On the road, you have to yield to emergency vehicles with lights or sirens, pedestrians in crosswalks, visually impaired pedestrians using a white cane or guide dog, traffic that reached an intersection before you, oncoming cars when you’re turning left, bicyclists with the right-of-way, stopped school buses with red lights flashing, and any vehicle already traveling on a road you’re entering. Knowing who to yield to on the road is one of the most tested parts of a driver’s license exam for a reason: failure to yield is behind a large share of crashes, and the penalties range from a basic ticket to criminal charges when someone gets hurt.
Emergency Vehicles
When an ambulance, fire truck, or police car approaches with flashing lights or a siren, pull to the nearest edge of the road and stop until it passes. This applies no matter which direction the emergency vehicle is coming from. The one exception is a divided highway with a physical barrier between the directions of travel — there, you only need to yield if the emergency vehicle is on your side.
All 50 states also have “move over” laws for stationary emergency vehicles with flashing lights on the roadside. Change into a lane that isn’t immediately next to the vehicle. If you can’t change lanes safely, slow well below the posted limit and be ready to stop. In 19 states and Washington, D.C., move-over rules extend beyond emergency vehicles to any vehicle displaying flashing or hazard lights, including highway maintenance trucks, tow trucks, utility vehicles, and disabled cars on the shoulder.1National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Move Over: It’s the Law
Pedestrians in and Near Crosswalks
Drivers must yield to pedestrians in both marked and unmarked crosswalks at intersections. Most communities treat every intersection as having a legal crosswalk whether or not paint is on the pavement, so the absence of white lines doesn’t give you the right-of-way over someone crossing.2National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations: A How-To Guide Once a pedestrian is in the crosswalk, stay stopped until they’ve moved at least two lanes away or reached the sidewalk.
Even when a pedestrian is crossing outside a crosswalk and technically doesn’t have the right-of-way, “due care” laws in virtually every state still require you to do everything reasonable to avoid hitting them.2National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations: A How-To Guide Jaywalking never makes a pedestrian fair game.
White Canes and Guide Dogs
All 50 states have white cane laws requiring drivers to yield to any pedestrian carrying a white cane or using a guide dog. When you see either, come to a complete stop regardless of whether the person is in a crosswalk. This is one of the few yielding situations where the law is absolute. There’s no “proceed with caution” option. You wait until the pedestrian has fully cleared the roadway. Violations carry heavier penalties than ordinary failure-to-yield tickets in most states, because the person you’d be endangering cannot see you coming.
Intersections
A yield sign means slow down and be prepared to stop, giving way to any traffic already in or approaching the intersection. A stop sign requires a full stop before the stop line or crosswalk, after which you yield to all cross-traffic and pedestrians before proceeding.
At intersections with no signs or signals, the vehicle that arrives first goes first. When two vehicles arrive at roughly the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right. When two vehicles are directly across from each other and one is turning left, the vehicle going straight has priority.3National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Right-of-Way Rules Four-way stops work the same way: first to arrive goes first, and simultaneous arrivals defer to the driver on the right.
When You’re Turning
Left Turns
A driver making a left turn must yield to oncoming traffic and to pedestrians close enough to be a hazard. A huge share of failure-to-yield crashes happen here, because drivers misjudge the speed of approaching cars or rush to clear the intersection before the light changes. If you’re turning left without a dedicated green arrow, every vehicle coming toward you has the right-of-way until the path is genuinely clear.
Right Turns on Red
Where right turns on red are permitted, first come to a complete stop, then yield to all cross-traffic and pedestrians before turning. Check your right side and behind for bicyclists approaching from that direction.4National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Bicycle Safety If a sign prohibits right turns on red at that intersection, wait for a green signal. Some cities prohibit right on red entirely within their limits.
Bicyclists
In all 50 states, bicyclists on the road have the same rights as other vehicles. You yield to them the way you’d yield to a car: when they’re already in a lane, when they’re proceeding straight through an intersection, and when they have the right-of-way at a stop sign or signal. NHTSA warns drivers not to underestimate a cyclist’s speed, which frequently leads to collisions when a driver turns in front of an approaching rider.4National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Bicycle Safety
The situation that catches the most drivers off guard is the right turn across a bike lane. Before turning right, check your right side for cyclists coming up alongside you. Your mirrors may not cover that angle. Yield to any cyclist in the adjacent bike lane before beginning your turn.4National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Bicycle Safety
Stopped School Buses
Every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories make it illegal to pass a school bus that has its red lights flashing and stop arm extended. When those signals activate, you stop. Traffic behind the bus must always stop, and in most situations traffic approaching from the opposite direction must stop as well.5National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses
Divided highways are the exception, but the details vary significantly by state. Some only excuse oncoming drivers from stopping when there’s a physical median barrier; others treat a center turning lane as a divider; a few exempt oncoming traffic on any multi-lane road. The safest default is to stop for any school bus with red lights flashing unless you’re clearly separated by a raised median or barrier.5National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses
When You’re Entering Traffic
Three everyday situations put the yielding burden squarely on you because you’re the one joining a flow of traffic that’s already moving.
On a highway on-ramp, you yield to vehicles already in the lane you want to enter. Most states place the legal burden on the merging driver, though a few require both drivers to make reasonable adjustments. The vehicle on the highway isn’t obligated to make room for you.
At a roundabout, yield to traffic already circulating inside the circle before entering. Once you’re in, you have the right-of-way over vehicles waiting to enter.6Federal Highway Administration. Roundabouts: An Informational Guide
When pulling out of a driveway, alley, or parking garage, stop before crossing the sidewalk, yield to any pedestrians, and then yield to all approaching vehicles on the roadway. This applies in residential and commercial areas alike. The vehicle on the public road always has priority over one emerging from private property.
Funeral Processions
A majority of states have laws requiring drivers to yield to funeral processions, though some handle it through local ordinances rather than state statute. Once the lead vehicle has lawfully entered an intersection, the rest of the procession can follow through even if the signal changes. Other drivers may not cut into, join, or pass through the line. Processions are usually identified by headlights on during daytime, and sometimes small flags or flashing hazard lights. Emergency vehicles are the one exception: a funeral procession pulls aside for them like any other traffic.
What Happens If You Don’t Yield
A basic failure-to-yield ticket brings fines that vary widely by jurisdiction, generally running from around $100 to several hundred dollars, plus points on your driving record. The real financial exposure comes when the violation causes a crash. If you fail to yield and someone is injured, you face potential negligence liability in a civil lawsuit, plus possible criminal charges such as reckless driving or vehicular assault depending on severity. Insurance rates also climb, since failure-to-yield accidents are treated as at-fault collisions.
Certain violations carry enhanced penalties. Passing a stopped school bus can cost $250 to $1,000 with possible license suspension. Violating move-over laws for emergency vehicles often brings steeper fines than ordinary traffic tickets, and some states elevate the charge to a misdemeanor if a roadside worker is injured. White cane law violations similarly carry heightened penalties in recognition of the vulnerability of visually impaired pedestrians.