Chapter 3: Traffic Signs and Lights

Signs

Beyond stop, yield, school zone and railway crossing signs, four other kinds exist: regulatory, warning, temporary conditions, and information and direction. A stop sign is eight-sided, red with white letters; with no stop line, stop at the crosswalk. A yield sign is a white triangle with a red border, a school zone sign is a fluorescent yellow/green pentagon, and a railway crossing sign is an X, white with red outline. Regulatory signs must be obeyed; a red circle with a line through it means the activity is not allowed. Warning signs are usually yellow diamonds, temporary condition signs usually orange diamonds, and information and direction signs usually rectangular and green.

Traffic lights

On green, yield to pedestrians when turning. On a yellow light, stop if you safely can; otherwise go with caution. On a red light, if there is no stop line, stop at the crosswalk, marked or not; you may turn right after a complete stop and when the way is clear unless a sign forbids it, and left from one-way to one-way. A flashing red light means a complete stop, a flashing yellow one caution, and blank lights work like an all-way stop. At an advanced green, oncoming traffic still faces red; pedestrians must not cross unless a pedestrian signal says so.

Pedestrian signals

A flashing or steady orange hand means pedestrians must not begin to cross, though those already crossing have the right-of-way over vehicles. Pedestrians may not cross on a flashing green light, nor on a left-turn green arrow, unless a pedestrian signal tells them to.

Pavement markings

Yellow lines separate opposite directions of traffic, white lines the same direction. A solid line at the left of your lane means passing is unsafe; a broken line means you may pass if the way is clear and there are enough broken lines ahead to finish the pass safely. At a pedestrian crossover, marked by two white double lines with an X in each lane, drivers and cyclists must stop before it and yield until pedestrians cross.