Traffic Rules and Right-of-Way
Domain 2, Traffic Rules and Right-of-Way, examines whether the driver applies Cameroon’s keep-right rule, priority rules and heavy-vehicle restrictions consistently. Questions often place a truck at an unmarked junction, a roundabout, a pedestrian crossing or a narrow hill road and ask who moves first and what signal is required.
Core rules
- Cameroon drives on the right. Keep as far right as is safe; a slow heavy vehicle must not hog the centre lane or block following traffic when a safe pull-off exists.
- At an unmarked intersection, give way to traffic approaching from your right unless a sign, signal or police officer says otherwise. At a roundabout, traffic already circulating has priority; entering drivers yield and signal their exit.
- Overtake only when the line is broken, visibility is clear, and no sign forbids it. Overtaking is prohibited on blind bends, crests, bridges, narrow causeways and at pedestrian crossings. A heavy vehicle needs a much longer gap than a car.
- Give way to pedestrians already on a zebra crossing and to emergency vehicles using lights and siren. Do not follow an emergency vehicle closely.
- On steep narrow roads, the descending vehicle normally gives way to the ascending vehicle unless local signing or the practical difficulty of restarting a loaded truck makes another arrangement safer; follow posted priority signs.
Worked example
A loaded truck reaches an unmarked T-junction. A car approaches from the right and a motorcycle from the left. There is no sign or officer. The truck must yield to the car from the right, even though the truck is larger and slower. The motorcycle from the left must yield to the truck if the truck is already in the junction. If a police officer is directing traffic, the officer’s arm signal replaces the priority-to-the-right rule; the driver obeys the officer and checks the mirror before moving.
Traps
- Claiming priority because the vehicle is heavy or because the driver is on a main road without checking for signs.
- Entering a roundabout without yielding to circulating traffic.
- Overtaking a cyclist or motorcycle taxi and then cutting back too soon.
- Stopping on a pedestrian crossing while waiting in traffic.