Driving: am I wrong or… everyone else? (with actual real world map)

[Offcom]

Quite a frequent route for me… I’m the red car, wanting to turn right from Cranston Road onto Woolstone Road. The green car wants to go straight ahead from Houston Road to Cranston Road.

We’ve both stopped at the stop sign to check it’s clear for us to move on. No cars are coming in either direction on Woolstone Road but I wait for the green car to move off as I think I should give priority to them as they are going straight ahead.

But nine out of 10 times, the green car continues waiting behind the stop line and seems to think that I have priority in making my right turn. Sometimes they flash their headlights to tell me to go.

It seems mad to me that a right turn would have priority but it happens so often that I’m wondering what I’ve missed.

I have looked at the Highway Code but I can’t find any guidance… can anyone explain what’s meant to happen?

I always fully stop, completely behind the line in case you’re wondering.

Thank you!

Whomever arrived at the junction first has right of way.

Passmefast suggests that straight on has priority. My DH always says straight on takes priority too?

I agree with you OP. A quick Google brings up multiple driving schools/driving advice sites which state the same.
It doesn't appear to be covered in the Highway Code though.

Green car going straight on has right of way

I would have said green too but maybe you got there just before them so they decided to let you go first

Green lets red go because if you both went at the same time, green would end up being smacked in the side by red. Green doesn't know that you know it is green's right of way, and doesn't want to take the chance.

Red has right of way.
Green car has to give way to traffic. You're arriving from the right of them, so they have to give way.

I would say green has priority, however priority can only be given not taken so the green drivers might be waiting for a clear sign you won't go. There are so many bad drivers out there that decent drivers are becoming increasingly cautious.

We have a similar junction.
The red route is a pain to turn out of if going right, and holds up all the people behind who want to go straight on, so green route drivers often let the turning car go first as it’s just one car and it helps the flow of traffic. I’d assume you are experiencing the same.

Straight on has right of way. But I passed my test a long time ago. No I don't always keep up with new rules.

I only realised today that the Highway Code avoids mentioning right of way!

Officially green or red doesn’t have priority over the other. However personally in that situation if I was the green car I would give you priority as you need a bigger gap to get out, so you don’t hold oncoming traffic up whilst you are accelerating.

actually, if you have to cross the flow of traffic then surely you should be waiting for him to safely go? actually you need to check the signs in both roads. I had an accident a few years ago while going straight across. the car turning right decided to turn as i was crossing. his sign said give way but my sign said stop. i was actually there before he got to the junction

Obviously officially green has right of way when crossing the junction because they're going straight on. But I've noticed that on local roads which are the equivalent of your Woolstone Road which are very very busy, locals accept that it's very difficult to turn right onto those and often they can be waiting ages unless someone opposite waits and lets them go ahead and turn in front of them. It's just sometimes a nice thing to do. But if you're going to do that you've got to be very clear in your intention and let the other driver know very obviivously that you're letting them take priority otherwise it's easy to cause confusion with the result that everyone dithers, no-one goes, and the gap in the traffic has passed and the queues at the junctions have got even longer.

Surely its whoever got to the junction first?

The green car has priority because the red car would be crossing their path.

I wish drivers would stop flashing their headlights to let people through because it can cause confusion and that confusion can lead to a collision.

No, makes no difference whatsoever who arrived at the junction first.

How do you mean? And what has being a woman got to do with it?

What I mean is, if I was the green car and can see the red car indicating to turn into the junction I'm trying to join, I will wait. You have to have stop and give way to traffic on that road, which the red car will be joining...
Not even sure it's about right of way between the two cars; you give way to moving traffic on the road you're joining, of which the red car will join and has indicated will be moving in your path.

Yes - HC only ever refers to priority rather than right of way.

Yes and meanwhile I’m not giving them a sign (flashing my lights) because I’ve assumed they’ve got priority and don’t need to give them the go ahead

Yeah, there's no such thing as 'right of way' where roads are concerned.

this.

also if red goes they are moving onto the main road which gives them right of way over green who must then yield so it’s kind of a preemptive yield

Agree! This is exactly what happened the other day but luckily it was a close call not a collision.

Edited to add that there are places where you’d never be able to make a turn if someone wasn’t nice enough to let you in but this intersection isn’t that busy