Right of way — New York Permit Test
Right of way on the New York permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
A driver who approaches an intersection must yield the right-of-way to traffic that is already in the intersection.
A car halfway through the box has nowhere to go. Letting it finish clears the road fastest.
A driver who approaches an intersection must yield the right-of-way to traffic that is in the intersection.
If drivers approaching from opposite directions reach an intersection at about the same time, the driver that turns left must yield to traffic that moves straight or turns right.
A left turn crosses the other car's path. The car going straight has nothing to cross.
If drivers approaching from opposite directions reach an intersection at about the same time, a driver that turns left must yield to traffic that moves straight or turns right.
At intersections not controlled by signs or signals, or where two drivers stop at stop signs at the same time at right angles, the driver on the left must yield to the driver on the right.
Somebody has to go first and guessing gets people hurt. The rule picks the same car every time.
STOP signs at the same time and they are at right angles, the driver on the left must yield the right-of-way to the driver on the right.
Drivers must yield to pedestrians who legally use marked or unmarked crosswalks, slowing down or stopping if necessary.
A person on foot has no bumper. A crosswalk with no paint on it is still a crosswalk.
Drivers must yield to pedestrians who legally use marked or unmarked crosswalks.
A driver who approaches a traffic circle or rotary must yield the right-of-way to drivers already in the circle.
Traffic in the circle has nowhere to stop. The gap has to be taken from outside it.
A driver who approaches a traffic circle or rotary must yield the right-of-way to drivers already in the circle.
A vehicle that enters a roadway from a driveway, private road or another place that is not a roadway must stop and yield the right-of-way to traffic on the roadway and to pedestrians.
A car nosing out of a driveway arrives where nobody is looking for it. Stopping is the price.
A vehicle that enters a roadway from a driveway, private road or another place that is not a roadway, must stop and yield the right-of-way to traffic on the roadway and to pedestrians.
On the test
Who goes first when a driver reaches an intersection a car is already crossing?
The car already in the intersection. A car halfway through the box has nowhere to go. Letting it finish clears the road fastest. New York State Driver's Manual, p.34: “A driver who approaches an intersection must yield the right-of-way to traffic that is in the intersection.”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
What it costs
- One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
- Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
- Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against New York State Driver's Manual, published by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-15.