Unmarked junction in Ohrid: priority, a pedestrian and a low-speed collision
Just after 18:00 in a residential part of Ohrid you approach an unmarked four-way junction at about 35 km/h. The surface is worn cobblestone, still damp from earlier rain, and a delivery van parked 8 m before the corner blocks your view to the right. You intend to turn left. A car approaches from the right without indicating, and a woman with a small child is walking towards a marked pedestrian crossing on the road you want to enter, roughly 15 m past the junction. The driver behind you is 5 m from your bumper and sounds the horn. You slow to walking pace and crane forward to see past the van.
Assume that despite your caution the car from the right enters the junction and you cannot stop in time. You hit its rear door at perhaps 15 km/h. Nobody is hurt, both cars are drivable, and the other driver immediately says it was your fault and offers cash to settle on the spot so nobody has to involve the police or insurers.
1. Who has priority at this junction, and what does that priority actually require you to do given the blocked view?
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Legal position: at a junction with no signs, no markings and no working signals, the right-hand rule applies. The car approaching from your right has priority, whether or not your street looks like the "main" one and whether or not that driver indicates.
What that means in practice:
- Priority is not a licence to keep rolling. Because the parked van hides the right-hand approach, you may only move at a speed from which you can stop for whatever emerges - walking pace, roughly 3 m per second, stopping within two or three metres.
- Creep forward until you can actually see along the right-hand road, then decide. Do not swing out into the oncoming lane to improve your view.
- Expect the other driver not to know or not to apply the rule. Defensive driving means planning for his mistake, not proving a point.
Conclusion: he goes first. Your 35 km/h approach was already too fast for the sightline you had, and 'he should have seen me' is not a defence when the rule puts the duty on you.
2. After the car from the right has passed, what else must you check before completing the left turn, and how should you handle the driver honking behind you?
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The crossing: the turn is not finished at the junction mouth. The woman and child are walking towards a marked crossing on the road you are entering. Pedestrians already on the crossing, or stepping onto it, have priority; a child may break away from the adult and run. So you complete the turn slowly and be ready to stop with the car already straight, not while still steering.
The driver behind: a horn is pressure, not an instruction. He is obliged to keep a distance that lets him stop if you stop, and if he hits you from behind that is his responsibility. What would not be his responsibility is a collision you cause by entering blind because you felt hurried.
Practical sequence:
- Stop or crawl at the line of sight past the van.
- Let the car from the right clear the junction.
- Check the crossing, check oncoming traffic in the new road.
- Turn at a speed that lets you stop for a pedestrian within the distance you can see.
If the honking continues, ignore it; do not accelerate into the turn to get out of his way.
3. The impact was on the other car's rear door. Who is at fault, and what are your obligations in the next ten minutes?
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Fault: a strike on his rear door means his car was already crossing the junction while you were still moving into it. Under the right-hand rule the duty to give way was yours, so the primary fault is yours. His speed might be contributory, but you would have to prove it, and it does not cancel your obligation to yield to a vehicle you could not see clearly.
Obligations, in order:
- Stop immediately, switch on hazard lights, switch off the engine.
- Warn other traffic: warning triangle placed far enough back that approaching drivers get real notice - well before the junction, and further back still if the approach is obscured by a bend or crest.
- Do not move the vehicles unless they block traffic dangerously; first record the positions with photographs, including the damaged panels and any skid marks.
- Exchange names, addresses, phone numbers, plate numbers, insurer and policy details with the other driver. Complete and both sign the European accident report, with a sketch of the junction and the direction of travel.
- Do not accept the cash. A handshake settlement leaves you exposed if he later reports the damage or claims injury; the insurer handles it once the report exists.
- Call the police (192, or 112) if he refuses to give details, appears intoxicated, or if anyone later reports pain. Otherwise you must still be able to identify him, so never leave the scene before the details are recorded.