You arrive at an intersection where the traffic light is dark because of a power outage. No officer or other authorized person is directing traffic, and no other traffic control device is operating. How should you proceed?
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A.
Treat the intersection as a stop sign on all approaches. Correct
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B.
Wait at the intersection until the signal is restored.
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C.
Yield only to vehicles on your right.
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D.
Continue through at the posted speed if no cross traffic is visible.
The answer is "Treat the intersection as a stop sign on all approaches."
A traffic light that has malfunctioned is treated as a stop sign on every approach to the intersection. Drivers who fall back on the uncontrolled-intersection habit pick C, because yield-to-the-right feels like the natural rule for any intersection without a working light.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. Wait at the intersection until the signal is restored.
Waiting for restoration blocks the intersection and is not the rule the manual gives. Borrows the downed-gate instinct from a railroad crossing, treating the outage as a closure rather than an all-way stop.
C. Yield only to vehicles on your right.
A dark light is treated as an all-way stop, not as a plain uncontrolled intersection. Carries over the yield-to-the-right rule from intersections that never had a signal, as if the outage reset the crossing to its unsigned state.
D. Continue through at the posted speed if no cross traffic is visible.
The manual does not permit rolling through a dark light, even if the intersection looks clear. Treats a dark signal like a flashing yellow, where slowing and looking is the rule instead of a full stop.
This question tests your knowledge of Traffic Lights in North Carolina. Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, "Chapter 5: Signals and Signs, Traffic Signals," p.81..
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