Road Traffic Rules, Signs, and Signals
Road Traffic Rules, Signs, and Signals
This domain tests whether you can read Philippine road signs and signals correctly and apply the basic rules of the road under RA 4136. Expect questions on sign shapes and colours, traffic-light meanings, hand signals, and who goes first at a junction.
Signs by shape and colour
- Octagon, red: STOP. Stop completely at the stop line and go only when clear.
- Inverted triangle, red border: YIELD. Slow down and give way; stop only if traffic requires it.
- Red circle or red slash: prohibition - no entry, no left turn, no overtaking.
- Blue circle: mandatory instruction - turn left only, motorcycle lane, minimum speed.
- Yellow diamond: warning - curve, junction, slippery road, pedestrian crossing ahead.
- Green, blue and brown rectangles: guide signs - destinations, services, tourism.
Light and hand signals
- Steady red: stop. Flashing red: stop, then proceed only when clear.
- Steady yellow: stop unless you are too close to stop safely. Flashing yellow: proceed with caution; you do not have priority.
- Green: proceed only if the intersection is clear. A green arrow protects that movement.
- A traffic enforcer's hand signal overrides the lights. Left arm straight out means left turn; left arm bent upward means right turn; left arm downward means slow or stop.
Worked example
You approach a junction on a flashing yellow. A jeepney arrives from your right at the same moment. The flashing yellow gives you no right of way; it only warns you. RA 4136 says that when two vehicles reach an uncontrolled intersection together, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right. You slow, prepare to stop, and let the jeepney go first.
Traps
Treating a yield sign as a stop sign, or a stop sign as a yield. Reading a flashing yellow as 'go'. Obeying the green light even when the exit is blocked. Ignoring an enforcer because the light is green.