A 3-minute lesson from the New Mexico course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Intersections are any place traffic merges or crosses: cross streets, side streets, driveways, and shopping center or parking lot entrances. They're where paths cross, so they need your most careful scanning.
Before and while entering an intersection:
Look left and right for vehicles and pedestrians
If stopped, look left and right again just before you move
Look across to be sure the path is clear all the way through and you won't block it
Before turning right, make sure no traffic is approaching from your left, no oncoming vehicle is turning left into your path, and no pedestrians are crossing where you'll turn.
Don't rely on signals or signs to keep others from crossing. Look left and right even if cross traffic has a red light or stop sign, especially just after your light turns green.
At any railroad crossing, slow down and look up and down the tracks. Never assume no train is coming, even if you've never seen one there; that assumption is a leading cause of crossing deaths.
Your light just turned green. Before pulling out, you glance left and right and see a driver racing to beat the red on the cross street. You wait, and avoid a T-bone crash.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
According to the handbook, what is one of the leading causes of fatalities at railroad crossings?
Stalling after shifting gears
Assuming that a train is not coming
Stopping too close to the gate
Crossing the tracks too slowly
Answer: Assuming that a train is not coming
Assuming that a train is not coming is one of the leading causes of fatalities at railroad crossings.