Do you have to give way to the tram?

Explanation

Yes; you must give way to the tram.

At this junction there is neither a traffic light nor a priority sign; so it is an uncontrolled junction of equal-status roads. At such a junction a rail vehicle takes precedence over non-rail vehicles, regardless of which side it comes from. The red tram is approaching the junction from your right, so you must stop both because it is a rail vehicle and because of the right-hand rule.

The safety reason for this precedence is entirely technical: a tram has no steering and cannot change its path; the only thing it can do is brake, and braking on steel rails requires several times the distance of rubber on asphalt. If a tram is forced into an emergency stop, the standing passengers inside the carriage are injured too. So the legislator has placed the burden of decision on the driver who can stop easily and at less cost.

Worth memorising: a tram's precedence holds only at an equal-status junction. If you are on the priority road and the tram comes from a minor road, priority is yours. That is the common exam trap; some candidates think a tram always and everywhere takes precedence, and others think that because a tram is slow one can cut in front of it. Neither is right: first establish whether the roads are priority or minor.

• "No" would be right if your road were declared a priority road by a sign; there is no priority sign in the picture, so the junction is of equal status and the tram takes precedence.

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