Unmarked crossroads in the rain: priority, a turning van, a cycle track
Saturday 10:20, after a frosty night the asphalt is wet and the fallen leaves are slippery. You are driving in a residential area of Esch-sur-Alzette where the street is limited to 30 km/h. You approach a crossroads where your road carries no sign and no marking, so the default rule applies. You intend to go straight on. A grey van is coming from your right at about 30 km/h; its left indicator is flashing, so if it turns it will cross your path. A cyclist is riding on a cycle track that runs along your right-hand side, travelling in the same direction as you, and she will reach the junction at roughly the same moment. On the right-hand corner a delivery van is parked half on the pavement, hiding the first metres of the street to your right. Your speedometer reads 26 km/h.
1. Who has priority here, and in what order do you deal with the van from the right, the cyclist and the blind corner?
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There is no sign and no marking, so the default rule - priority to the right - decides the conflict between you and the van. The van therefore has priority over you, and its left indicator changes nothing: an indicator announces an intention, it never creates or removes a priority. So you stop or slow to a crawl and let it clear the junction.
The cyclist is a second, separate conflict. She is on your right-hand cycle track going straight on; the van, turning left, will cut across her track. She has priority over the turning van because she is continuing straight along her path while the van crosses it. Your job is not to assume the van driver has seen her: before you move, check that the van is actually stopping for her.
The blind corner is handled last but continuously: the parked delivery van means you cannot know whether a second vehicle is following behind the grey van, so you creep forward until you can see, rather than committing at 26 km/h.
2. The grey van stops and its driver waves you through. Do you go?
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No. A wave is a courtesy, not a transfer of priority. If the van has priority by the rule of the right, its driver cannot give that priority away on behalf of anyone else - a second vehicle, a cyclist or a motorcyclist may be coming from that same street, hidden by the parked delivery van and invisible to the driver waving at you. Accepting the invitation means entering the junction on someone else's judgement instead of your own observation.
The correct response is to acknowledge, stay put, and keep looking: check the cycle track on your right again, look past the parked van for a following vehicle, and only move when the way is genuinely clear. This is also the trap the examiner is testing - a hesitant driver who moves on a wave is the one who collides with the vehicle nobody could see.
3. What speed and position do you adopt approaching this junction, and why does 26 km/h matter here?
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At 26 km/h you travel about 7 metres per second. Reaction time alone, before the brakes do anything, eats roughly 7 metres on wet leaves; add the braking distance and you need well over 10 metres to stop. At an unmarked junction with a blind corner that is too much: the distance at which you first see a vehicle emerging from behind the parked van is shorter than your stopping distance.
So the approach is: slow to walking pace, position yourself slightly away from the parked van to widen the angle of view without crossing the centre line, and cover the brake. In a 30 km/h zone the limit is a ceiling, not a target - wet leaves, frost residue in the shade and a blind corner all argue for less. Creeping forward a metre at a time until you can see down the side street is the technique; committing at a constant 26 km/h is not.