Rules of the road and traffic signs
Rules of the road and traffic signs
This domain tests whether you can read the road ahead: identifying signs and pavement markings by shape, colour and symbol, applying right-of-way rules at intersections, and obeying signals and speed limits without hesitation. Expect questions that place you at an intersection and ask who goes first, or that describe a sign's shape and ask what it means.
Signs: shape and colour carry the message
- Octagon, red: STOP. A full stop behind the line or crosswalk, then proceed only when safe.
- Inverted triangle, red and white: YIELD. Slow down, be ready to stop, give way to traffic on the through road.
- Diamond, yellow: warning (curve, hill, intersection ahead). Slow before you reach the hazard.
- Pennant, yellow: school zone or school crossing ahead.
- Rectangle, white with black: regulatory (speed limit, turn prohibition, lane use).
- Orange diamond: construction and maintenance.
- Green: direction and distance; blue: services; brown: points of interest.
- Circle with an X and the letters "RAIL": railway crossing ahead.
Right-of-way
At an uncontrolled intersection, yield to the vehicle on your right. When turning left, yield to oncoming traffic going straight or turning right. At a four-way stop, the first driver to stop goes first; if two stop together, the driver on the right goes first. Never enter an intersection you cannot clear.
Worked example
You stop at a four-way stop second. The vehicle opposite arrived first but has its left signal on. You may go first: a left-turning driver must yield to traffic approaching from the opposite direction, so earlier arrival does not automatically give priority.
Traps
Rolling stops; treating a green light as an unconditional right of way (it is not - you must still yield to pedestrians and clear the intersection); treating a flashing amber as a stop signal (it means proceed with caution); and misreading a yellow diamond as a regulatory sign.