A white arrow pointing straight ahead is painted in the lane you are driving in as you approach an intersection. What does it require?
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A.
Proceed straight through the intersection Correct
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B.
Merge into the adjacent lane before the intersection
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C.
Turn either left or right from this lane
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D.
Yield to cross traffic before proceeding straight
The answer is "Proceed straight through the intersection"
The white straight-ahead arrow reserves the lane for through movement; a driver in it must continue forward through the intersection and cannot turn out. The trap is the choice that lets a driver turn left or right from the lane. A reader who learned the two-way turn arrow first tends to carry that "either way" reading over to any painted arrow, but a single arrow points one direction only, and the lane it marks is committed to that direction.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. Merge into the adjacent lane before the intersection
The straight arrow assigns the lane to through movement; it does not signal that the lane ends or that the driver must move over. This answer reads a straight-through arrow as the lane-reduction arrow that shows a lane ending ahead.
C. Turn either left or right from this lane
A single arrow points one direction, and this one points straight; the two-way turn arrow, pointing both left and right, is the marking that would offer a choice. This answer carries the two-way turn arrow's 'either direction' reading over to a single straight arrow.
D. Yield to cross traffic before proceeding straight
The arrow assigns lane use, not right of way; yielding is signalled by yield signs and triangle yield-line markings, not by lane arrows. This answer belongs to the driver who yields out of caution at every intersection, expecting the painted arrow to instruct them on how to enter rather than which lane to be in.
This question tests your knowledge of Road Markings on the roads of every US state . Source: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, marking 3B.24 (Straight-Through Arrow)..
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