According to the Texas Driver Handbook, how should a driver think about who "has" the right-of-way at any intersection?
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A.
Right-of-way is something given, not something taken. Correct
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B.
The driver with the higher posted speed limit claims right-of-way.
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C.
Right-of-way belongs to whichever driver signals first at the corner.
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D.
The driver on the wider road always claims right-of-way first.
The answer is "Right-of-way is something given, not something taken."
The Texas manual opens Chapter 4 with the rule that right-of-way is something a driver gives, not takes; the law names who must yield but never grants anyone a right to force through. Wrong answer D tempts a reader thinking ahead to the lane-count yield rule later in the chapter and mistakes the yield direction for a claim of priority the wider road's driver can assert.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. The driver with the higher posted speed limit claims right-of-way.
A higher posted speed limit does not decide right-of-way at any intersection. This answer reaches for a rule of thumb that faster roads outrank slower ones when the actual rule slips.
C. Right-of-way belongs to whichever driver signals first at the corner.
Signaling first has no bearing on which driver must yield. This answer borrows turn-signal etiquette from parking lots, where whoever signals first is treated as claiming the space.
D. The driver on the wider road always claims right-of-way first.
The wider road does not grant its driver a right to push through; the manual assigns a yield to the smaller road's driver but never gives the wider road's driver a right to take. Watching bigger roads push through in daily traffic trains a driver to read the yield direction as a right to take.
This question tests your knowledge of Right of Way in Texas. Source: Texas Driver Manual, "Chapter 4: Right-of-Way," p.19..
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