Junctions on hills

Take care when negotiating junctions on hills.

Downhill junctions

• Moving into the correct position at a safe speed is essential when you’re approaching a downhill junction.
• Make early use of the junction routine MSM/PSL, using brakes, gears and steering to get into position.
• Choose a point with a good all-round view before you look, assess, and decide to go or wait if necessary.
• Oncoming traffic may be travelling slowly because of the gradient. If you need to cross its path, don’t move from your ‘look’ position until it’s safe to do so.
• Don’t block oncoming traffic and cause a hold-up.

Uphill junctions

Judge your position and speed accurately when climbing towards a junction. Your position is particularly important to drivers following you.

• If you intend to turn right, position your vehicle just to the left of the centre of the road. This allows following traffic to pass on your left if there’s room.
• If you stop too far to the left, you could obstruct following drivers, causing them to stop unnecessarily.

Joining a hill at a junction

It’s relatively easy to judge the speed of vehicles coming uphill.

Turning left at a T-junction into a road where you’ll be driving uphill is reasonably easy. You don’t have to cross traffic and it’s easier to judge the flow of traffic coming uphill.

Turning right at a T-junction into a road where you’ll be driving uphill is more difficult. You have to cross fast-moving traffic coming downhill. At the same time, you have to fit into the flow of traffic coming up from the left without blocking it.