Regulatory signs — Meaning and Examples (2026)

Not quiteCorrect answer: C — Come to a complete stop, then proceed when it is safe

The octagon is used for one message only: STOP. You must come to a full stop behind the stop line, crosswalk or before entering the intersection, then proceed when it is safe.

A 'rolling stop' is still a violation even if the road is empty. The wheels must stop turning.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — At the stop line, before any part of your vehicle crosses it

The octagon requires a full stop, and the stop line marks the point where that stop has to happen. Where there is no stop line you stop before the crosswalk, and where there is neither you stop before entering the intersection. Once stopped you may edge forward far enough to see.

Drivers stop where they can see rather than where the line is. Creeping past the line first is still a failure to stop, and it puts your bumper in the crosswalk.

Not quiteCorrect answer: D — Slow down and give the right-of-way to traffic and pedestrians ahead

A downward-pointing triangle always means YIELD. Slow down, be ready to stop, and let cross traffic and pedestrians go first. You only have to stop if traffic requires it.

Yield does not mean stop every time — but it does mean you must stop if there is any traffic or pedestrian with the right-of-way.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — At this sign you may keep rolling if the way is genuinely clear; at a STOP sign you must halt every time

The downward triangle requires you to slow, be ready to stop and give way — a full stop only if traffic or pedestrians make one necessary. The octagon requires a complete stop on every approach, clear road or not.

Rolling through a stop sign because the road looked empty. The clear-road exception belongs to the yield sign and never to the octagon.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — Every approach to the intersection is controlled by a stop sign, so all traffic must stop

The ALL WAY plaque is used only where every approach to the intersection is stopped. It tells you the cross traffic will stop too, but it gives you nothing extra: you still stop, then take your turn.

Knowing that the other drivers also face a stop sign tempts people to treat their own stop as a formality. The plaque adds information; it never removes the stop.

Not quiteCorrect answer: D — Put the yield requirement directly in the driver's line of sight

Placing the sign in the lane rather than at the roadside is deliberate: a sign on a pole beside a busy street gets filtered out, one in the road does not.

Some drivers treat it as a temporary or decorative object. It carries a statutory yield requirement.

Not quiteCorrect answer: C — The maximum speed the law allows there under ideal conditions

Black on white is the regulatory colour pair, so this sign states a law rather than advice: the posted figure is the fastest you may legally travel on that stretch, and only when conditions are good. Recommended speeds appear on yellow plaques instead.

Reading the posted limit as a speed that is always safe. It is a legal ceiling, not a promise about the road.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — The penalty for a speeding violation in this zone is greater than the usual one

FINES HIGHER marks a stretch — typically a work zone, a school zone or a designated safety corridor — where the penalty for speeding is increased. It changes what breaking the limit costs you, not what the limit is.

Reading the plaque as a lower speed limit. The sign above it still gives the limit; the plaque only raises the price of ignoring it.

Not quiteCorrect answer: C — Turning right at this location

A red circle with a diagonal slash over a symbol prohibits whatever the symbol shows. Here the symbol is a right-turn arrow, so the right turn itself is banned — at any time and on any signal, unless a plaque limits the hours.

Confusing it with NO TURN ON RED, which only bars the turn while the light is red. This sign bars the turn altogether.

Not quiteCorrect answer: D — Carry on past the intersection and find another legal route back to the street you wanted

The slashed left-turn arrow makes that movement illegal at that intersection for every driver, whatever the traffic or the signal is doing. The usual remedy is to continue and use later turns to come back around.

Assuming a turn restriction only applies at busy times or when traffic is coming. Unless a plaque states hours, it applies at all times.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — When no vehicle is approaching within 200 feet

In a California residential district you may make a U-turn only when no vehicle is approaching within 200 feet. U-turns are never allowed on a divided highway where you would have to cross a barrier, or where a sign prohibits them.

Signalling does not by itself make a U-turn legal — the clear-distance requirement still applies.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — Turning around to travel back the way you came

The symbol is a U-shaped arrow crossed out, so the sign prohibits the 180-degree turn and nothing else. A left turn is a different movement with its own sign; unless a NO LEFT TURN sign is posted as well, the left turn may still be allowed.

Treating the no U-turn sign as a no left turn sign. They are separate signs prohibiting separate movements.