You were parked and have been waiting a long time with your turn signal on to re-enter traffic. However, traffic is heavy. You should:
- Continue waiting and yielding to traffic in the lane. ✓
- Slowly inch your vehicle into the traffic lane.
- Drive on the shoulder until a gap in traffic appears.
Answer: A. Continue waiting and yielding to traffic in the lane.
Keep waiting and yielding to the traffic already in the lane until there is a safe gap to enter.
Why this is the answer
The handbook says that when you enter traffic you must proceed with caution and give way to the traffic already in the lanes. It also says that to merge into traffic you need a space big enough to get up to the speed of the traffic around you, roughly half a block on city streets. A turn signal only announces what you plan to do; it does not give you the right to move into a lane where cars are already traveling. So with heavy traffic and no real gap, the correct move is to stay put and keep waiting.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Slowly inch your vehicle into the traffic lane. — Inching out puts part of your car into a lane that is still occupied, and the handbook says entering traffic means yielding to the vehicles already there, not easing into their path before a gap exists.
- C. Drive on the shoulder until a gap in traffic appears. — Nothing in the handbook allows you to use the shoulder as a travel lane to work around heavy traffic; the guidance is to wait for a gap large enough to merge safely.
Remember it
Think of your signal as a request, not a permission slip: it tells others what you want, but the traffic in the lane still decides when you go.