Regulatory Signs: Legal Commands and Prohibitions
What this domain tests
Regulatory signs tell you what you must or must not do. The Ohio exam asks you to identify the sign by shape, color, and legend and then choose the legal action, especially at stop and yield intersections, speed-limit changes, turn lanes, and parking controls.
Core rules
- Stop: octagonal red sign. Make a complete stop at the stop line, before the crosswalk, or at the roadway edge if neither is marked; then proceed only when safe.
- Yield: inverted red-and-white triangle. Slow and stop if necessary; you do not have priority.
- Speed limits: white rectangular signs with black numerals set the legal maximum unless conditions require slower. Minimum-speed signs use the same shape but set a floor.
- Lane use: signs with arrows or ONLY assign lanes to through, turn, or other movements; a center two-way left-turn lane is not a travel lane.
- Turn and parking controls: No Turn on Red, No Left Turn, No Parking, and time-limit signs are enforceable; read plaques for exceptions.
Worked example
You approach a red signal with a stop line, a NO TURN ON RED sign, and a crosswalk. A driver wants to turn right after slowing. The correct action is a full stop at the line, then wait for a green signal; the sign removes the usual right-on-red permission, and the crosswalk does not create an exception.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating yield as never stopping or stop as a slow roll.
- Missing an except plaque under a turn or parking sign.
- Assuming a green light cancels a lane-use sign.
- Reading a speed sign as a suggested speed rather than a limit.