Crossroads

There are two main types of crossroads, Marked and Unmarked.

Marked crossroads have white lines to help identify who has priority.

Unmarked crossroads are crossroads without any white lines to identify who has priority. You must never assume priority at unmarked crossroads and always approach them with extra care as these tend to be accident blackspot areas.

Whether you are turning left or right at crossroads you should always apply the Mirrors, Signal, Position, Speed and Look or MSPSL routine.

Check your mirrors to see the speed and position of the vehicles behind, signal around seven car lengths to confirm your intentions and get into position, reduce your speed as necessary and make sure you are looking in the correct areas.

When you are turning right at crossroads you may need to either attain the nearside to nearside position or the offside to offside position.

The offside to offside position is when the two drivers are beside each other. This is the safest of the two manoeuvres as your view is greatly enhanced of both roads as nothing is blocking your road but it can take a lot longer to turn and doesn’t allow as much traffic to turn as the other option.

The nearside to nearside position is when the two passengers of both cars are beside each other. This isn’t as safe as the offside to offside position as your view is limited to seeing around the vehicle beside you but this does help traffic move more quicker and is usually the preferred option.

In many cases, the road layouts help to advise you which position to take whether its offside to offside or nearside to nearside position but in many situations the drivers have to choose the best and safest option.

If you are going straight at the crossroads and its your priority as you are on the main road then its always a good idea to glance either side of the roads just in case anything either side of you doesn’t follow the rules.

If you are emerging at crossroads and you wish to go straight, you’ll still need to take extra care when you arrive as the priority is for the traffic on the main road. When you do stop at the give way junction its always a good idea to look right, ahead, left, ahead and right or RALAR as commonly known.

When it is safe to go, proceed taking due care as always.