You approach a North Carolina roundabout with traffic already circulating. Who has the right of way?
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A.
Vehicles already in the roundabout Correct
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B.
The largest vehicle at the roundabout
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C.
Vehicles entering from your right
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D.
Vehicles entering from your left
The answer is "Vehicles already in the roundabout"
At a North Carolina roundabout, you yield to any vehicle or bicyclist already circulating; drivers already inside have priority over drivers entering. Option C is the trap for drivers reaching for the four-way-stop 'driver on the right goes first' rule, which does not apply once entering traffic has merged into a one-way circle.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. The largest vehicle at the roundabout
Size never decides priority at a roundabout; only who is already circulating does. This answer confuses the manual's advice to give big trucks extra room with a right-of-way rule.
C. Vehicles entering from your right
The four-way-stop 'driver on the right' rule does not apply once entering traffic has merged into a one-way circle. This answer carries the four-way-stop priority rule over to a roundabout, where the geometry has already resolved which drivers are expected to wait.
D. Vehicles entering from your left
No priority attaches to which side a driver enters from; only circulating traffic has the right of way. This answer guesses at an entry-side rule and picks the mirror image of the intersection rule most drivers half-recall.
This question tests your knowledge of Right of Way in North Carolina. Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, "Roundabouts," p.59..
Related North Carolina questions
- You are already inside a roundabout when an emergency vehicle with lights and siren approaches. What must you do? →
- You are moving through an intersection on a green light. A pedestrian starts to cross in your path against the red pedestrian signal. What does the law require you to do first? →
- A railroad crossing has a crossbuck sign but no lights and no gates. Who yields at that crossing? →
- You sound your horn to warn a pedestrian who is crossing against the signal, but the pedestrian does not stop. What must you do? →
- A pedestrian is crossing on a Walk signal at a signaled intersection. What right of way do they have? →
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