Traffic signs, signals and road markings
The Finnish sign system follows the Vienna Convention, and the exam asks you to read a described sign, light or marking and state its obligation or what you must do next. Learn the shape-and-colour grammar first; it lets you answer questions about signs you have never seen.
Shape and colour tell you the job
- Warning: triangle with a red border and a yellow background - Finland's warning colour, not white.
- Prohibition or restriction: red ring on white; zone versions (area speed limit, no-parking zone) use a yellow background.
- Mandatory: solid blue circle - an order, not advice.
- Priority: inverted triangle (yield), octagon (stop), yellow diamond (priority road).
- Information and service: rectangles, usually blue and white.
- Small plates beneath a sign limit or extend it: distance, time, vehicle type.
Signals
Lights run red, red plus amber, green, amber, red. Flashing amber means the signals are out of order or that you must proceed with caution - sign priority then applies. Arrow lights bind only the direction shown. A green pedestrian light does not authorise you to turn across the crossing. Right turn on red is permitted only with a green arrow.
Road markings
White markings do the lane work: a solid line may not be crossed, a broken line may be crossed when safe, a thick line is a stop line, a row of white triangles is a yield line. Yellow lines and zigzags along the kerb are parking and stopping restrictions; a zigzag means no stopping at all.
Worked example
You ride out of a town past a 60 sign, then later pass a grey sign showing the same 60 crossed by a thin black diagonal line. What applies now? The end-of-limit sign cancels the 60 and the general limit for that road returns - 80 km/h once you are outside the built-up area, 50 inside it. The cancellation takes effect from the sign onwards; it does not wait for the next junction, and a junction alone never cancels a posted limit.
Traps
Assuming the yellow triangle is a temporary sign - it is the standard Finnish warning sign. Reading a blue circle as a suggestion rather than a prohibition or order. Forgetting that a speed limit sign stays in force past junctions until a new sign or an end sign. Confusing a shared pedestrian-and-cycle path (blue circle, motorcycle prohibited) with a road you may use.