Merging traffic sign ca dmv11/24/2023 Check your blind spot by quickly turning your head and looking over your shoulder before merging or changing lanes.Use your turn signals and mirrors, and use your turn signal many seconds ahead of your merging.Merge into a spot which is big enough for you to safely enter.Merge into freeway traffic when it is safe to do so – don’t stop unless it is absolutely necessary to do so.Be traveling at or around the same speed as the rest of traffic.Ensure you are in the correct on-ramp lane.In order to safely merge onto the freeway: That section of the vehicle code generally applies to entering roadways from driveways or alleyways, not merging onto freeways. You are already on a highway when you are on a freeway on-ramp, so California Vehicle Code Section 20804(a) does not apply to merging onto a freeway. Thus, a freeway on-ramp is considered a highway. In other words, all public roads intended for vehicular travel are considered highways by the California vehicle code. This does not mean that freeway traffic has the right-of-way over traffic merging onto the freeway, and the reason why is the way the word “highway” is defined by the California Vehicle Code.Ĭalifornia Vehicle Code Section 360 defines the word “highway” as “a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.” That section of the vehicle code also reads, “Highway includes street.” So, does this mean that freeway traffic has the right-of-way over traffic merging onto the freeway? No. But What About California Vehicle Code 21804(a)?Ĭalifornia Vehicle Code Section 20804(a) reads, “The driver of any vehicle about to enter or cross a highway from any public or private property, or from an alley, shall yield the right-of-way to all traffic, as defined in Section 620, approaching on the highway close enough to constitute an immediate hazard, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to that traffic until he or she can proceed with reasonable safety.” Neither has the right of way.” Drivers should simply use common sense and caution to speed up or slow down so parties in each merging lane can fluidly merge into one lane of traffic. That CHP Lieutenant told The Press Enterprise, “both parties work it out. However, according to a California Highway Patrol Lieutenant, this is simply the DMV’s opinion, and this opinion is not based upon the California vehicle code. The California Driver’s Handbook states that “highway traffic has the right-of-way” when merging onto a freeway. Drivers who are merging onto the freeway must use their turn signal to indicate that they are doing soīut What About The California Driver’s Handbook?.Drivers who are merging onto the freeway must not enter the adjacent lane until it is reasonably safe to do so.California Vehicle Code Section 22107Ĭalifornia Vehicle Code Section 22107 states that “No person shall turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a roadway until such movement can be made with reasonable safety and then only after the giving of an appropriate signal in the manner provided in this chapter in the event any other vehicle may be affected by the movement.” The section of the California vehicle code which deals with changing lanes on a freeway is California Vehicle Code Section 22107. Instead, merging onto a freeway is considered to be the same thing as changing lanes on a freeway by the vehicle code. There is no section of the California vehicle code which specifically deals with the right-of-way when merging onto a freeway. ![]() So, who does have the right of way when merging onto the freeway in California? The actual answer is that nobody does. It is a common misconception that drivers who are merging onto the freeway in California have the right-of-way. Failure to do so can lead to car accidents. Merging correctly onto the freeway is important.
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