When making a right turn you ought to

Explanation

After entering the junction, stop so that the pedestrians can finish crossing.

The light in the picture is green, so your entry into the junction is permitted and there is no place for stopping before the "stop line"; the stop line is the place to stop on a prohibiting signal, not on green. But at the end of the right turn you enter a carriageway on whose markings two pedestrians are crossing in the picture. A pedestrian who entered the crossing on a permitting signal has priority, so your correct stopping place is inside the junction and before the pedestrian markings.

The safety reason for this arrangement is twofold. If you stop behind the stop line, you halt the flow behind you while the light is green and the following driver expects movement; the result is a rear-end impact and a knotted junction. And if you turn without stopping, you drive straight into a crossing with a pedestrian on it — and at the moment of turning, the car's front pillar covers precisely the angle the pedestrian comes from.

Worth memorising: a green light is permission to move, not priority over a pedestrian. Almost every time you see "right turn + green light + pedestrian" together in the exam, the correct answer is the one that stops you inside the junction and before the crossing.

• Stopping before the stop line on a green light surprises the flow behind you and blocks the junction; the stop line is the place to stop on a prohibiting signal. • Passing without stopping directly takes the priority of a pedestrian who entered the crossing before you — the very situation that produces most pedestrian collisions in right turns.

Sources and content coverage · Report a content error