Who goes first? Every Illinois right-of-way scenario, worked through.

Yield the right of way to every vehicle in a funeral procession running headlights and hazard lights. Do not drive between the procession's vehicles, and do not join it or fake a procession to secure the right of way.

625 ILCS 5/11-1420 grants funeral processions the right of way at intersections when the vehicles in the procession have their headlights and hazard lights lighted. The mechanism is worth understanding: the operator of the lead vehicle must obey stop signs and traffic lights, but once the lead vehicle has lawfully crossed the intersection, all the vehicles behind it may proceed without stopping, regardless of the sign or signal, each proceeding with due caution. So a procession will keep rolling through a light that has turned red on it, and that is lawful. The procession still yields to an authorized emergency vehicle giving an audible or visible signal and obeys a traffic officer. Your duties as an outside driver are three. You may not drive your vehicle in the funeral procession, unless a traffic officer authorizes it or you are in an authorized emergency vehicle giving a signal. You may not form a procession or convoy with headlights or hazard lights lit for the purpose of securing the right of way the section grants to funeral processions. And you may overtake and pass the procession only if it can be done without causing a traffic hazard. The Rules of the Road states the driver-facing version plainly: motorists encountering a funeral procession must yield the right of way to all vehicles in the procession, must not drive between the vehicles of an organized procession except when directed by a law enforcement officer, are prohibited from joining a procession to secure the right of way or from passing any vehicle in an organized procession except where a passing lane has been specifically provided, and may have the vehicle impounded by a local municipality for interfering with a procession through reckless driving.

When an emergency vehicle approaches using lights or siren, yield and immediately pull to the right-hand edge or curb, clear of any intersection, and stop until it has passed. If you are stopped at an intersection with two-way traffic, stay put until the emergency vehicle is through it.

625 ILCS 5/11-907(a) states the duty: on the approach of an authorized emergency vehicle using audible and visual signals, the driver of every other vehicle shall yield the right-of-way and shall immediately drive to a position parallel to and as close as possible to the right-hand edge or curb of the highway, clear of any intersection, and stop there until the emergency vehicle has passed, unless otherwise directed by a police officer. Clear of any intersection is the operative phrase; pulling over inside the box takes away the room the emergency vehicle needs to turn. The Rules of the Road makes the same point in a form learners remember: Illinois law requires motorists to immediately pull to the right side of the road and allow the emergency vehicle to pass, in some cases a complete stop is necessary, and if you are already stopped at an intersection with two-way traffic you remain stopped until the emergency vehicle has passed through the intersection. Two Illinois add-ons. A driver is prohibited from driving over fire hoses unless a fire official in command of the scene permits it. And Illinois law prohibits photography and the use of a wireless phone within 500 feet of an emergency scene, with limited exceptions, so putting your phone up as the ambulance goes by is itself an offense. Failure to yield to an emergency vehicle using audible and visual signals is a listed serious offense in the Rules of the Road, and the consequences escalate when the failure causes property damage or injury.

Illinois requires a full stop, not just a yield. Stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is on your half of the road, or is approaching from the other half closely enough to be in danger.

This is the key that changed. Illinois amended 625 ILCS 5/11-1002(a) in 2010 so that when traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver shall stop and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger. The words are stop and yield, so slowing and rolling past is not compliance. The Rules of the Road splits the duty in a way worth learning, because it is how the test frames it. A driver must come to a complete stop and yield when a pedestrian is in a marked crosswalk, and on school days when children are in close proximity to a school zone crosswalk. A driver must yield when a pedestrian is in an unmarked crosswalk on the driver's side of the roadway with no traffic control signals, when making a turn at any intersection, when making a lawful turn on red after stopping, after stopping at a stop sign or flashing red, when a pedestrian entered the crosswalk before the light changed, when a pedestrian walks with a green light or walk signal, when a pedestrian enters or leaves the street from an alley, building, private road, or driveway, and when a pedestrian enters an intersection on a flashing yellow arrow. Every intersection has a crosswalk whether or not it is painted. 625 ILCS 5/11-1002 also prohibits overtaking and passing a vehicle that is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross, and the handbook repeats it. Disability carries its own rule: 625 ILCS 5/11-1004 provides that the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian with clearly visible disabilities. Illinois words it around visible disability generally rather than around the white cane specifically, and the handbook adds that a person using a guide dog, a white cane, a wheelchair, or another assistive device has the right of way and the same rights as any pedestrian. 625 ILCS 5/11-1003.1 layers on the general duty of due care toward any pedestrian or cyclist, with a horn warning when necessary and extra precaution around a child or an obviously confused, incapacitated, or intoxicated person.

Illinois does not codify a downhill-yields rule for two vehicles meeting on a narrow road. The rule that governs is the ordinary one: pass to the right, and where the road is only wide enough for one line of traffic each way, give the other driver at least half the traveled roadway.

Article VII of Chapter 11 of the Illinois Vehicle Code, which covers driving on the right side of the roadway and overtaking and passing, runs from 625 ILCS 5/11-701 straight through the passing rules with no section on vehicles meeting on a mountain highway or a narrow grade. 11-702 is followed directly by 11-703, so there is no intervening mountain-road provision of the kind many western states adopted, which is unsurprising in a state with almost no sustained grades. 11-702 is what actually governs the encounter: drivers of vehicles proceeding in opposite directions shall pass each other to the right, and upon roadways having width for not more than one line of traffic in each direction each driver shall give to the other at least one-half of the main-traveled portion of the roadway as nearly as possible. The Rules of the Road contains nothing on the subject either. Its only narrow-road content is signage, the Narrow Bridge sign warning that an approaching bridge is narrower than the road, and the Road Narrows sign warning that a two-lane road suddenly narrows, plus general advice to reduce speed on a narrow and winding roadway and when approaching the top of a hill or a curve. In practice, when two vehicles meet where only one fits, the driver with the nearer pullout or the shorter reverse backs up. Illinois has not made that a legal duty, so use it as courtesy and do not represent it as law.

Illinois requires a full stop, not just a yield. Stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is on your half of the road, or is approaching from the other half closely enough to be in danger.

This is the key that changed. Illinois amended 625 ILCS 5/11-1002(a) in 2010 so that when traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver shall stop and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger. The words are stop and yield, so slowing and rolling past is not compliance. The Rules of the Road splits the duty in a way worth learning, because it is how the test frames it. A driver must come to a complete stop and yield when a pedestrian is in a marked crosswalk, and on school days when children are in close proximity to a school zone crosswalk. A driver must yield when a pedestrian is in an unmarked crosswalk on the driver's side of the roadway with no traffic control signals, when making a turn at any intersection, when making a lawful turn on red after stopping, after stopping at a stop sign or flashing red, when a pedestrian entered the crosswalk before the light changed, when a pedestrian walks with a green light or walk signal, when a pedestrian enters or leaves the street from an alley, building, private road, or driveway, and when a pedestrian enters an intersection on a flashing yellow arrow. Every intersection has a crosswalk whether or not it is painted. 625 ILCS 5/11-1002 also prohibits overtaking and passing a vehicle that is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross, and the handbook repeats it. Disability carries its own rule: 625 ILCS 5/11-1004 provides that the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian with clearly visible disabilities. Illinois words it around visible disability generally rather than around the white cane specifically, and the handbook adds that a person using a guide dog, a white cane, a wheelchair, or another assistive device has the right of way and the same rights as any pedestrian. 625 ILCS 5/11-1003.1 layers on the general duty of due care toward any pedestrian or cyclist, with a horn warning when necessary and extra precaution around a child or an obviously confused, incapacitated, or intoxicated person.

Illinois requires a full stop, not just a yield. Stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is on your half of the road, or is approaching from the other half closely enough to be in danger.

This is the key that changed. Illinois amended 625 ILCS 5/11-1002(a) in 2010 so that when traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver shall stop and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger. The words are stop and yield, so slowing and rolling past is not compliance. The Rules of the Road splits the duty in a way worth learning, because it is how the test frames it. A driver must come to a complete stop and yield when a pedestrian is in a marked crosswalk, and on school days when children are in close proximity to a school zone crosswalk. A driver must yield when a pedestrian is in an unmarked crosswalk on the driver's side of the roadway with no traffic control signals, when making a turn at any intersection, when making a lawful turn on red after stopping, after stopping at a stop sign or flashing red, when a pedestrian entered the crosswalk before the light changed, when a pedestrian walks with a green light or walk signal, when a pedestrian enters or leaves the street from an alley, building, private road, or driveway, and when a pedestrian enters an intersection on a flashing yellow arrow. Every intersection has a crosswalk whether or not it is painted. 625 ILCS 5/11-1002 also prohibits overtaking and passing a vehicle that is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross, and the handbook repeats it. Disability carries its own rule: 625 ILCS 5/11-1004 provides that the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian with clearly visible disabilities. Illinois words it around visible disability generally rather than around the white cane specifically, and the handbook adds that a person using a guide dog, a white cane, a wheelchair, or another assistive device has the right of way and the same rights as any pedestrian. 625 ILCS 5/11-1003.1 layers on the general duty of due care toward any pedestrian or cyclist, with a horn warning when necessary and extra precaution around a child or an obviously confused, incapacitated, or intoxicated person.

Stop for a school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm out, from either direction, and stay stopped until the arm retracts and the lights go off. The exception is lane count, not a median: on a road of four or more lanes carrying traffic in both directions, you need not stop for a bus in the opposing roadway.

625 ILCS 5/11-1414 requires the driver meeting or overtaking a school bus stopped to load or discharge pupils to stop before reaching the bus while the visual signals are actuated, and not to proceed until the extended arm is retracted, the flashing lights are off, the bus resumes motion, or the bus driver signals you on. The exception in subsection (e) turns on lanes, not on whether anything physically divides the road: the driver upon a highway having four or more lanes which permits at least two lanes of traffic to travel in opposite directions need not stop upon meeting a school bus stopped in the opposing roadway, and need not stop on a controlled access highway when passing a bus stopped in a loading zone adjacent to the improved part of the highway where pedestrians are not permitted to cross. That is worth pinning down, because it is the opposite of the rule in neighboring Indiana, where the exception requires a barrier or an unimproved median. In Illinois a plain four-lane street with nothing but paint down the middle exempts opposing traffic. The Rules of the Road states the same exception and then lists where you always stop: any two-lane roadway, rural or in city limits; any roadway, highway, or private road; and any parking lot located on school property. The warning sequence matters too. The bus will signal at least 100 feet ahead of the stop, 200 feet in rural areas, by flashing lights front and rear; the stop signal arm swings out only after the bus has come to a complete stop. So the amber flashers are your cue to prepare, and the red lights plus the extended arm are the legal trigger. A conviction for passing a stopped school bus with the lights flashing and the arm extended suspends your driver's license, carries a mandatory $300 fine and court-set community service, and 625 ILCS 5/11-1414 directs a three-month suspension for a first offense and a one-year suspension for a second or subsequent offense within five years.

Illinois does not allow the safety stop. A cyclist must stop at a stop sign exactly as a driver must, because the Vehicle Code gives a bicycle rider all the duties of a driver and Article XV creates no stop-sign exception.

625 ILCS 5/11-1502 provides that every person riding a bicycle upon a highway is granted all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by the Code, except as to special regulations in Article XV and except for provisions that by their nature can have no application. Article XV, the bicycle article, contains no stop-as-yield rule, no Idaho stop, no safety stop, and no age-based variant, so the general stop-sign duty applies to a cyclist unchanged: a complete stop at the stop line, or before the crosswalk, or before entering the intersection, then yield. The same is true at a flashing red signal, which Illinois treats as a stop sign. The Rules of the Road describes the relationship from the driver's side and is careful about it: bicyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as other roadway users including the right of way, drivers must yield to a bicyclist just as they would to another vehicle, bicyclists are required to travel in the same direction as vehicles, and low-speed electric and gas bicycles must follow all laws applicable to bicyclists. Your own duties around cyclists are enforceable and specific. You must leave at least three feet of passing space measured from the edge of your side mirror when passing a cyclist on any road, including one riding on the shoulder or in a bike lane, and if there is not three feet you must wait until you can pass safely; passing too close and causing a crash can bring criminal charges. Crowding or threatening a cyclist is prohibited. Vehicles may not drive, park, idle, or drop off passengers in a designated bike lane even when no cyclist is present. And you must yield to a bicyclist in a crosswalk or intersection exactly as you would to a pedestrian.

Approaching a stopped emergency vehicle or emergency scene with lights flashing, change into a lane not next to it if the road has at least four lanes with two going your way and the move is safe, and slow to a speed reasonable for conditions. If you cannot change lanes, slow down, proceed with caution, and leave a safe distance until you are past. The same lane-change-or-slow-down rule applies to a disabled vehicle with its hazard lights on.

This is Scott's Law, 625 ILCS 5/11-907(c). It applies to a stationary authorized emergency vehicle or an 'emergency scene' where such a vehicle has activated oscillating, rotating, or flashing lights. The coverage is broader than police, fire, and ambulance because the section defines 'authorized emergency vehicle' as ANY vehicle authorized by law to display those lights under 625 ILCS 5/12-215 while its operator is engaged in official duties. Section 12-215(b) authorizes amber lights on tow and hoisting vehicles at a crash or disablement, state and local highway maintenance and construction vehicles and their contractors, engineering and survey crews, public utility and automotive service vehicles, and snow-removal equipment, so all of those are inside Scott's Law. The lane change is required only on a highway with at least four lanes and at least two proceeding in your direction, and only 'if possible with due regard to safety and traffic conditions'; there is no numeric speed reduction in the statute, only a speed 'reasonable and proper with regard to traffic conditions.' Even where you cannot move over, the statute requires you to reduce speed, proceed with due caution, be prepared to stop, and leave a safe distance. A separate section, 625 ILCS 5/11-907.5 (added by P.A. 101-173, effective January 1, 2020), imposes the same lane-change-or-slow-down duty toward a DISABLED vehicle with lighted hazard lights on a highway of at least four lanes with two in your direction; that violation is a petty offense. Work zones are covered separately by 625 ILCS 5/11-908. Scott's Law penalties are steep: a business offense with a fine of $250 to $10,000 for a first violation and $750 to $10,000 for a second, a Class A misdemeanor if another vehicle is damaged, a Class 4 felony if anyone is injured or killed, plus a license suspension of 90 days to two years depending on the harm.

Right on red is allowed statewide after a complete stop, unless a sign prohibits the turn. You may also turn left on red from a one-way street into a one-way street after stopping. After stopping you must yield to any vehicle already in or closely approaching the intersection and to pedestrians and bicyclists in the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk.

625 ILCS 5/11-306(c)3 states the rule for both turns in one sentence: except when a sign is in place prohibiting a turn and local authorities by ordinance or State authorities by rule or regulation prohibit it, traffic facing any steady red signal may cautiously enter the intersection to turn right, or to turn left from a one-way street into a one-way street, after stopping. Note the statute treats the sign and the underlying ordinance or rule as paired, so a lawful prohibition is posted at the intersection; Illinois has no jurisdiction-wide ban of the New York City type. Paragraph 3 is written as an exception to both paragraph 1 (steady circular red) and paragraph 2 (steady red arrow). One more Illinois-specific provision sits alongside it: paragraph 3.5 lets the driver of a motorcycle or bicycle who has stopped at a red that fails to change within a reasonable time of not less than 120 seconds, because of a malfunction or because the signal did not detect the vehicle, proceed after yielding, treating the signal like a stop sign.