Road Signs, Markings and Signals
This domain checks whether you can read the signing system fluently at lorry speed: which sign family a shape belongs to, which restrictions are aimed at your vehicle rather than at cars, what each road marking permits, and how signals from lights and officers override everything else.
Sign families
- Danger signs: equilateral triangle, red border, white ground, black symbol; they warn of a hazard ahead and are placed in advance of it, closer in built-up areas than on rural roads.
- Regulatory signs are circles: a red border means prohibition or restriction, a blue ground means obligation (direction, minimum speed, snow chains, mandatory lane).
- Priority signs: the red octagon STOP (complete stop at the line), the inverted triangle for give way, and the yellow diamond with white border for a priority road.
- Information signs are blue squares or rectangles: directions, motorway entry, services, parking, emergency telephones.
Signs aimed at your vehicle
Mass limits apply to the maximum permissible mass of the vehicle, not to what it happens to be carrying. Axle-load signs restrict load per axle; width, height and length signs restrict the vehicle's dimensions. A red-bordered circle with a lorry pictogram prohibits goods vehicles above the stated mass, and tunnel signs with ADR categories bar certain dangerous loads.
Markings
A continuous white line may not be crossed or straddled; a broken line may be crossed when it is safe and the manoeuvre is legal. Yellow markings indicate temporary works and override white markings. Stop lines, zebra crossings, bus lanes, lane arrows and hatched areas are all enforceable: hatched areas are not a spare lane.
Signals
Red means stop before the line. Amber means stop unless you are so close that stopping would itself be dangerous. Green means proceed only if your exit is clear; a green arrow authorises movement in that direction only. Signals from a police officer or authorised warden override lights and signs.
Worked example
A 12 t lorry approaches a red-bordered circle showing a lorry and the figure 7,5 t. The driver is running empty and argues the restriction does not apply. Reasoning: the sign restricts vehicles whose maximum permissible mass exceeds 7.5 t; a 12 t lorry is caught whether laden or empty, so the driver must follow the diversion.
Traps that cost marks
Reading a mass restriction as actual load; treating hatched areas or the emergency lane as usable space; ignoring yellow temporary markings; assuming a flashing amber at a level crossing or works allows you to proceed without checking.