Permit tests/Four-way stop
Who goes first at a four-way stop?
Four scenes, one rule each. Tap the car you think goes first, see why, then watch the whole sequence play out. The same rules are on every state’s permit test.
Scene 1. Three cars reach the stop one after another: car A first, then B, then C. All three go straight.
Which car goes first?
Heading: car A drives north, B drives west, C drives south.
The three rules, in order
- First to stop goes first. Cars go in the order they stopped.
- Same moment: the car on the right goes first. Yield to the vehicle on your right.
- Turning left: wait for oncoming cars going straight. A left turn yields to traffic coming the other way.
The four scenes as text
- Different arrival times. Three cars reach the stop one after another: car A first, then B, then C. All three go straight. The first car to stop goes first. The rest go in the order they arrived. Order: car A, then car B, then car C.
- Two cars at the same moment. Two cars stop together, one coming from the south, one from the east. Both go straight. When two cars arrive together, the one on the right goes first. Car B is on car A's right. Order: car B, then car A.
- Turning left across traffic. Two cars face each other and arrive together. Car B turns left; car A goes straight. A car turning left yields to the oncoming car going straight, so car A goes first. Order: car A, then car B.
- Three cars together. Three cars stop at the same moment, from the south, the east and the west. All go straight. Each car yields to the car on its right. B has nobody on its right, so B goes. Then A (B has gone), then C. Order: car B, then car A, then car C.
Common questions
The driver who stopped first goes first. If two drivers stop at the same moment, the one on the right goes first. A driver turning left yields to an oncoming driver going straight.
Each driver yields to the vehicle on their right, which usually leaves one driver with nobody on their right. That driver goes first, then the others follow in turn. If nobody can tell, make eye contact or a clear hand signal and go carefully.
The basic rules are the same across US states, and they are what permit tests ask. Check your own state's driver manual for exact wording, and remember that a police officer's signals override everything here.
No. Size and speed do not matter. Order of arrival comes first, then the vehicle on the right, then oncoming traffic when you turn left.