Four-Way Stop, Left Turn, and a Wave-Through
At about 4:40 p.m. on a wet November afternoon you are northbound on a two-lane street in a small New Brunswick town, on your way to a 5 p.m. appointment. You reach a four-way stop. A pickup truck towing an empty utility trailer, approaching from your right, has already stopped and is waiting to cross. An oncoming car, travelling toward you in the opposite direction, rolls to a stop at the same moment you do. You want to turn left. There is no dedicated left-turn lane, the painted crosswalk lines are worn, and wet leaves cover the pavement near the stop bar. A pedestrian in a dark hooded coat is walking toward the corner on your left, still about eight metres from the crosswalk. A fourth car pulls up close behind you. Your left signal is on, and the oncoming car's right signal begins to flash.
1. In what order should the three waiting vehicles proceed, and what makes the case less clear-cut than it looks?
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Order: the pickup first, then the oncoming car, then you.
Why the pickup goes first - it stopped before you did, and it is also the vehicle on your right, so even if the arrivals were simultaneous the right-hand rule would give it priority. First arrival and right-hand position point the same way, which is the easy part.
Why the oncoming car goes before you - a driver turning left across oncoming traffic must yield to vehicles approaching from the opposite direction. That includes a vehicle turning right, because both of you are steering into the same lane and the through/right-turning vehicle has the prior claim. The flashing right signal does not erase that; it only tells you where it intends to go, not that it has waived anything.
What makes it unclear - "arrived at the same time" is a judgement, not a fact you can verify from the driver's seat. Watch the wheels rather than the bumper, confirm the other drivers have actually settled at the stop bar, and allow for the possibility that the oncoming car's signal was left on by mistake and it will proceed straight. Make eye contact where you can, but treat it as a courtesy, not a guarantee.
2. The pickup driver gestures for you to go ahead. Should you take the offer?
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No - a wave is a courtesy, not a transfer of legal right of way. You remain responsible for the safety of your own turn, and if a collision happens in that intersection the other driver's gesture is worth very little.
Two concrete risks follow from accepting the wave. First, the oncoming car may not see the gesture and may accelerate, and you would be turning directly across its path - the classic left-turn collision. Second, the pickup is towing an empty trailer, so the trailer may still be occupying the intersection even after the cab appears to have cleared.
Proceed only on your own verification: the pickup and its trailer are clear of your intended path, the oncoming car is stationary with no forward movement of the wheels, and the pedestrian is not entering the crosswalk. If any of that is uncertain, stay put. Declining a wave costs a few seconds of someone else's patience; accepting a bad one can cost far more.
3. Just as the oncoming car begins to move, the pedestrian steps off the curb. What do you do, and how does that change your turn?
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Hold the stop bar and let the pedestrian proceed. A pedestrian in or entering a marked crosswalk has the right of way, and the fact that your light or turn order has come up does not override that.
It matters directly to your manoeuvre because a left turn sweeps across the far-side crosswalk - the very one this person is walking into. You cannot begin the turn while someone is inside the portion of the crosswalk your path will cross, so even once the oncoming car has gone, you wait for the pedestrian to clear your line.
Practical points:
- Stop behind the stop bar, not on top of the crosswalk, so the pedestrian has a clear path and a clear view of you.
- Do not wave or hurry them. Someone in a hood on wet pavement may have a restricted field of view and may not see the wave.
- Keep watching the far corner for a second pedestrian following behind, common near bus stops and schools.
The sequence has now shifted: pickup, oncoming car, pedestrian, then you.