Uncontrolled intersection with a blocked sight line
You are driving a 12-tonne rigid truck in Skopje at 08:10 on a dry, clear morning. Your load is 6 tonnes of packaged goods, correctly secured. You approach a four-way intersection with no stop, yield or priority-road signs. A parked delivery van on your right blocks your view of the cross street, and your own lane is partly narrowed by the van. You slow to about 25 km/h. A passenger car appears from the right at roughly 40 km/h. At the same time, a pedestrian holding a child’s hand steps onto the zebra crossing on your side of the junction. A car behind you is following closely. You must decide whether to continue, stop, or sound the horn, and how to manage the close follower.
1. Who has priority at this intersection, and what does the pedestrian change?
Read the worked answer
At an uncontrolled four-way junction, the general rule is that the vehicle approaching from the right has priority. The car from the right would therefore normally have priority over you, but that does not give it an absolute right to proceed blindly. The pedestrian on the zebra crossing has priority over both vehicles. You must stop before the crossing and let the pedestrian and child finish crossing. Do not wave the car through or edge into the crossing while the pedestrian is there.
Because the van blocks your view, treat the junction as a hazard: approach at a speed from which you can stop, look for a second vehicle behind the first, and make eye contact with the car driver only after the pedestrian is clear. The truck’s mass makes late braking and sudden steering unsafe. The correct priority order in practice is: pedestrian first, then the car from the right if it has already committed, then your own safe gap.
2. How should you handle the close-following car and the blocked view?
Read the worked answer
Check the mirror early, signal your intention, and brake progressively rather than late. The close follower reduces your ability to stop sharply, so increase your following distance to the pedestrian and avoid any sudden swerve toward the van or the opposite lane. If the follower is tailgating, do not brake-check; create space ahead and, once stopped for the pedestrian, keep the brake pedal pressed so the brake lights warn the car behind.
Wait until the crossing is clear, the car from the right has either stopped or passed, and you have a clear view both ways. If the van still blocks the view, creep forward only after stopping. Use the horn only if a collision risk develops, not as a substitute for slowing down. The correct decision is to stop for the pedestrian, not to try to beat the car from the right.