Signs, Signals and Road Markings
Domain 1 tests whether you can decode the road at a glance: what a sign's shape and colour demand, what each signal phase permits, and what the line under your wheels authorises. Questions arrive as short scenarios, so precision beats instinct.
Shape tells you the job
- Octagon: stop. Inverted triangle: yield. Diamond: warning. Pennant: no-passing zone ahead. Yellow circle with an X: railway advance warning; the crossbuck X marks the crossing itself.
- Orange means temporary (work zone); fluorescent yellow-green flags school and pedestrian areas.
Signal phases
- Steady red: full stop behind the stop line; a right turn on red is allowed after stopping unless a sign forbids it, and only after yielding to pedestrians and cross traffic.
- Flashing red behaves exactly like a stop sign. Flashing amber means slow down and proceed only when it is safe - it is never a stop.
- A green arrow protects your movement. When it drops to a plain green circle, a left turn must yield to oncoming through and right-turning traffic.
Lines
Yellow separates opposing traffic: broken yellow on your side means pass when safe, solid yellow on your side means no passing. White separates traffic moving the same way: dashed white invites a lane change, solid white discourages it. The solid white bar across your lane is the stop line.
Worked example
You see a pennant sign, then solid yellow on your side, then a slow truck ahead. May you pass? No - the pennant announces a no-passing zone and the solid yellow confirms it applies to your direction. You wait for broken yellow on your side plus clear sight distance.
Traps that cost marks
Treating flashing amber as a stop; reading a solid white line as a legal wall (it is advisory, but crossing is discouraged); turning left on a plain green without yielding; assuming right-turn-on-red is universal - some municipalities prohibit it except where signed.