Who may not be here

Pedestrians, cyclists, animals, heavy vehicles, hazardous loads. These exclude rather than restrict, and two of them run for a set distance instead of to the next junction, which is the detail that catches people out.

The prohibition signs that do not restrict what you do — they say who or what may not be on this road at all.

A class, not an action

A white disc with a red rim, showing the black silhouette of a goods vehicle.

These carry a symbol of a road user rather than a manoeuvre. A goods vehicle, a pedestrian, a bicycle. The sign is telling that class to go another way.

If you are not in that class, the sign does not restrict you at all. That is the difference between this family and the turn or stopping prohibitions.

The rest of this lesson

Two of them run for 500 metres
The quiet one
The thumb