Left turn at an unsigned village junction
It is 17:40 on a wet October evening. You ride a 700 cc motorcycle north along Bahnhofstrasse through a Swiss village at about 40 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, with a pillion passenger on board. You want to turn left into Dorfplatz. The junction carries no priority signs at all: no yellow diamond, no Stop sign, no give-way line on any arm. A car coming towards you at roughly 45 km/h is not indicating and will continue straight south. From the right, a delivery van is coming down Lindenweg, a narrow but paved public side street, and also intends to continue straight across. Ten metres after your turn, a pedestrian crossing has two people waiting; one is elderly and uses a walking stick. The road surface is wet, with a damp patch of leaves just before the junction. Traffic behind you is light.
1. In what order may you proceed, and who must you let pass? Justify each step.
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Order: oncoming car, then the van, then you may turn; the pedestrians come before you leave the junction area.
- Oncoming car first. Turning left means crossing its lane. Straight-ahead traffic on the road you are leaving has priority over a left-turner, so the car passes regardless of who arrived first. Its lack of an indicator changes nothing: you must assume it goes straight.
- Then the van. At a junction with no priority signs on any arm, right-before-left (Rechtsvortritt) applies. The van comes from your right, so it has priority over you. Do not read its hesitation as permission: it must itself give way to the oncoming car, which approaches from the van's left, so it may be waiting for the car and not for you. Wait until it is past or clearly stopped for you.
- Then the pedestrian crossing. Once you turn, you must be able to stop before the zebra; anyone showing intent to cross has priority.
With wet leaves and a pillion, do your braking before the junction and keep the bike behind the give-way point, not on it.
2. Does the delivery van from Lindenweg have right of way over you? Would your answer change if Lindenweg were a gravel forestry track?
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Yes, the van has priority - and the surface changes the answer, but not because of the surface.
Priority at an unsigned junction follows from the roads meeting, not from their width, surface or traffic volume. Lindenweg is a public paved street, so right-before-left applies and the van goes before you even though Bahnhofstrasse is much wider.
If Lindenweg were an unpaved forestry or agricultural track, or the exit of a private property, car park or petrol station, it would not be a road junction in this sense: whoever leaves such a track must give way to all traffic on the main road. The van would then have no priority and would have to wait for you and the oncoming car.
Even then you would not simply accelerate through. The van's driver may misjudge the situation or nose out, so treat your right of way as something you can give up: approach slowly enough to stop, watch the front wheels and the driver's face, and make eye contact before committing. Legal priority does not remove the duty to avoid a collision.
3. How do you handle the two pedestrians, and where do you position the motorcycle while waiting?
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The pedestrians have priority as soon as they show that they want to cross - and this pair needs more time than most.
- Approach the turn so that you can stop before the zebra, not on it. Stopping on the stripes blocks the crossing and is an offence in its own right.
- Do not stop in the junction while waiting for the van and the car; keep the junction clear so the van can cross behind you.
- With an elderly person using a walking stick, expect a slow crossing. Wait until both are completely off the stripes before moving off; a walking-stick user may stop to rest, and a second pedestrian may follow behind.
- Do not wave them across. If the van is still moving, your wave can send them into its path.
- In rain and wet leaves, brake earlier and more gently than usual: the pillion shifts weight forward under braking and the leaves at the junction reduce grip. Select first gear before the junction so you can turn and pull away without a jerky clutch.