HoldingBack

When we are turning right and have to cross the path of other vehicles we must give way to the oncoming vehicle.

You must not turn in front of approaching traffic if it would cause the oncoming driver to change speed or direction so we need to carefully assess the size of the available gap. I find it useful to ask myself “could I walk across”? – if you could walk across then you should be able to drive across safely but if there is any doubt in your mind then you should stop and wait for a suitable gap.

Note where the driver of the blue car is waiting. He has stopped short of the point of turn which enables him to see everything that is happening around him. Because his position is correct there will be room for following traffic to pass on his left and his intentions are quite clear.

Once the red car has passed he will be able to move forward to the point of turn and make his turn into the new road.

It is important to turn at the correct place - imagine what would happen if the driver of the blue car began to turn too early and then click to see if you are right.

Now, let's go back to the main diagram,follow the path of our car and see what happens once it is safe to make the manoeuvre and we have made the turn into the new road.

In the New Road

Once we have made the turn, look well ahead for any hazards, use your mirrors to update ourselves with what is happening behind, check that we are in the correct position on the road and then drive on at an appropriate speed.

Would you like to run through that again?

Manoeuvre - Look- Assess - Decide

If you can clearly see it is safe to make the turn on the approach to the junction make sure that you check your mirrors again for following and any overtaking traffic, you also need to look into the new road for any obstructions that may influence where you begin steering and always remember that we must give way to pedestrians who may be crossing the new road.

When you turn to the right you must be accurate in your positioning and steering, the diagram shows that the correct point to begin steering is as the vehicle comes level with the centre of the road – our car will then be positioned correctly in the normal driving position in the new road. Turning too late will mean you will have difficulty in completing the turn.

Can you remember how we dealt with oncoming vehicles when approaching a junction to turn left? Now let's look at how to deal with an oncoming vehicle when we're turning right.

Manoeuvre - Speed

Again we use progressive braking to adjust our speed – remember we must always be able to stop within the distance we can see to be clear and we need to be looking for the severity of the turn and any obstructions.

Oncoming traffic may also influence the speed of our approach. Once we have slowed to a suitable speed we need to select the correct gear.

Manoeuvre - Position

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The normal position for a right turn is just left of the centre line so that we don't go into the path of oncoming traffic – imagine you are positioning the offside exterior mirror close to the centre line or the centre of the road. The position for the right turn will vary depending on obstructions and the width of the road – we'll learn how to deal with this in future lessons.

Signal

Now we need to consider the signal, again we need to signal early to warn others of our intentions but we need to ensure that our signals are not confusing or misleading.

Mirrors

First we check the mirrors – we normally use the mirrors in pairs and in this case because we are going to manoeuvre to the right we'll be checking the interior and right hand exterior mirror.

The mirrors need to be checked early to see what is happening behind us and to anticipate how other road users may be affected by the manoeuvre, early use of the mirrors also assists in deciding on the timing of our signal.

When turning right we need to be very careful for any vehicles that may be fast approaching or overtaking on the right.