone make the whole matter clear: the red car's road is the priority road and the motorcycle enters the junction from the minor road, so it must reduce speed, stop if necessary, and let the red car pass first.

Beneath both signs a supplementary plate is fitted showing the direction of the priority road, because at this junction the priority road does not continue straight but turns. The safety reason is clear: when the priority road changes direction within a junction, a driver cannot tell from the shape and width of the road alone which path has priority. Without the supplementary plate, both drivers would imagine priority was theirs and a side impact would follow — the most dangerous kind of junction crash, because the side of a car offers the least protection.

The common exam trap is to reach for the "right-hand rule". The right-hand rule works only when both roads are of equal status. As soon as a priority sign is present in the picture, the sign has the last word and left and right are irrelevant. The motorcycle being small and agile brings no advantage either; priority depends on the road, not on the type of vehicle.

• Tempting, because the motorcycle enters the junction from the car's right; but the yellow diamond beside the red car's road has made that road the priority road, and against a priority sign the right-hand rule has no effect.

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