Traffic Signs, Signals and Road Markings
Traffic signs, signals and road markings are the exam's visual-language section: you must identify a device from its shape, colour and symbol, then apply it under time pressure. Egypt uses a Vienna-style system with Arabic and English legends, so shape and colour often settle the answer even when the text is small or obscured.
Sign families
- Warning signs are triangular with a red border; they name a hazard ahead such as a bend, junction, pedestrian crossing or slippery road, not a rule to stop.
- Prohibition signs are circular with a red border: speed limits, no overtaking, no entry (red circle with a white bar), no parking or stopping.
- Mandatory signs are blue circles: turn direction, keep right, minimum speed, compulsory path.
- Information and service signs are rectangular. STOP is the only octagonal sign, and GIVE WAY is an inverted triangle.
- Supplementary plates below a sign add distance, time or vehicle class.
Signals
- Red: stop before the stop line or crossing. Amber: stop unless you are too close to stop safely. Green: proceed only if the exit is clear.
- A green arrow gives protected movement in that direction; a flashing amber means proceed with caution and give way as required.
- A police officer's signals override traffic lights, signs and markings. Temporary signs also outrank permanent ones.
Markings
- Broken white lines may be crossed to change lanes or overtake when safe; continuous lines must not be crossed.
- A stop line, zebra crossing and give-way line each have a distinct meaning. Yellow markings commonly mark parking or stopping restrictions.
- Double continuous centre lines prohibit overtaking from either side.
Worked example
You have a green light, but an officer facing you raises a palm. The lane ahead is clear and the green arrow is lit. You stop. The hierarchy is officer, then temporary signals, then traffic lights, then signs, then markings. A green light never authorises disobeying an officer or entering a junction whose exit is blocked.
Traps
Confusing no entry (white bar) with no stopping; treating GIVE WAY as a compulsory stop; crossing a continuous line because the road is empty; ignoring a supplementary plate's times; and reading a sign's symbol but missing its red border.