Traffic Signals & Right of Way
Who has right of way at a UAE junction?
At a junction with no traffic lights, no signs and no road markings, priority in the UAE goes to the vehicle approaching from your left. If you learned to drive in Europe, North America or most other right-hand-traffic countries, that is the reverse of the rule you were taught, and it is one of the most common ways experienced drivers get caught out here.
This is often called the Left Hand Rule. It is worth learning properly, because it does not apply everywhere, and knowing when it stops applying matters as much as knowing the rule itself.
The rule
Where a junction or intersection is not controlled by traffic lights or road markings, you must give way to vehicles approaching from your left. It applies at ordinary crossroads between roads of equal standing, and it applies in car parks and other public areas too, which is where a surprising share of low-speed collisions happen, because drivers assume a car park has no rules at all.
When the rule does not apply
The Left Hand Rule is a fallback. It decides priority only when nothing else does. The moment a sign, a signal or a police officer is present, that instruction takes over.
In particular, the rule does not apply where a Give Way or Stop sign is present. If you are facing one of those, you give way regardless of which direction the other vehicle is coming from.
The order of precedence
When more than one instruction applies at once, they rank in a fixed order. Learn this and most right-of-way questions answer themselves.
| Rank | Instruction | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A police officer directing traffic | Officer waves you on although the light is red. You go |
| 2 | The traffic light | Light is green although a Stop sign is fixed nearby: the light wins |
| 3 | A traffic sign | Light is flashing amber and a Stop sign is present: the sign wins |
| 4 | The basic rules of the road | Nothing above applies. Give way to the left |
The third row is the one people find counter-intuitive. A flashing amber light is a warning, not a control: it does not regulate the flow of traffic, so the signs at the junction take over. A steady green, by contrast, is regulating, and it outranks a fixed sign.
The other priority rules you need
Joining a main road
If you are entering a primary, priority or main road, or an asphalt road from a gravel one, you give way or stop for traffic coming from both left and right. The roads are not of equal standing, so the Left Hand Rule does not help you. This is sometimes called the Main Road Rule.
Coming out of somewhere that is not a road
Leaving a car park, a petrol station, a residential area, a pedestrian way, the hard shoulder or an off-road area, you give way to all other traffic. Everyone already on the road has priority over you. This is the Exit or Entering Rule.
Turning left across traffic
Turning left at a crossroads means crossing the oncoming stream and cutting across the path of anyone walking into the road you are joining. You must give way to both. Drivers routinely check carefully for cars and then forget the pedestrians entirely.
At a roundabout
A roundabout applies the same principle in a different shape. Every vehicle approaching gives way to traffic already circulating, and because traffic here runs anticlockwise, that traffic reaches you from your left. It is the Left Hand Rule again, which is why the warning sign for a roundabout shows arrows turning anticlockwise.
How this is tested
Expect at least one question on uncontrolled priority, and expect the wording to matter. A question that says "of equal priority" or "no signs or signals" is testing the Left Hand Rule. A question that mentions a Give Way sign, a main road, or coming out of a petrol station is testing one of the other rules, and answering "give way to the left" will be wrong.
- Read for the conditions before you read the options. The conditions decide which rule applies.
- If nothing controls the junction and the roads are equal, give way to the left.
- If a sign or signal is mentioned, follow the order of precedence instead.
- If you are joining a main road or leaving a car park, you give way to everyone.
If you carry a foreign licence, this is the single rule most worth over-learning. It contradicts a habit you have built over years of driving, and habits reassert themselves under pressure, which is exactly what a junction is.
Practise this
Reading is not the same as recall under a clock. Sit a full 45-question mock and see whether traffic signals & right of way comes out as a strong area, or try five questions first.
Read next
- Roundabout rules in the UAE, Who has priority on a roundabout in the UAE?
- Abu Dhabi road signs and what they mean, What do the different road sign shapes and colours mean?
- The three-second rule, and why it works, What is the correct following distance when driving?