Warning Signs: Curves, Intersections, Road Narrowing, Hills, and Surface Conditions
Warning signs alert you to a change or hazard ahead so you can adjust speed and position. They are usually yellow diamonds with black symbols or words; school and pedestrian warnings use fluorescent yellow-green. The exam tests whether you can read the symbol, understand plaques such as advisory speed, and separate a warning from a legal limit.
Core rules
- Curve and turn signs show the direction and severity of a bend. A black-on-yellow advisory speed plaque is the recommended safe speed for the curve, not a posted legal limit. Chevron signs mark the outside of a sharp curve and show direction.
- Intersection warnings include crossroad, side road, T-intersection, and Y-intersection. STOP AHEAD and YIELD AHEAD warn of a regulatory sign you will soon reach; they do not replace it.
- Road-narrowing signs include lane ends, merge, narrow bridge, and reduced lanes. Move over early and do not wait until the lane disappears.
- Hill signs warn of steep grades. Drivers should use a lower gear and avoid riding the brakes; trucks may have a separate escape ramp.
- Surface warnings include slippery when wet, ice, loose gravel, and uneven pavement. They call for slower speed and gentler steering and braking.
Warning signs do not themselves change the speed limit, but ignoring them can support a charge of driving too fast for conditions. In Connecticut, as elsewhere, the basic speed law requires a speed reasonable for the weather, road, and visibility.
Worked example
You see a right-curve warning sign with a 25 mph advisory plaque. The posted speed limit is 45 mph. You enter the curve at 40 mph because you are under the limit, lose traction, and skid. The advisory plaque did not make 25 mph the legal maximum, but 40 mph was too fast for the curve and the conditions. A safe driver slows toward the advisory speed before the curve, not after it begins.
Traps
Do not read an advisory speed as a regulatory speed limit, and do not ignore it because it is not one. Do not confuse a warning diamond with an orange work-zone sign. Do not treat a curve sign as a lane marking; the chevron tells you which way the road bends. Do not wait for a STOP AHEAD sign to become a STOP sign-begin slowing when warned.