You approach a MERGE sign where your lane joins with through traffic. What does the manual require?
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A.
Sound your horn and enter the flow of traffic
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B.
Continue at the same speed; through traffic must yield to you
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C.
Come to a full stop and wait for a clear gap
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D.
Increase or decrease your speed to avoid a crash Correct
The answer is "Increase or decrease your speed to avoid a crash"
At a MERGE sign, you must increase or decrease speed to avoid a crash with through traffic. Option C is the trap for drivers who carry a stop-sign habit onto a MERGE and expect a full stop at any warning sign about approaching traffic.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Sound your horn and enter the flow of traffic
The manual assigns the merging driver a speed adjustment at a MERGE, not a horn signal. This answer reads the horn as a merging signal borrowed from parking-lot habits the manual never lists among right-of-way rules.
B. Continue at the same speed; through traffic must yield to you
The MERGE sign puts the yield duty on you as the merging driver, not on through traffic; you must adjust your speed. This answer borrows the on-ramp assumption that through traffic must adjust for entering cars, when the manual places that duty on the merging driver.
C. Come to a full stop and wait for a clear gap
The MERGE rule tells you to increase or decrease speed to avoid a crash, not to stop and wait for a gap. This answer applies a stop-sign habit to a MERGE, treating the merging driver as required to halt when the manual assigns a speed adjustment.
This question tests your knowledge of Right of Way in Illinois. Source: Illinois Rules of the Road, "Right of Way," p.26..
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