Right of way, turns and signals

It is the block of Chapter VI of Act 22-2000 governing manoeuvres: who has the right of way, how you turn, how you signal, how you reverse, how you stop, and what you must do when an ambulance, a patrol car or a fire engine approaches with its sirens on.

It applies to everyone driving a vehicle on Puerto Rico’s public roads. The duty in Article 6.14A applies to every authorised emergency vehicle sounding alarm signals, and gives way only where a law-enforcement officer orders otherwise. The electric-signal requirement in Article 6.17 applies to every vehicle or combination of vehicles more than fifteen feet long.

• Signalling every turn continuously over the last one hundred (100) feet immediately before turning, and preceding it with a gradual reduction in speed (Article 6.16).Verified against the official source
• Electric turn signals are mandatory on every vehicle or combination of vehicles more than fifteen (15) feet long; on the rest, the hand signals in Article 6.17 may substitute for them.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: At the intersection: the left yields to the right

   Article 6.11(a) puts it this way: where two vehicles reach or enter an intersection at the same time from different roads, “the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield to the vehicle on the right”, except on preferential-traffic roads or where the Act provides otherwise. It is the rule that settles the staring contest at an unsignalled four-way crossing.

2. 2

   Step 2: On the slope: the one going down yields to the one climbing

   Subsection (b) covers the mountain-road case. Where two vehicles driven in opposite directions on a slope meet at a place where the roadway is not wide enough for both at once, “the vehicle descending that slope or gradient shall yield the right of way to the vehicle climbing it”. Going down is easier than pulling away uphill: the Act recognises it.

3. 3

   Step 3: Turning left: you yield to everyone coming head-on

   Subsection (c) explains the most crashes. A driver attempting to turn left at an intersection or into an alley, private road or driveway “shall yield the right of way to every vehicle approaching from the opposite direction that is within the intersection or so close to it as to constitute an immediate danger”. Breaking any of the three subsections of Article 6.11 is an administrative offence with a fifty-dollar fine.

4. 4

   Step 4: Coming out of your driveway: stop before the sidewalk

   Article 6.13 requires a driver about to enter or cross a public road from an alley, building, private road or driveway to yield to every vehicle approaching on that road “and to the pedestrians passing in front of the entrance or exit”. And it adds a duty almost nobody observes: within the urban zone you must stop the vehicle immediately before crossing the sidewalk or its prolongation. If there are no sidewalks, you must stop at the point nearest the road you are entering where the driver can see the approaching traffic. Fifty dollars.

5. 5

   Step 5: The ambulance: five hundred dollars for not stopping

   Article 6.14A is the dearest in this guide. On the immediate approach of an authorised emergency vehicle sounding alarm signals, every other driver “shall yield and immediately take a position parallel to, and as close as possible to, the right edge or kerb of the roadway of the intersections, and shall stop and remain in that position until the authorised emergency vehicle has passed”, unless a law-enforcement officer orders otherwise. Pulling over is not enough: you must stop. The fine is five hundred dollars. The same article makes clear this does not relieve the emergency vehicle’s driver of the duty of due care.

6. 6

   Step 6: Emergency lanes

   Article 6.14 is short and honest about its own limits: “To the extent the fiscal situation permits, the Secretary shall identify emergency lanes on all public roads with two or more lanes.” Any driver travelling in one of those lanes, on the immediate approach of an emergency vehicle sounding alarm signals, shall proceed as Article 6.14A provides. The article sets no fine of its own; the sanction is 6.14A’s.

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   Step 7: Reversing: a hundred dollars

   Article 6.15 allows reversing only where it can be done “with reasonable safety, over a relatively short stretch and provided it is done without intervening in or interrupting traffic”. It then sets two absolute prohibitions: reversing out of a lesser-traffic road onto a greater-traffic one is prohibited in all cases, and the driver shall not reverse on the shoulder or on the roadway of a controlled-access road. The fine is a hundred dollars.

8. 8

   Step 8: A hundred feet of signal, and where you turn from

   Article 6.16 opens with the rule almost nobody measures: “Every turn signal on a public road shall be given on the public road continuously over the last one hundred (100) feet immediately before turning”, and every turn shall be preceded by a gradual reduction in speed. To turn right, from not less than a hundred feet before you must approach the right kerb and take the curve hugging it. To turn left on a two-way road, you must keep to the centre, or to the extreme-left lane where there is more than one lane in the same direction, also from a hundred feet before. On one-way roads with two or more lanes, you take the extreme-left lane a hundred feet before. And once in the intersection, whenever possible, the left turn must be made to the left of the intersection’s centre, then entering the extreme-left lane legally available.

9. 9

   Step 9: Where you may not make a U-turn

   Subsection (e) of Article 6.16 prohibits turning to continue in the opposite direction in four situations: where a specific sign authorised by the Secretary prohibits it, in a school zone, “within five hundred (500) feet of a curve or the crest of a road gradient where visibility is not clear”, or where a vehicle is approaching. Subsection (f) adds that you may not change direction using private garage entrances in the urban zone, except on dead-end streets with no turning area.

10. 10

    Step 10: Cutting through the petrol station is an offence too

    Subsection (g) is specific and worth reading in full: no turn may be made before reaching an intersection by driving across an area devoted to selling petrol, parking, a vacant lot “or any other activity situated on a corner of the intersection, thereby evading a traffic light, any other traffic signal or the presence of a law-enforcement officer, or to get ahead of other vehicles”. Subsection (h) allows the Secretary and local authorities to authorise more than one turn lane by pavement markings or signs. The fine under Article 6.16 is fifty dollars.

11. 11

    Step 11: Hand signals, and when electric ones are mandatory

    Article 6.17 sets three signals, all with the left arm and hand. To turn left, hand and arm extended horizontally outward, palm forward, fingers together. To turn right, hand and arm extended outward and upward at a right angle, palm forward, fingers together. To stop or slow, hand and arm extended outward and downward at a right angle, palm backward, fingers together. These signals may be substituted by electric signals, “except for vehicles more than fifteen (15) feet long, for which electric signals shall be mandatory”, and this applies to every vehicle or combination of vehicles. Fifty dollars.

12. 12

    Step 12: And braking hard has a fine too

    Article 6.18 fits in one line: “Any person who reduces the speed of a vehicle or motor vehicle or stops it on a public road shall do so gradually.” Administrative offence, fifty dollars. Together with the hand signal in subsection (c) of Article 6.17, it is the part of the Act governing how you warn that you are about to stop.

There is no procedure: these are rules of conduct on the public road. The stop is made by the Police of Puerto Rico or the Municipal Police, and the ticket is handled through the ordinary traffic-ticket review route. Preferential-traffic roads and additional turn lanes are designated by the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works and local authorities on roads under their respective jurisdictions.

• Believing it is enough to pull to the right when an ambulance comes: Article 6.14A also requires stopping and staying there until the emergency vehicle has passed, and it is five hundred dollars.
• Signalling at the moment of turning: the Act requires the signal continuously over the last hundred feet before the turn.
• Getting into the correct lane only on reaching the intersection: subsections (a), (b) and (c) of Article 6.16 require doing it from a hundred feet before.
• Reversing out of a small street onto an avenue: Article 6.15 prohibits it in all cases, and it is a hundred dollars.
• Reversing on the shoulder or on a controlled-access road: the same article prohibits it expressly.
• Cutting through the corner petrol station to avoid waiting at the light: subsection (g) of Article 6.16 names it literally as an offence.
• Making a U-turn in front of a school: subsection (e) prohibits it in a school zone even where there is no sign.
• Making a U-turn near a blind curve: the Act sets five hundred feet as the minimum distance.
• Pulling out of the driveway without stopping in an urban zone: Article 6.13 requires stopping before crossing the sidewalk or its prolongation.
• Forgetting that on a slope the one going down yields, not the one climbing: that is subsection (b) of Article 6.11.
• Relying only on electric turn signals on a vehicle over fifteen feet: there they are mandatory, not optional.
• Braking hard: Article 6.18 requires stopping gradually and fines fifty dollars.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)

  DTOP

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov