Are you required to exercise extreme caution when merging into traffic?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
YES
Explanation
In the video, in winter, you are driving out of a snow-covered driveway next to a brick house onto a road; the road surface is covered with snow. When joining traffic, you must exercise particular caution. The answer is: yes.
The Road Traffic Act states that joining traffic (włączanie się do ruchu) takes place when you start driving after parking and when you enter a road from a property, from a roadside facility, from a road that is not a public road, from a field or from a dirt road onto a road with a hard surface; a driver joining traffic must exercise particular caution and give way to another vehicle or road user. Driving out of a property is a classic case of joining traffic: vehicles on the road have right of way no matter which side they come from, and so do pedestrians on the pavement and cyclists. Particular caution here means stopping before the edge of the road, looking both ways, moving forward slowly with the front of the car if visibility is limited, and setting off only when you will not force anyone to brake. In winter there is also a slippery surface: you set off gently so that the wheels do not spin and you do not slide into the middle of the road.
Legal basis: Art. 17 para. 1 point 1 and 2 and para. 2 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)