Vehicles will drive through the intersection in the following order:

Explanation

The lorry, then the yellow bus and last the green bus.

The key to this picture is the pair of signs on the post on the right: the "give way" triangle and, beneath it, the supplementary "direction of the priority road" plate. On that plate the thick line enters the junction from the road opposite and turns to the right; the thin lines mean that the road on the left and the road from which the yellow bus is coming are both minor. The blue lorry is travelling on exactly that arc of the priority road, so it passes through the junction first and the others must wait.

Once the junction is clear, the two buses remain, both coming from minor roads and of equal rank. Between vehicles of equal rank only one criterion works: give priority to the vehicle coming from your right. The yellow bus is on the green bus's right, so the green bus must stop and move after it.

The safety logic of this order is clear: the priority road carries a continuous, fast flow, and if anyone from a minor road could jump into the middle of it, angled collisions would occur in the heart of the junction — the most dangerous kind of urban crash. The common exam trap is right here: the yellow bus is large and near in the picture and the mind puts it first, but nearness and size create no priority. Read the sign first, then look at the positions of the vehicles.

• This puts the yellow bus first because it is large and near in the picture; but this bus is on a minor road and has no right to move until the priority-road lorry has passed. • This puts both buses ahead of the lorry and effectively ignores the priority-road direction plate; a vehicle whose whole path lies on the priority road is never last.

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