Driver's License Test Prep
Pennsylvania Practice Right of Way

You are pulling out of a private driveway onto a public road. According to the manual, when may you enter the road?

  1. A.
    After the main road is clear. Correct
  2. B.
    At any time, since driveway traffic has the right-of-way.
  3. C.
    As soon as the nearest oncoming vehicle brakes for you.
  4. D.
    After yielding only to vehicles approaching from your right.
The Why

The answer is "After the main road is clear."

Rule 5 in the Negotiating Intersections yield list is specific: a vehicle entering a public highway from an alley, private road, or driveway must wait until the main road is clear. Choice D tempts drivers who half-remember Rule 4's yield-to-the-right pattern from four-way stops and stretch it to driveway entries, though that rule only governs two vehicles arriving from different roadways at about the same time.

Why the others miss

The traps in the wrong answers

B. At any time, since driveway traffic has the right-of-way.

The manual is explicit that a vehicle entering from a driveway must wait until the road is clear. This answer flips the duty and assumes the through driver owes the yield, reversing who the law actually names as the yielding party at a driveway entry.

C. As soon as the nearest oncoming vehicle brakes for you.

The driveway rule turns on whether the road is clear, not on another driver's brake use. This answer treats a brake tap from oncoming traffic as a permission signal, though the entering driver has no way to confirm what the other driver actually plans to do.

D. After yielding only to vehicles approaching from your right.

Right-over-left applies to two vehicles arriving at an intersection at about the same time, not to a driveway entry, where the entering driver must wait for the road to clear. This answer reaches for the yield-to-the-right pattern from four-way stops and uncontrolled intersections, since that rule is memorized first and gets applied to any yield situation.

The Rule

This question tests your knowledge of Right of Way in Pennsylvania. Source: Pennsylvania Driver Manual, "Negotiating Intersections," p.48..

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