Yellow box junctions in Ireland: the rule

What is the yellow box rule?

A yellow box junction is a junction with a grid of criss-cross yellow lines painted across it. The rule is short. You must not enter the box unless you can clear it without stopping.

Clear means more than seeing a gap now. Look past the box at the road beyond. Is there room on the exit side for your whole car? If the traffic ahead is slow or queuing, wait before the box. The box is there so that cross traffic can still get through a busy junction.

When can you enter a yellow box?

You can enter when you can cross the box and leave it in one movement. That applies to going straight on and turning left. If the exit is blocked, or you are not sure it will be clear, stay behind the box line.

Traffic lights do not change this. A green light does not let you into a box with no room on the far side. Green means you may go, and the box says not unless you can leave.

Can you turn right in a yellow box?

Yes, with one limit. When you want to turn right, you may enter the box and wait inside it for a gap in the traffic coming from the opposite direction. This is the exception that keeps right-turners from being stuck behind a box forever.

The limit: do not enter if doing so would block other traffic that has right of way. If a car on the cross road would be stopped by your car sitting in the box, you must wait outside.

When you wait in the box to turn right:

• Signal right in good time.
• Position yourself so that other traffic can pass.
• Check oncoming traffic and mirrors before you go.
• Go when there is a safe gap, or when oncoming traffic stops.

If the box is full, or your car would stick out into the path of traffic with priority, hold back. Waiting for a better moment costs seconds. Blocking the box can cost a good deal more on a test.

What is the difference between a yellow box and hatched markings?

They look different and work differently.

The road markings guide covers each one.

How does the yellow box rule show up on the driving test?

The RSA tells testers to assess compliance with traffic lights, road signs and road markings. A yellow box falls under road markings. Entering one when the exit is blocked can also touch other headings:

• Observation: you did not look far enough ahead to see the exit was blocked.
• Anticipation: you did not read the traffic.
• Right of way: you blocked traffic that had priority.

A fault is marked once under the heading that fits best, not three times. Repeated faults under one heading still add up. The marking guide explains the grading.

Hesitation is the opposite problem. If the exit is clear, go. Stopping short of an empty box wastes the gap and can read as poor progress.

What mistakes do drivers make at yellow boxes?

• Following the car in front in. Drivers see the car ahead move and follow it into the box, then the queue stops and they are stuck in it. Look at the exit, not the bumper.
• Treating green as permission. A green light says you may go. It does not clear the exit road for you.
• Stopping in the box to turn left. The right-turn exception does not cover this. For a left turn you must be able to clear the box.
• Entering a box to turn right when it blocks priority traffic. The exception ends where other traffic’s right of way begins.
• Hesitating at a clear box. If the exit is clear and nothing needs your gap, go.

A good habit: decide at the stop line of the box, not once you are in it. By then you are committed.

What should you do when approaching a yellow box?

1. Spot it early. The yellow grid is visible from a distance.
2. Look past it. Check the exit road for space and the lights beyond.
3. Decide before the line. Clear exit means you go. Blocked exit means you stop behind the box.
4. Turning right? Signal, enter if it will not block priority traffic, and wait for the gap.
5. Do not creep. Do not edge into the box hoping the queue will move.

Roundabouts can have their own markings and queues near the entry. The roundabout guide covers lane choice and yielding there.

How can you practise yellow boxes?

Find the boxes on roads near your test centre and drive through them with your instructor or sponsor. Practise looking at the exit rather than the car in front. Turas flags yellow boxes ahead by voice on its test routes around your centre, so you know one is coming. Choose your centre on the routes page.