When making a U-turn in this situation, must you give way to the other driver?

Explanation

Obliged to give way.

A U-turn is a manoeuvre, and no manoeuvre by itself brings priority. Whoever turns the wheel to reverse his direction of travel is himself responsible for making sure that this creates no obstruction or danger for anyone. In the picture you are standing behind the line with your left indicator on and want to make a U-turn here; the blue car on the left has also signalled and is ready to move. The arc of your U-turn sweeps the whole width of the carriageway and passes precisely through the path on which that driver will travel. So you must wait.

A point that recurs in the exam in many forms is this: a traffic officer's signal — like a green light — gives only "permission to move", not "priority". The two are not the same. Permission means you have the right to enter; priority means others must wait for you. In a U-turn you do not have the second.

The safety reason is clear too: a car making a U-turn drops to almost zero speed, its body stays locked across others' path of travel for a long time, and in the middle of the manoeuvre the driver has very limited view to the side and rear. If such a movement were given priority, every U-turn would become a traffic knot and a potential side impact. That is the common trap: because an officer is standing there, many imagine his command has settled everything and turn the wheel without looking.

• "We are not obliged" seems right when you think permission to move means the path is yours; but permission to move creates no priority, and a U-turn never gives you precedence.

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