Stop and yield: the two that mean business

Getting Your Learner Licence4 min readText and drawings only

These two are worth a lesson on their own because they are the ones people get wrong in real life, not just on paper. Treating a stop sign as a yield is the most common reason for failing a driving test later, and it is against the law long before that.

STOP STOP Wheels must stop turning. Every time. YIELD YIELD Give way. You may keep moving if it is clear.
The only octagon and the only downward triangle on the road.

Stop means your wheels stop turning. Not slow, not roll. Stop, look, then go when it is safe.

Yield means give way. You do not have to stop if the road is genuinely clear, but you must be ready to, and anyone already on the road you are joining goes first.

You reach a stop sign at an empty intersection with clear visibility. What must you do?

What happens: This is against the law even when nothing is coming, and it is the classic reason people fail the driving test later. A rolling stop is not a stop.

What happens: Correct. Wheels stop turning, every time, regardless of what you can see. Yield is the sign that lets you keep moving when it is clear.

Before you move on

  • Say it to yourself: stop means the wheels stop turning
  • At a yield, look for who is already on the road you are joining
  • Practise spotting both shapes from a distance as a passenger

Check what you know

3 questions. Have a look at what this lesson asks.

1. What exactly does a stop sign require?

2. What shape is a yield sign?

3. At a yield sign with a completely clear road, what may you do?

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