PassHow the official manual organises everything
The manual divides every road traffic sign, signal and marking into six main groups. Knowing which group a sign belongs to tells you how much weight it carries — and whether ignoring it is an offence.
| Group | What it does | Usual shape |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory | Controls your actions. Prohibits or commands. Disobeying is an offence punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both. | Round |
| Warning | Alerts you in time to a dangerous condition on or beside the road. | Triangular |
| Guidance | Helps you navigate — routes, destinations, directions. | Rectangular |
| Information | Supplies general information. | Rectangular |
| Road markings | Define lanes and carriageways and direct traffic. A regulatory marking is an offence to disregard, exactly like a sign. | Painted |
| Traffic signals | Regulate vehicles and pedestrians. Failing to obey is punishable. | Lights |
The point most learners miss
Two of those six are not signs on poles at all. Road markings and traffic signals carry the same legal force as a regulatory sign. Crossing a barrier line is an offence in exactly the way that passing a no-entry sign is, and there is no sign on a post to tell you so.
The Eight Kinds of Regulatory Sign
Regulatory signs divide again
- Control signs — stop, yield, no entry. They control who proceeds.
- Command signs — blue circles. They tell you what you must do.
- Prohibition signs — red rings. They tell you what you may not do.
- Reservation signs — blue rectangles. They say who a lane, bay or area belongs to.
- Comprehensive signs — they apply to a whole area or road, such as a freeway or a woonerf.
- Selective restriction signs — they narrow a rule to a class, a time or a condition.
- Combination signs — two or more messages assembled on one board.
- De-restriction signs — they end a restriction that was imposed earlier.
Reading a combination sign
A combination sign is the one learners most often get wrong, because it must be read as a whole. The main sign carries the instruction; anything below it narrows that instruction by class of vehicle, by time of day, by distance or by condition. Read from the top down, and apply every part of it — a plate below a sign is never decoration.