You are driving on a two-lane road that meets a divided road with three lanes going the same direction. No signs or signals control the intersection. Who has the right-of-way?
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A.
Vehicles on the three-lane road have the right-of-way. Correct
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B.
Vehicles on the two-lane road, since it is the narrower one.
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C.
Vehicles on the two-lane road, since they arrived first.
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D.
Whichever vehicle is turning has the right-of-way here.
The answer is "Vehicles on the three-lane road have the right-of-way."
At an uncontrolled intersection where a single or two-lane road meets a divided or three-or-more-lane road, the driver on the two-lane road yields to traffic on the wider road. Drivers who fall back on the four-way-stop habit of "whoever got here first goes" pick option C, but arrival order does not settle a lane-count crossing.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. Vehicles on the two-lane road, since it is the narrower one.
The rule assigns priority to the divided or three-or-more-lane road, not to the narrower one. This answer substitutes a fairness intuition that the smaller road deserves the courtesy, the opposite of the Texas rule.
C. Vehicles on the two-lane road, since they arrived first.
Arrival order does not decide this crossing; at an uncontrolled intersection where a two-lane road meets a divided or three-or-more-lane road, the two-lane driver yields. This answer carries over the four-way-stop habit that whoever arrives first goes first.
D. Whichever vehicle is turning has the right-of-way here.
Turning status is not the rule at this crossing; the two-lane-road driver yields to traffic on the divided or three-or-more-lane road. This answer reaches for the left-turn yield rule taught elsewhere in the right-of-way chapter, where turning direction actually matters.
This question tests your knowledge of Right of Way in Texas. Source: Texas Driver Manual, "Chapter 4: Right-of-Way, Single or Two-Lane Road Intersecting a Multi-Lane Road," p.20..
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