When you plan to exit the freeway, give yourself plenty of time.
Wait until the other driver actually starts to turn before you continue. Their signal lights often do not turn off automatically. This is particularly true of motorcycles. The driver may plan to turn just beyond you, or the signal may have been left on from an earlier turn. When turning left, do not start the turn just because an approaching vehicle has its right turn signal on. You do not want to be caught in an intersection with traffic coming at you.Įven if you have the green traffic signal light, do not start across the intersection if there are vehicles blocking your way.
If you are crossing lanes or turning, make sure there are no vehicles or people blocking the path ahead or to the sides of your vehicle. It is important to know how much space you need for merging, crossing, entering, and exiting out of traffic. You must share the space with traffic already on the road.
When crossing or entering city or highway traffic from a full stop, signal, and leave a large enough gap to get up to the speed of other vehicles. If you wait until all of the lanes are clear, you may cause traffic delays or a collision. If you need to cross several freeway lanes, cross them one at a time.Make sure you can stop safely, if necessary. Leave 3 seconds of space between you and the vehicle ahead of you. Turn your head to look quickly over your shoulder before changing lanes or merging in traffic. Do not try to merge into a gap that is too small.When it is safe, follow the “3-second rule” (refer to the “Do not be a tailgater!” section). Do not stop before merging into freeway traffic, unless it is absolutely necessary. Space to MergeĮnter the freeway at or near the speed of traffic. Therefore, slow down and, if safe, use as much of your lane to the left as possible until you pass the child. The child is more likely to make a sudden move. Suppose there are oncoming cars on your left side and a child on a bike on your right side. If one danger is greater than the other, give the most room to the most dangerous situation. In this case, the best thing to do is “split the difference.” Steer a middle course between the oncoming cars and the parked cars. For example, there will be parked cars to the right and oncoming cars to the left. Sometimes there will be dangers on both sides of the road at the same time.