Shapes, Colors, Symbols, Pavement Markings, and Signals
What this domain tests
Kentucky tests the underlying code: shape and color carry meaning even when the words are illegible or the sign is seen at a distance. Expect items pairing a shape with its meaning, a color with its category, and a marking or signal with the required action.
Shapes and colors
- Octagon stop; inverted triangle yield; diamond warning; vertical rectangle regulatory; horizontal rectangle guide; pentagon school; pennant no-passing zone; circle railroad advance warning; crossbuck X railroad crossing.
- Red stop or prohibit; white regulate; yellow warn; orange work zone; green guide; blue services; brown recreation; fluorescent yellow-green school and pedestrian.
Pavement markings
Yellow lines separate traffic moving in opposite directions; white lines separate traffic moving the same way. A solid yellow center line prohibits passing on your side; double solid yellow prohibits it in both directions; a dashed yellow line permits passing when clear. White markings include lane dividers, edge lines, stop bars, crosswalks, and the large X-and-RR railroad marking. A shark-tooth line means yield.
Signals
Solid red means stop; after stopping you may turn right unless a sign prohibits it, and Kentucky permits a left turn on red from a one-way street onto another one-way street. Flashing red means stop, then proceed when safe. Flashing yellow means proceed with caution. A flashing yellow arrow is a permitted left turn - yield to oncoming traffic. A green arrow is protected. A dark, dead signal is treated as an all-way stop.
Worked example
You wait in a left-turn lane showing a flashing yellow arrow. You may turn once you have yielded to oncoming traffic; you do not have an automatic right of way. When the display changes to a solid green arrow, oncoming traffic is stopped and the turn is protected.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing a flashing red with a flashing yellow; turning left on a flashing yellow arrow without yielding; and reading double solid yellow as permitting passing in one direction.