Road Signs: Groups, Shapes and Priority
The system
Signs are grouped by function: warning (triangular, red border), priority (various shapes, including the yellow diamond for priority road and the inverted triangle for give way), prohibitory (round, red border), mandatory (round, blue), special regulation (rectangular, often blue or white), information, service and supplementary plates. Learn the shape and colour code first; it lets you answer many questions even when the pictogram is unfamiliar.
Concepts candidates must know
The give way sign requires yielding to traffic on the road being joined; the STOP sign requires a complete stop at the stop line, then yielding. The priority road sign (yellow diamond) grants priority at unregulated intersections until cancelled by an end-of-priority sign. Prohibitory signs have zones of action: a no-stopping sign applies from the sign to the next intersection or to an end plate; supplementary plates below modify distance, direction, time or vehicle type. Warning signs generally stand 50–100 m before the hazard in built-up areas and 150–300 m outside them.
Traps
A supplementary plate showing a distance does not mean the sign begins there; it usually tells how far the hazard or restriction extends. A sign with an arrow pointing left or right applies only in that direction. Temporary signs on a yellow background override permanent ones. A no-entry sign (red circle with white bar) is not the same as a "no vehicles" sign.
Worked example
You see a round blue sign with a white arrow pointing straight ahead, plus a plate reading "100 m". The sign is mandatory - proceed straight - and the plate indicates the distance over which the obligation applies, not a hazard ahead. If instead the plate sat under a warning triangle, it would give the distance to the hazard.