Do we have to give way to the truck driver in this situation?
Answer options
Explanation
Yes, you must give way to the lorry driver.
The green left arrow is lit on the instrument panel, that is, you intend to turn left. The light on the right is green and the blue lorry is approaching from the opposite direction; its right indicator is also on and it wants to turn into the side street.
The rule: a driver turning left must give way to vehicles coming from the opposite direction going straight or turning right. Here both cases lead to the same result: whether the lorry goes straight or turns right, your path cuts across its path and you are the one who gives way. Even when you are both entering the same street, precedence belongs to the right turn, because that turn is shorter and does not cut across the oncoming flow.
The safety reason specific to lorries: drivers underestimate the distance and speed of large vehicles; a larger object looks "further away and slower". That is why the classic left-turn-against-a-lorry crash always begins with the sentence "I thought I had time", whereas a loaded lorry can neither stop in time nor deviate.
Worth memorising: an oncoming vehicle's indicator being on is no guarantee. Until its manoeuvre has actually begun, it does not lose its priority; a mistaken or forgotten indicator is one of the commonest causes of junction crashes.
• "No" usually comes from the idea that because the lorry has signalled right "it will get out of the way anyway"; but an indicator is a declaration of intent, not a surrender of priority, and the left turn is still the one that gives way.
Topic
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