Traffic Signs, Signals, and Road Markings
What this domain tests
Signs, signals and markings form a silent language. The exam tests whether you can read it in the correct order of authority and apply it at a real junction. The hierarchy is: police or authorised officer first, then traffic lights, then signs, then road markings. When two instructions conflict, the higher one wins.
Sign families
- Warning: triangle with red border (bend, school, pedestrian crossing, slippery road).
- Prohibition: circle with red border (no entry, no overtaking, speed limit, no parking).
- Mandatory: blue circle (turn left, keep right, minimum speed).
- Priority: STOP octagon means stop at the line every time; an inverted triangle means give way.
- Information: blue or green rectangles (directions, services, hospital).
Signals
- Steady red: stop behind the stop line. Steady green: proceed only if the way is clear.
- Amber: stop unless you are so close that stopping would be dangerous.
- Flashing amber: proceed with caution. Flashing red at a rail crossing: stop, then proceed when safe.
- A green arrow protects only the movement it indicates.
Markings
A continuous line must not be crossed. A broken line may be crossed when safe. Yellow centre lines separate opposing traffic; white lines separate lanes moving the same way and mark the edges. A zebra crossing gives pedestrians priority once they step onto it. Stop lines show exactly where you must halt.
Worked example
You approach a junction with a green light, but an officer is waving traffic to a stop for a convoy. You stop. The signal says go, but the officer's instruction outranks the light in the hierarchy, and obeying the light would put you into the convoy's path. The reasoning is authority order, not the colour of the lamp.
Traps
- Treating green as an unconditional right to move; it means proceed if clear.
- Accelerating on amber instead of stopping when it is safe to do so.
- Entering a junction when the exit is blocked, even on green.