The second will drive through the intersection:

Explanation

The tram.

The yellow diamond on the right says you are on the priority road, and the square sign beneath it shows that the priority road does not continue straight but turns left at the junction. The blue car ahead of you has signalled left, meaning it stays on the priority road by turning left. The tram and the red car come from the opposing road, which is the minor road in relation to this junction.

The order follows from that: the blue car, as a vehicle on the priority road, passes first, then it is the tram's turn, and last the red car. The reason the tram goes ahead of the red car is that in equal conditions — that is, when both come from roads of the same priority — a rail vehicle has priority over a non-rail vehicle.

The reason for this advantage is technical, not ceremonial: a tram can neither deviate from its path nor stop in a short distance; tens of tonnes of weight slide dozens of metres on wet rails. So the cheapest solution is for cars to give way to it.

The common exam trap is the sentence "a tram always goes first". That sentence is wrong: the tram's advantage holds only in equal conditions. A tram coming from a minor road gives way to a vehicle on the priority road like any other vehicle. That is exactly why the tram here is second, not first.

• The red car comes from the same minor road as the tram and in equal conditions must give way to the rail vehicle; so it is the third to pass. • The blue car is on the priority road and is the first to pass, not the second; its left turn is also along that same priority road.

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