The short version
- The rule
- Order of stoppingSign R1.4, Schedule 1
- You must
- Come to a complete stop, every timeRegulation 307(a)
- Then yield to
- Anyone who stopped before you whose path crosses yours
- "Yield to the right"
- Not the legal rule at a stopRegulation 301 applies to traffic circles, not four-way stops
- If you stop at exactly the same moment
- Convention: the vehicle on the right goes
What the sign actually requires
A four-way stop is sign R1.4. Its prescribed meaning is the rule: you yield to every vehicle that stopped at another stop line before you did and that would cross your path.
Two things follow. First, it is about order of arrival — who stopped first goes first. Second, it is about crossing paths: if the car that stopped before you is going somewhere that does not conflict with where you are going, you are not waiting on it.
Before any of that, you have to stop. Regulation 307(a) requires a driver to stop in compliance with the direction conveyed by a road traffic sign, and a stop sign means a complete stop — wheels stationary — not a slow roll while you look.
Why "the car on the right has right of way" is the wrong answer here
Almost every South African learns this as the four-way stop rule. It is the rule for a different junction.
Regulation 301 says a driver entering a junction "where vehicular traffic is required to move around a traffic island" must yield to traffic approaching from the right within that junction. A traffic island is the circle in the middle. The regulation is about traffic circles and mini-circles — it does not describe a four-way stop, and nothing in it does.
In practice the distinction matters more than it sounds. At a four-way stop, a driver who thinks the rule is "right goes" will pull away in front of someone who has been waiting longer, because they are looking at the wrong thing — the geometry rather than the queue.
The genuine tie
Two cars stopping at the same instant is the one case sign R1.4 does not settle, because neither of you stopped before the other.
The convention drivers use, and the one you should use, is that the vehicle on the right goes. It is a safe default and it resolves the standoff. It is worth knowing that it is a convention for the tie rather than the rule for the junction — which is exactly the distinction a question about a four-way stop is usually testing.
Make eye contact, and if the other driver goes anyway, let them. Being right is not worth a collision at an intersection where everyone has already stopped.
A traffic light that is completely dark
If you arrive at a signalised junction and no light is showing at all, the regulations tell you exactly what to do: act as though it is a three-way stop sign R1.3 or a four-way stop sign R1.4, depending on the junction.
So the order-of-stopping rule above is what applies. This is different from a signal that is flashing red, and different again from one showing amber — a dark signal is the one that becomes a stop street.
The mistake the test is looking for
Answering "the vehicle on the right" for a four-way stop. It is the most common wrong answer in the country because it is the most commonly taught one, and it is the answer to a question about a traffic circle.
The other one is the rolling stop. An examiner watching a learner at a stop street is checking two separate things: that the vehicle actually stopped, and that it then went in the right order. Getting the order right after a rolling stop still fails.
Test yourself on right of way
Right of way is where most learners lose marks in the rules section, and the rules section is one of three you have to pass separately. The free readiness test scores you per section so you can see whether this is your weak one.
Take the free readiness testCommon questions
Who goes first at a four-way stop?
Whoever stopped first. You yield to every vehicle that came to a stop at another stop line before you did and whose path would cross yours. If two of you stop at exactly the same moment, the convention is that the vehicle on the right goes.
Does the car on the right have right of way at a four-way stop?
Not as a rule. That is regulation 301, and it is confined to junctions where traffic moves around a traffic island — traffic circles. At a four-way stop the order of stopping decides, and yield-to-right is only a convention for a genuine tie.
Do I have to stop completely if nothing is coming?
Yes. Regulation 307(a) requires you to stop in compliance with the sign, and the sign says stop. An empty intersection does not change the instruction, and a rolling stop is a fault on the test whatever you do afterwards.
What if the traffic light is off completely?
Treat it as a three-way or four-way stop, depending on the junction — the regulations say so explicitly. Stop, then go in the order vehicles stopped.
What if someone goes out of turn?
Let them. Right of way is something you give, not something you take, and an intersection where every vehicle has already stopped is a poor place to prove a point.
Sources
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — Schedule 1, sign R1.4The four-way stop sign. Its prescribed meaning is to yield to every vehicle that stopped at another stop line before you and that would cross your path. This is the citation carried by our own approved question RR-037.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 301"Right of way at certain road junctions" — yield to traffic approaching from the right, but only when entering a junction "where vehicular traffic is required to move around a traffic island". It does not reach a four-way stop.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 307(a)A driver shall stop in compliance with any direction conveyed by a road traffic sign or given by a traffic officer in uniform.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 294(4)"When no light signal is illuminated on an approach to a signalised junction, the driver of a vehicle shall act as for a 3-way stop sign R1.3 or a 4-way stop sign R1.4."
Last updated 2026-09-21.