the.com/right of way
the polite fiction that lets two tons of steel share an intersection without a coin flip.
means a legal rule or granted permission determining who gets to go first or pass through a space, whether that's a car, a path, or a pipeline.
from emerged from english common law property rights, where landowners granted others legal passage across their land; it migrated into traffic law in the early 1900s as cars multiplied and someone had to decide who yields.
not a privilegeyou must yield it, never just take it
railroads own ittrains legally never have to stop for you
utility easementspower lines cross private land via granted right of way
pedestrians assume itoften wrongly, depending on local law