Driver's License Test Prep
Florida Practice Traffic Lights

The traffic light at an intersection is out of order and no law enforcement officer is directing traffic. How should you treat the intersection?

  1. A.
    As a four-way stop, yielding in the order vehicles arrived. Correct
  2. B.
    As a yield sign, slowing only if cross traffic is present.
  3. C.
    As an uncontrolled intersection where the largest vehicle has priority.
  4. D.
    As a green light for the direction with the most waiting vehicles.
The Why

The answer is "As a four-way stop, yielding in the order vehicles arrived."

When a Florida traffic light is dark and no officer is directing traffic, drivers treat the intersection as a four-way stop and take turns in the order they arrived. Choice C tempts drivers who fall back on the parking-lot habit of letting the biggest vehicle push through, but Florida replaces the missing signal with four-way-stop order regardless of vehicle size.

Why the others miss

The traps in the wrong answers

B. As a yield sign, slowing only if cross traffic is present.

The Florida rule replaces the dead signal with a full four-way stop, not the slow-and-look treatment a yield sign allows. Downgrades a powerless intersection one notch to a yield, assuming a missing signal cannot still demand a full stop from every direction.

C. As an uncontrolled intersection where the largest vehicle has priority.

Florida replaces the missing signal with four-way-stop order that treats every direction the same; vehicle size does not shift priority. Follows the parking-lot habit that the biggest vehicle claims the right of way when no rule is posted.

D. As a green light for the direction with the most waiting vehicles.

No approach receives an implied green when the signal fails; every driver must stop and take turns in arrival order. Invents a majority-rules green for the busiest approach, borrowing from how officers sometimes wave the heaviest flow through during outages.

The Rule

This question tests your knowledge of Traffic Lights in Florida. Source: Florida Driver Manual, "Traffic Signals," p.51..

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