Junctions and priority rules for learner drivers

Most collisions in towns happen where roads meet. Junction questions in the car theory test rarely ask for a single fact; they show a driver about to turn or emerge and ask what should happen first. This guide splits the subject in two: how you handle the junction itself, and who has to wait for whom.

Approaching, turning and emerging at junctions

Every junction follows the same routine: mirrors, signal, then position, speed and look. What changes is where you put the car.

Two details catch learners out. First, do not overtake a cyclist just before turning left: the Highway Code tells you not to cut across cyclists, horse riders or motorcyclists going ahead, and to stay behind them at junctions even when they are close to the kerb. Second, when you wait to turn right, keep your wheels pointing straight ahead. If a car hits you from behind with the wheels already turned, you are pushed into the oncoming lane.

When two cars facing each other both want to turn right at crossroads, right side to right side (passing behind each other) is generally safer because you keep a clear view of approaching traffic. Turning in front of each other blocks that view, and a motorcyclist can be hidden in it.

At advanced stop lines for cyclists, you must stop at the first white line when the lights are amber or red. If you have already crossed it when the light turns red, you must stop at the second line.

Where the view is restricted by parked vans or hedges, creep forward slowly until you can see. Do not pull out because the driver waiting opposite has flashed their headlights: the Highway Code says a flash only means “I am here”, not “go”.

Rule 170 of the Highway Code lists the hazards to check before you emerge or turn.

Who gives way: lines, signs and road users

Priority in the UK is set by markings and signs first, then by the hierarchy of road users. There is no general rule that traffic from the right always goes first, except on roundabouts.

• Stop sign and solid white line: you must stop completely at the line, even if the road looks clear.
• Give way sign or double broken white lines: you must give way to traffic on the main road, but you need not stop if it is clear.
• Unmarked crossroads: nobody has priority. Slow down, look both ways and be ready to give way.
• Roundabouts: give priority to traffic approaching from your right, unless signs, markings or traffic lights say otherwise.
• Box junctions (yellow criss-cross lines): you must not enter until your exit is clear. The exception is turning right when only oncoming traffic, or other vehicles waiting to turn right, stop you.
• Green filter arrow: you may go in the direction of the arrow whatever the other lights show.

The 2022 changes to the Highway Code added Rule H2: at a junction you should give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross the road you are turning into or out of. If they have already started to cross, they have priority. Rule H3 adds that you should not turn across a cyclist, horse rider or horse-drawn vehicle going straight ahead, just as you would not turn across a car.

Priority is never a licence to carry on. If a driver comes out of a side road in front of you, the correct answer is to slow down or stop even though they should have waited.

Mistakes that cost marks on priority questions

1. Treating a give way line like a stop line, or the other way round. Stop means stop, every time.
2. Joining a box junction because the lights are green.
3. Assuming the car on the right always has priority at an unmarked crossroads.
4. Turning into a side road while a pedestrian waits at the kerb to cross it.

Once these feel automatic, test them under time pressure in the car mock tests, where junction questions draw on three DVSA topics at once: rules of the road, road and traffic signs, and vulnerable road users. Many of the clips in the hazard scenarios for car drivers also start at a junction, so they are a good next step after this page.