How to Read Any Road Sign

Why this is the most useful page on the site

The computerised test draws from a bank of well over a thousand questions, and nobody memorises all of them. What you can do instead is learn the system the signs are built on — and then read a sign correctly the first time you ever see it.

Shape and colour come first. Before you work out what the picture inside a sign is, its shape and colour have already told you what kind of instruction it carries.

Round means regulatory

A circle always carries a rule you are obliged to obey. Which rule depends on the colour:

• Solid blue circle, white picture — a command. The picture shows something you MUST do. Turn left only, keep left, switch headlamps on.
• White circle with a red ring — a prohibition or a limit. The picture shows something you MUST NOT do, or a figure you may not exceed.

If you remember nothing else: blue tells you to, red tells you not to.

Triangular means warning

A triangle standing on its base, with a red border, warns of a hazard ahead. It does not forbid anything — it tells you to slow down and be ready. The picture inside says what the hazard is.

Rectangular means information

Rectangles guide and inform rather than command. Blue and green rectangles carry routes, destinations and reservations; a white plate below another sign qualifies that sign and never stands on its own.

Two shapes that break the pattern on purpose

Regulatory signs are round — except for two, and the exceptions are deliberate. STOP is an octagon and YIELD is a triangle standing on its point. They are the two most important signs on the road, and they were given unique outlines so that a driver can identify them from behind, in fog, in the dark, or when the face is covered in dust. You can recognise either one by its silhouette alone.

The diamond-shaped pedestrian priority sign is the third exception.

Reading a sign you have never seen

Work through it in this order, and you will place almost any sign correctly:

• What shape is it? Round, triangular, rectangular, octagonal.
• What colour is the face? White, blue, green, yellow.
• Is there a red ring or border? Ring means prohibited, border means warning.
• Only now, what is the picture? By this point you already know whether it is telling you to do something, not to do something, or simply to expect something.

In the test, this also kills the most common trap: two signs with the same picture and a different shape mean opposite things. A bus in a blue circle means buses only. The same bus in a red ring means no buses.