A ramp meter on an Oregon freeway on-ramp turns green. How many vehicles may proceed?
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A.
One vehicle each time the light turns green. Correct
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B.
As many as can fit until the meter cycles back to red.
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C.
Two vehicles per green.
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D.
As many vehicles as are waiting at the meter.
The answer is "One vehicle each time the light turns green."
Only one vehicle can proceed each time the green light comes on at a ramp meter. On a multi-lane on-ramp, each lane has its own meter, so one vehicle from each lane advances per green. Choice B is the trap: drivers who treat the ramp meter like an ordinary traffic light assume the green stays on long enough for the queue to clear, but a ramp meter cycles back to red after a single vehicle passes.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. As many as can fit until the meter cycles back to red.
Only one vehicle proceeds per green at a ramp meter, no matter how many vehicles are waiting behind you. This answer treats the ramp meter like an ordinary traffic light whose green phase lasts long enough for every waiting vehicle to clear the intersection.
C. Two vehicles per green.
The rule is one vehicle per green light, regardless of how many lanes the on-ramp has. This answer blends the multi-lane rule (each lane has its own meter) into a two-vehicles-per-green allowance at a single meter.
D. As many vehicles as are waiting at the meter.
A ramp meter throttles traffic onto the freeway; it does not clear the on-ramp queue in a single green. This answer reads the ramp meter as a queue-clearance signal that empties the on-ramp per cycle rather than a throttle releasing one vehicle at a time.
This question tests your knowledge of Lane Changes & Merging in Oregon. Source: Oregon Driver Manual, "Freeway Driving, Entering a Freeway (Ramp meters)," p.35..
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