Road signs, signals and markings
The signs, signals and markings domain tests whether you can read the road before you read the traffic: recognising a sign by shape and colour before its text is legible, applying signals in the correct order of authority, and treating markings as binding rules rather than decoration. Guinea-Bissau's signing follows the Portuguese-inherited European model, so the outline of a faded sign usually tells you what it means.
Shape and colour carry the message
- Red-bordered triangle: danger ahead (bend, junction, pedestrian crossing, uneven surface). Slow down; do not expect the hazard to be signed twice.
- Red-bordered circle: prohibition or restriction (no entry, speed limit, no overtaking).
- Blue circle: mandatory instruction (turn left, keep right, minimum speed, cycle track).
- Blue square or rectangle: information, facility or direction.
- Octagon: STOP. Inverted triangle: give way (ceda a passagem).
- A rectangular plate beneath a sign restricts it: vehicle category, time, distance or direction.
Signals and order of authority
Police signals outrank traffic lights; lights outrank signs; signs outrank markings; markings outrank the general rules. A green light does not authorise you to enter a junction you cannot clear. Amber means stop unless stopping would be unsafe. A flashing amber means proceed only with caution, giving way as required.
Markings you must read
A continuous centre line may not be crossed. A broken line may be crossed to overtake only when the road is clear. A thick transverse line marks a STOP, where you must halt; a broken transverse line marks give way. Zebra stripes give pedestrians priority once they step onto them. Yellow kerb lines restrict parking and stopping.
Worked example
A driver approaches a crossroads on a green light. An officer is waving traffic to a halt, and a continuous line runs across the junction. The order of authority decides it: the officer's signal overrides the green light, so the driver stops before the line and waits. Treating the green light as permission to continue would be an error, and it is exactly the kind of scenario the exam uses to test whether you know the hierarchy.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing give way with STOP (at a STOP you must halt completely even when the road looks empty); reading a blue circle as a warning; ignoring a small supplementary plate that limits a sign to lorries or to certain hours; assuming a faded sign no longer applies; and treating flashing amber as a green light.