Right of way at uncontrolled junctions and roundabouts: rules, traps

At an uncontrolled junction you give way to the vehicle on your right, and when turning left also to oncoming traffic going straight on or turning right. A tram has priority from any side. On a roundabout with C-12 and A-7, whoever is already on it has priority; with C-12 alone the right-hand rule applies.

Which matters most: a police officer, lights, signs or the right-hand rule

Before you start working out who has whom on their right, check whether that is needed at all. The Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym), art. 5, sets the order: instructions and signals from a person directing traffic, then traffic lights, then road signs, and finally the general provisions of the Act, including the right-hand rule from art. 25.

Art. 5(3) adds explicitly: light signals take precedence over signs regulating right of way. So if a junction has an A-7 "give way" sign but the lights are working and you have green, you go on green.

This order is a ready-made scheme for every question: you answer according to the first element present in the scene.

Uncontrolled junctions: the right-hand rule and turning left

An uncontrolled junction is one where right of way is not set by signs or traffic lights. It may be preceded by the warning sign A-5 "crossroads" (regulation on road signs, § 5(1)), but the absence of A-5 changes nothing: without priority signs you apply the general rules.

Art. 25(1) of the Road Traffic Act places two duties on you. First: when approaching a junction you exercise particular care and give way to a vehicle approaching from the right. Second: if you are turning left, you also give way to a vehicle coming from the opposite direction that is going straight on or turning right.

Turning left is therefore the weakest manoeuvre. You give way both to the vehicle on your right and to oncoming traffic, if it is going straight on or turning right. You have priority only over a vehicle on your left, and you and an oncoming vehicle that is also turning left pass each other without anyone giving way.

Art. 25(2) takes rail vehicles out of this rule: a tram has priority over other vehicles regardless of which side it comes from. Paragraph 3 adds that you apply the same rules outside junctions too, wherever directions of travel cross.

Order of passing step by step: 3 and 4 vehicles

From art. 25 you can build an algorithm that we at Łatweprawko recommend for picture questions.

1. Check the hierarchy from art. 5: a person directing traffic, lights, signs. If any of these is present, the right-hand rule takes a back seat.
2. If there is a tram in the scene, it goes first (art. 25(2)).
3. Find the vehicle that has nobody on its right. It moves first, unless it is turning left and someone is coming from the opposite direction going straight on or turning right. Then the oncoming vehicle goes first, provided it has nobody on its own right; if it does, apply step 3 to that vehicle.
4. Cross out the vehicle that has passed and repeat step 3 for the rest.

An example with three vehicles, all going straight on: A from the north, B from the east, C from the south. Vehicle A has the west on its right, from where nobody is coming, so it goes first. B has A on its right, so it goes second, and C, which had B on its right, goes last.

Four vehicles from four approaches, each going straight on: each has someone on its right and the Act gives no order. No rule solves that deadlock; in real traffic someone has to give way voluntarily.

Junctions with signs: A-7, B-20, D-1 and the T-6 plates

When signs set the right of way, the right-hand rule works only between vehicles the sign says nothing about. The meaning of the signs under the regulation on road signs and signals:

Two details that keep coming back in questions. A-7 and B-20 placed within the junction apply only to the nearest carriageway they stand in front of (§ 5(5), § 21(3)).

A T-6 plate changes the geometry, not the rule. When the priority road turns and you drive straight on along it, you are in fact leaving it. And when two vehicles travel the same priority road towards each other, the sign decides nothing between them and art. 25(1) returns: the one turning left gives way to the one going straight on.

Roundabouts: C-12 alone versus C-12 together with A-7

This is where most misunderstandings arise, and the provision is short. The regulation on road signs, § 36, describes two arrangements.

C-12 "roundabout" on its own means only that traffic moves around an island or square in the direction shown on the sign (§ 36(1)). The sign says nothing about right of way. Since no sign sets it, you apply the general rules from art. 25(1), meaning the right-hand rule.

C-12 together with A-7 means that the driver already on the junction has priority over the driver entering it (§ 36(2)). Entering such a roundabout, you give way to everyone already circulating. That is the arrangement you will find at almost every roundabout in Poland, because A-7 stands at nearly every entry.

Before a roundabout there may also be the warning sign A-8 "roundabout ahead" (§ 5(8)). It warns of a junction with traffic circulating around an island or square, but it does not decide right of way. We cover the other signs in this group in our text on how to remember warning signs, with catalogue questions.

Indicators on a roundabout: when to use them

The Act has no separate provision on indicators at roundabouts. The general art. 22(5) applies: you signal your intention to change direction or lane in advance and clearly with the indicator, and stop signalling immediately after the manoeuvre.

In test practice it is accepted that you signal leaving the roundabout with the right indicator, while entering it without changing lane requires no signal. A lane change on the roundabout is signalled like any other.

Traps in the catalogue questions

Questions about right of way are mostly basic questions worth 3 points. The pass mark is 68 out of 74 points, so two such mistakes use up the whole margin, and a third means a fail (more in our text on how many questions there are in the theory test and how many mistakes you can make). Typical constructions from the official catalogue:

Turning left versus oncoming traffic. In question 770 you plan to turn left and the oncoming vehicle is going straight on: you do not have priority. The same in question 3210. The reversed version is question 2127: you go straight on, the other driver turns left, priority is yours. In question 3585 you turn right and the oncoming driver turns left: the answer is YES.

A vehicle on the right and on the left. Question 1109: you go straight on, a vehicle approaches from the right, you do not have priority. Questions 2932 and 4413: you turn left, a vehicle on the right, the answer is NO. Question 2921: you turn left, a vehicle approaches from the left, the answer is YES, because that driver has you on their right.

Trams. Question 1148: you go straight on, a tram turns left. Question 1169: you turn left, a rail vehicle comes from the opposite direction. In both the answer is NO, because a rail vehicle has priority regardless of direction.

The sign, not the situation. Question 3904 asks whether the sign shown warns of a junction where right of way is not set by signs. That is A-5 and the answer is YES.

Same description, different answer. Question 774 reads like question 2127: you go straight on, the oncoming driver wants to turn left. Except that in the catalogue the answer is NO. The difference lies in what the picture shows, not in the words. So read the scene to the end, and only then reach for the right-hand rule. We have collected other mistakes of this kind in our text on the most common mistakes in the theory test.

Cheat sheet: situation, who has priority, basis

How to practise this before the theory and the practical test

Uncontrolled junctions, junctions with priority signs, with traffic lights and with roundabout traffic are separate tasks in the category B practical test, listed in the regulation on driving tests. The scheme from the picture question is the one you apply later behind the wheel. You will find the list of tasks in our text on the tasks in the category B practical test.

For the theory, practise against the clock. A basic question gives you 20 seconds to read and 15 to answer, and in that time you run through the whole hierarchy: a person directing traffic, lights, signs, art. 25. Start a category B mock test under the same conditions as at WORD (Wojewódzki Ośrodek Ruchu Drogowego, the regional driving test centre) and after every mistake read the explanation with its reference to the rule. With time the right answer comes faster.