Traffic Signs and Signals
What this domain covers
The Traffic Signs and Signals domain tests whether you can read the road at a glance: sign shapes and colors, the difference between regulatory, warning, and guide signs, and how to obey steady, flashing, and arrow signal indications. Delaware adds fluorescent yellow-green school signs and orange work-zone signs.
Signs by shape and color
- Octagon (red): STOP. Come to a complete stop at the stop line, crosswalk, or edge of the roadway.
- Inverted triangle (red and white): YIELD. Slow down and stop only if traffic is coming.
- Diamond (yellow): warning - curves, intersections, pedestrian crossings, signal ahead.
- Pennant (yellow): no-passing zone begins.
- Round (yellow): railroad advance warning; a white crossbuck marks the crossing itself.
- Rectangle: white with black lettering is regulatory (speed limit, lane use); green is guidance (distance, exits); blue is services; brown is recreation.
- Fluorescent yellow-green: school zones and pedestrian or bicycle crossings. Orange: construction and maintenance.
Signals and arrows
A steady red means stop and stay stopped. In Delaware you may turn right on red after a full stop unless a sign forbids it, and you may turn left on red from a one-way street onto another one-way street unless prohibited. A red arrow forbids that movement - no turn on a red arrow. A steady yellow means the light is changing; stop if you can do so safely. A flashing red is a stop sign; a flashing yellow means slow down and proceed with caution. A green arrow is a protected movement. Lane-use signals use a red X for closed, a yellow X for prepare to vacate, and a green arrow for open.
Worked example
You are turning left at a signal showing a flashing yellow arrow. What is required? The flashing yellow arrow means a permitted, unprotected left turn: you may enter the intersection but must yield to oncoming traffic and to pedestrians in the crosswalk. It is not the same as a green arrow, which protects your turn. If the arrow changes to steady yellow, prepare to stop or clear the intersection if you have already committed.
Markings and common traps
Yellow lines separate traffic moving in opposite directions; a solid yellow line on your side means no passing. White lines separate lanes going the same way or mark the edge. The costly traps: turning right on a red arrow, missing a No Turn on Red sign, treating a flashing yellow as a stop, treating a flashing red as a caution, and speeding up on a steady yellow. School-zone limits apply when posted or when the yellow lights flash.