South Australia's theory test part one is eight give way questions, and Service SA requires all eight to be correct. The pictures test who goes first at intersections, roundabouts, driveways, signs and turns. One wrong answer fails that sitting before part two.
Part two is 42 questions and needs 32 correct, which is 76.2 per cent and allows 10 misses. Service SA lists the fee as $40, paid online through myLs or in person at a Service SA centre. The guide to the SA theory test and its two pathways covers the two part structure and the later pathway choice. This page is the give way rules themselves.
Why does eight of eight leave no spare answers?
Part two can absorb 10 wrong answers. Part one can absorb none. If you would have scored 39 of 42 on general road rules, you still fail when one give way diagram is wrong. Service SA material is the source for both marks. South Australia is the only one of the eight Australian systems with a section that has to be answered entirely correctly, according to this site's comparison data.
Arithmetic on the shape of the test, not a measured pass rate for real candidates, shows the margin. If you answer any individual give way question correctly 90 per cent of the time, the chance of getting all eight right in one sitting is about 43 per cent. At 95 per cent per question it is about 66 per cent. At 99 per cent it is about 92 per cent. Being usually right is not the same as being right eight times in a row.
Who goes first at an uncontrolled intersection?
At a cross intersection with no signs, lines or lights, you give way to any vehicle coming from your right. The Driver's Handbook calls this the Give Way to the Right rule and applies it whether one vehicle is turning or both are going straight. Do not follow the larger looking road or the faster looking car. First confirm that the picture has no stop or give way control and that it is not a T.
A T intersection is a different rule. The road that ends is the terminating road. The road that continues is the continuing road. The driver on the terminating road gives way to traffic on the continuing road from both directions, and to any pedestrian at, near or crossing that continuing road. Painted lines or signs can modify which road is treated as terminating.
The miss that ends sittings is treating a T as a crossroads. A vehicle approaching from the left on the continuing road still has priority over you if you are on the stem, even though it is not on your right. Rotate the diagram until the continuing road runs as a through road. If you cannot see a fourth arm, do not apply give way to the right.
What do STOP and GIVE WAY signs require?
A STOP sign always requires a full stop, even on an empty road, then you give way. Stop before the white stop line where one is painted. If there is no line, stop as near as practical to the intersection but before entering it. A rolling pause is still a fail in the picture and an offence on the road. The stop and give way signs are drawn in the regulatory sign library.
A GIVE WAY sign does not demand a stop unless giving way makes one necessary, which it often does. Slow, be ready to stop, and give way to all vehicles and pedestrians. The handbook says you may proceed without stopping if there is no danger of colliding, but you must still slow and prepare to stop. STOP lines and GIVE WAY lines have the same meaning as the signs.
Facing a STOP or GIVE WAY control, you give way to a vehicle from any other direction, with three exceptions set out in the handbook: not, if you are going straight, to an oncoming right turner that itself faces a STOP or GIVE WAY control; not to a vehicle turning left from a slip lane; and not to a vehicle making a U turn. A STOP sign is not more powerful than a GIVE WAY sign.
Who goes first when two drivers turn right?
A driver turning right at an intersection gives way to oncoming vehicles going straight ahead, and to oncoming vehicles turning left. Arrival time does not cancel that duty. If you are already legally in the intersection waiting to turn right when the light turns red, complete the turn as soon as there is a safe gap, because sitting there leaves you in the path of cross traffic.
Two opposing drivers both turning right, with no signs or markings about it, pass in front of each other. They do not sweep behind one another and they do not both wait for the intersection to empty. Crossing in front keeps each car on its own side of the centre. If painted arrows or a median turning bay direct a different pattern, follow the markings.
Who gives way at a driveway or a U turn?
Entering a road from a car park, driveway or other land, everyone already on the road goes first, and any pedestrian on the footpath you cross goes first as well. A wide shopping centre exit can look like a side street. Look for the kerb line and the absence of a continuing public road before you choose the rule.
Turning right off the road into a private driveway, oncoming vehicles go first, and people on the footpath go before you cross it. A U turn gives way to all other vehicles and all pedestrians. Only start one you can complete without making anyone slow down or swerve. The handbook exception is that you do not have to give way to a driver entering the road from a road-related area or from private property.
Who gives way at roundabouts, slip lanes and merges?
At a roundabout you give way to any vehicle already circulating, whichever entry it used. A vehicle approaching from the right that has not yet entered is not the same as a vehicle already on the roundabout. Signal left on approach for an early exit, signal right if you are going more than halfway, and give a left signal before your exit where that is practical.
A slip lane keeps you out of the intersection but gives you no right of way. Give way to vehicles already in the lane you are joining, to pedestrians or bicycle riders crossing the slip lane, and to an oncoming vehicle that has turned right at the intersection. If a sign at a narrow section tells you to give way to oncoming vehicles, wait clear of the narrow section. The red arrow shows the direction with priority.
There are two merge rules. Where you cross a lane line to enter another lane, including when your lane is ending, you give way to vehicles already in the lane you are entering. Where two lines of traffic blend and the lane lines end first, position decides priority: if any part of the other vehicle is ahead of yours, you give way. That second case is a zip merge and does not apply where lane lines are still marked and one lane is ending.
Pedestrians, buses, cyclists and emergency vehicles
A green light does not give priority over pedestrians crossing the road you are turning into. Turning right on green into a side street where people are crossing, you give way to those pedestrians before completing the turn. The same duty applies when you turn left. At a marked pedestrian crossing, give way to any pedestrian on or stepping onto it, and approach slowly enough to stop.
A bus displaying a Give Way to Buses sign and indicating to pull out from a stop has to be given way to in a built-up area, according to the handbook. On a multi-lane road that duty sits on the left lane, and on the next lane if the left lane is a bicycle lane or is blocked. The original practice items on this site also treat a signed limit of 70 km/h or less as the setting for that duty.
Turning left across a bicycle lane where a cyclist beside you is going straight, you give way to the cyclist. Check the left mirror and the blind spot before starting the turn. An emergency vehicle with flashing lights and a siren approaching, when you are in its path, means you move out of its path as soon as you safely can, even if you had thought you were going first.
Lights, police direction and the traps in a diagram
A green light with traffic banked up on the far side is not an invitation to enter. Do not enter an intersection you cannot clear. Stopping across the middle blocks the cross traffic when their light turns green. A police officer or authorised traffic controller directing traffic overrides the signals and the signs. If the officer tells you to stop on a green light, you stop.
A vehicle on the intersecting road indicating a turn into your road, while you wait at a GIVE WAY sign, is not yet proof that the road is yours. Wait until it has actually slowed and begun the turn, because an indicator can be left on by mistake. At the default built-up limit of 50 km/h a vehicle covers about 14 metres every second. Wait for a gap that is clearly larger than you think you need.
Read every diagram in a fixed order: name the intersection type, find every control, trace every arrow, identify crossing paths, then apply one rule. Say the reason before you pick the answer. That extra sentence is what catches give way to the right when you are on the terminating road, or a green light when pedestrians are on the road you would enter.
Worked example: turning right from Edward Street, Norwood
This is a paper example built on a real junction, not a record of a real candidate. You have been practising around the T in Norwood where Edward Street meets Magill Road. Magill Road is the continuing road. Edward Street is the terminating road. You want to turn right onto Magill Road. If you answer give way items correctly about 90 per cent of the time before you sit, a figure chosen to set up the arithmetic rather than a measured result, the chance of a clean eight is about 43 per cent.
Step one, name the layout: a T, with Edward Street ending at Magill Road. Step two, discard give way to the right, because a car coming from your left on Magill Road still has priority. Step three, a car on Magill Road is indicating left into Edward Street, so wait until it has slowed and begun the turn. Step four, still give way to any person on the Magill Road footpath before you complete the right turn.
If you treat the T as a crossroads on a first sitting and give way only to the right, you miss that one item. Seven of eight is a fail, and part two is never marked. The $40 Service SA fee is spent. The fix is to drill T intersections and driveway exits until you can explain each picture. At 99 per cent per question the same arithmetic gives about a 92 per cent chance of a clean eight, still as arithmetic about the test shape, not as data about real candidates.
How do other jurisdictions mark knowledge tests?
The comparison below uses the same order and the same shape for each place: the question count, the pass mark, and whether any section must be perfect. The figures come from this site's comparison data, except where a count has not been confirmed. The state by state comparison table has the full picture.
South Australia: the test is eight give way questions then 42 general questions. All eight must be correct, then 32 of 42 must be correct. No other jurisdiction in this comparison has an all-or-nothing section.
New South Wales: the Driver Knowledge Test is 45 questions in two sections. You need 12 of 15 on general knowledge, then 29 of 30 on road safety. A single miss is allowed in the stricter section, unlike South Australia's give way gate.
Victoria: the learner permit knowledge test is 32 questions at 78 per cent correct. That is 25 right answers and seven wrong. Give way diagrams sit inside that single mark, not as a separate eight of eight gate.
Queensland: PrepL ends in a 30 question final assessment needing 27 of 30, which is 90 per cent. Three misses are allowed across the whole paper, and give way is not split out as a perfect section.
Western Australia: the theory test is 30 questions needing 24 of 30. Six misses are allowed across that paper, and there is no separate give way paper that must be answered entirely correctly.
Australian Capital Territory: the knowledge test is 35 questions needing 31 of 35. Four misses are allowed across the sitting, and give way is not marked as an eight of eight gate.
Tasmania's question count and pass mark have not been confirmed against Service Tasmania. The Northern Territory Government Get your driver licence page confirms 30 questions with 26 correct to pass. Repeating an unverified Tasmanian number from another practice site is not confirmation.
Common questions
- Question
- how many give way questions sa theory test
- Eight, and together they make up the whole of part one. Service SA requires every one of them to be right before part two is marked. The pictures cover intersections, roundabouts, driveways, signs, turns, merges and other who-goes-first situations.
- Question
- can I get one give way question wrong in the sa theory test
- No. A single wrong give way answer ends that sitting, and the 10-miss allowance in part two cannot make up for it. Treat each diagram as a gate of its own, not as one item in a pool of 50.
- Question
- give way to the right sa theory test
- It only applies at an uncontrolled cross intersection: four arms, and no signs, lines or lights. There, any vehicle approaching from your right goes first. The rule does not apply on a T, at a roundabout, or where a STOP or GIVE WAY control faces you.
- Question
- t intersection give way rules sa
- If your road is the one that ends, you give way to everything on the through road, whether it comes from the left or the right, and to pedestrians crossing it. Work out which road continues from the layout, not from which arm sits on the right of the page. Signs or lines can change which road counts as terminating.
- Question
- who gives way at a roundabout in south australia
- Vehicles already on the roundabout go first, no matter where they came in. A car still approaching from your right has not earned that priority yet. Indicate on approach when you are taking a left or right exit, and signal left before you leave where that is practical.
- Question
- sa theory test part 1 vs part 2 pass mark
- Part one needs 100 per cent of eight questions. Part two needs 32 of 42, or 76.2 per cent, which leaves room for 10 wrong answers on Service SA's figures. A strong part two never repairs a miss in part one.
- Question
- give way questions sa practice test official or not
- The official answers are in The Driver's Handbook. Practice questions on this site are original, not the official South Australian bank. This site's bank has 120 original questions, of which 28 sit in give way sections. Use them to test the handbook rule on a fresh picture.