Do You Know The Rules at a Non-Functioning Traffic Light? Get our free mobile app Not to worry. The kind folks at the City of Richland have put together an informative guide, in the event that power goes out, due to the extreme heatwave. Credit: Richland Police Department traffic signal that is off: Treat the intersection as a four-way stop. If you arrive at the same time as another car — or even two other cars — the car farthest to the right goes first. If four cars approach at the same time, the car that comes to a complete stop first is the first to go, then the car to the right, and so on in a counterclockwise rotation.