Right of way on the theory test

The biggest theme, and the one people most often fail. Not because there are many rules, but because they apply in a fixed order – and the test checks whether you know that order.

Get started free

What the test asks

A question shows you a situation – a junction, an exit, a roundabout, a pedestrian crossing – and asks who has to wait. What decides the answer is almost always something you have to look for first: is there a sign, is the junction light-controlled, is someone coming out of a property or car park, is a pedestrian about to step onto the crossing?

That makes right of way as much a reading theme as a rules theme. Whoever answers from the cars alone, without checking signs and lights, gets it wrong in a predictable way – and that is exactly the mistake the questions are built to catch.

From the course

The triangle lets you roll on into a clear gap; the octagon requires the wheels to stand still.

One of the diagrams in the chapter “Giving way and right of way”.

256

questions in the theme

of 45 in the mock exam

chapters in the course

The mock-exam split is our own – Statens vegvesen publishes none.

The traps

The most common is applying the right-hand rule where it does not apply. It is the fallback rule: it only applies when neither signs, lights nor police regulate the junction. If there is a give-way sign, the right-hand rule is out of the picture, whichever direction the cars come from.

Second is believing that priority excuses you from care. It does not – you have priority, and still a duty to avoid an accident you can see coming. Third is the exit: whoever comes out of a property, car park, petrol station or pedestrian street must give way to all traffic, including from the left, and to pedestrians on the pavement before that.

How to practise the theme

Read the chapter on giving way first – it takes a quarter of an hour and gives you the order the rules apply in. Then take the topic practice: every question has a drawn situation and an explanation pointing to the rule in the traffic regulations that decides it.

A free account gives you a fixed set of five questions in this theme. Full access opens all 256 and lets the practice build on what you actually miss: new questions first, then the ones you got wrong, until you have them right twice.

The chapters that cover the theme

Practise the theme

Ready to pass the theory test?

A free account gives you a taste of every theme. Full access opens everything – 299 kr for a month, no auto-renewal.

Get started free Full access – 299 kr

Frequently asked questions

How many right-of-way questions are on the theory test?

Statens vegvesen does not publish how many questions each theme gets. In the mock exams here, right of way gets 9 of 45 questions – our own estimate, not an official distribution, but it reflects that this is the theme most people struggle with.

Does the right-hand rule apply when the junction has signs?

No. Signs, traffic lights and police signals all override the right-hand rule. It applies only at junctions where nothing else regulates who gives way.

What does it actually mean to give way?

That you must not obstruct or endanger the other road user. Having got through is not enough – the requirement is that the other person did not have to brake or change course because of you.