Right of way is an important safety measure and isn't something you should just yield unexpectedly.
I got in a car accident about ten years ago which resulted in my and another car getting totaled. I was going down a 35 or 45 mph four lane wide (two in each direction plus a median) street which was crossed every quarter mile or so by smaller two way residential streets. The cross streets had stop signs at intersections. The larger road I was on had left turn lanes but no stop signs.
I was in the right lane of the larger street going along at the speed limit. As I was passing a backup of several large vehicles waiting to turn left in the lane next to me, a car from a cross street pulled out in front of me from the left. I'm still shocked that I managed to steer so that I hit the back of the car instead of the front. The other car spun completely around, but neither of us had any injuries other than whiplash.
Apparently what happened was that the car I hit was waiting at the stop sign and got waved forward by the driver in the lane next to me. They decided to pull into the intersection despite the fact that they couldn't see the lane I was in, and thus didn't know that there was a vehicle in it.
Obviously, they shouldn't have pulled into the intersection without knowing that there wasn't a car going into it, but also if they'd refused to go until the cars with the right of way had turned it wouldn't have happened either.
As a cyclist, I've often been waved into an intersection by some well-meaning motorist when there's no way for me to be sure that the intersection is clear. I usually just shake my head and motion for them to go on. Usually they smile and go on, but sometimes they get visibly irritated.
I got in a car accident about ten years ago which resulted in my and another car getting totaled. I was going down a 35 or 45 mph four lane wide (two in each direction plus a median) street which was crossed every quarter mile or so by smaller two way residential streets. The cross streets had stop signs at intersections. The larger road I was on had left turn lanes but no stop signs.
I was in the right lane of the larger street going along at the speed limit. As I was passing a backup of several large vehicles waiting to turn left in the lane next to me, a car from a cross street pulled out in front of me from the left. I'm still shocked that I managed to steer so that I hit the back of the car instead of the front. The other car spun completely around, but neither of us had any injuries other than whiplash.
Apparently what happened was that the car I hit was waiting at the stop sign and got waved forward by the driver in the lane next to me. They decided to pull into the intersection despite the fact that they couldn't see the lane I was in, and thus didn't know that there was a vehicle in it.
Obviously, they shouldn't have pulled into the intersection without knowing that there wasn't a car going into it, but also if they'd refused to go until the cars with the right of way had turned it wouldn't have happened either.
As a cyclist, I've often been waved into an intersection by some well-meaning motorist when there's no way for me to be sure that the intersection is clear. I usually just shake my head and motion for them to go on. Usually they smile and go on, but sometimes they get visibly irritated.