Road Signs, Signals and Road Markings
What this domain tests
The Mauritius theory paper checks that you can read the road without hesitating: a sign's shape and colour, what each signal phase requires of you, and the painted markings that say where to stop, wait or overtake. Mauritius uses the international/British sign model, so learning the families is far faster than memorising individual plates.
Sign families
- Red circle - prohibition: no entry, no overtaking, speed limit, no parking.
- Blue circle - mandatory instruction: turn left ahead, keep left, minimum speed.
- Red triangle - warning of a hazard ahead (bend, junction, school, cattle).
- Rectangle - information: directions, services, town names.
- Octagon STOP and inverted triangle GIVE WAY are the only two shapes you must never confuse.
Signals
A steady red means stop behind the stop line. Amber means stop unless you are so close that stopping could itself cause a collision. Green means you may go only if the way is clear - it does not remove your duty to pedestrians or to traffic blocking the junction. Flashing amber at a junction means proceed with caution, giving way exactly as at a give-way line. A police officer's signals override lights, signs and markings.
Markings
A broken white centre line allows overtaking when you can see the road is clear. A continuous white line, single or double, must not be crossed. A dashed line across your lane at a junction is a give-way line; a solid one is a stop line. Yellow lines at the kerb restrict waiting and parking. Zebra stripes give pedestrians priority once they step onto them.
Worked example
You approach a junction and see an inverted triangle painted across your lane, a dashed transverse line, and a red triangle sign showing a side road joining yours. Reasoning: all three indicate give way; none indicates stop. Ease off, look right then left, and enter only when the gap is safe.
Traps
Confusing no entry (red circle, white bar) with no vehicles; treating a warning triangle as a ban; assuming green means safe; ignoring surface markings because no upright sign repeats them.