Traffic Signs, Signals, and Road Markings
Sign Shapes and Colors Carry Meaning
Mississippi questions often test whether you can read a sign's shape and color before you read its words. Octagons are always stop signs; inverted triangles are always yield. Diamonds warn of hazards ahead (curves, crosswalks, deer). Pennants mark no-passing zones. Rectangles are regulatory (speed limits, lane use) or guide (route markers, services). Circles and crossbucks mark railroad crossings. Color is equally reliable: red means stop or prohibit, yellow warns, orange marks construction and work zones, fluorescent yellow-green marks school zones and pedestrian crossings, white is regulatory, and green is guidance.
Signals and Their Defaults
A steady red means stop and remain stopped until green. A steady yellow means the light is about to turn red-stop if you can do so safely; do not speed up to beat it. A flashing red is treated exactly like a stop sign. A flashing yellow means proceed with caution, not stop. A green arrow protects your turn, but a green circle does not protect a left turn from oncoming traffic. Right turn on red is permitted after a full stop unless a sign prohibits it; left on red is allowed only from a one-way street onto another one-way street.
Pavement Markings
Yellow lines separate traffic moving in opposite directions; white lines separate traffic moving the same way. A solid line means no crossing; a broken line means you may cross when safe. Double solid yellow means no passing in either direction. A solid yellow on your side of a broken line means you may not pass. Edge lines mark the roadway boundary, and crosswalk, stop, and yield lines tell you where to stop.
Trap to watch: questions that show a flashing yellow and a flashing red side by side-remember flashing yellow = caution, flashing red = stop. Rule of thumb: if the shape is a diamond, expect a hazard, not a rule.