Warning Signs: Advance Notice in Yellow
Warning Signs
Warning signs tell you what is about to happen so you can adjust speed and lane position before you reach it. In Michigan they are yellow diamonds with black symbols, and the exam tests your ability to tell a warning from a regulation - a warning never orders a stop or sets a legal limit on its own.
What the common ones mean
- Curve and winding road: slow before the curve, not in it. A yellow advisory plaque such as 35 MPH is a recommended maximum for the curve under good conditions.
- Chevron (large arrow): marks the turn itself and is placed through the curve, not in advance of it. It tells you which way the road bends.
- Stop ahead, signal ahead, yield ahead: warns that a control you must obey is coming; they do not replace the stop sign or signal.
- Railroad crossing: the round yellow advance sign warns of tracks; the crossbuck at the crossing means yield to trains. It is not a stop sign unless a STOP sign is also posted.
- Intersection and crossroad signs: warn of traffic entering from the side, including hidden driveways.
- Divided highway ends: warns that opposing traffic will soon share your roadway - a common surprise on rural Michigan trunklines.
- Deer crossing, slippery when wet, low clearance, lane ends, merge: each names the specific hazard, so read the symbol rather than guessing from color alone.
Placement
Warning signs sit farther ahead of the hazard on high-speed roads and closer on city streets, because the distance is based on how long you need to react.
Worked example
You approach a yellow diamond showing a right curve, followed by a 35 MPH advisory plaque, then chevrons along the bend. The diamond gives advance notice, the plaque recommends 35 for the curve, and the chevrons guide you through it. Entering at 55 because no white speed sign appears is a fail - the advisory speed describes conditions, and a crash at that speed supports a too-fast-for-conditions finding.
Traps
Reading the advisory plaque as a legal speed limit, or ignoring it entirely. Confusing the advance curve sign with the chevron. Assuming the crossbuck alone requires a stop. Treating a brown or blue sign as a hazard warning.