Who goes first at a four-way stop?

Watch it: 4 min

The rule

• Come to a full stop behind the stop line. With no line, stop before the crosswalk; with neither, stop where you can see the cross street.
• Go in the order cars stopped, one at a time. Being next in the queue is not stopping: when you reach the line, you stop again.
• Two cars stop at the same moment at right angles: the one on the right goes first.
• Two cars facing each other: straight and right turns go together; the left turn waits.
• Pedestrians in any crosswalk go before every car.

Where drivers get it wrong

• The rolling stop. Slowing to a crawl is not a stop. The wheels have to stop turning, and on a road test this is one of the most common reasons to fail.
• Going because the other driver hesitates. If it is their turn, it is still their turn. Wait for them to commit or wave you on, then check again before you go.
• Counting arrival, not stopping. The car that pulled up first but rolled the sign never earned the turn. Order is set by who stopped.

How Yield tests it

Every approach in Yield's all-way stop has a sign, and the intersection keeps the queue the way a fair driver would: you only join it once you have actually stopped at the line. Roll the sign and you get no turn at all, plus the fault. Go out of order, ahead of a car that had the right of way, and the fault is yours: Failed to yield.

• Rolling stop
• Ran the stop sign
• Failed to yield

Every approach here has a stop sign, even when the box is empty. Full stop at the line, then take your turn in order.

Rules differ from state to state, and where they do, your state's driver handbook is the one that counts. Yield is practice, not driver's ed or legal advice. Sources: California Driver Handbook: Laws and Rules of the Road.