K53

Module 2 of 26

Signs that tell you to

Command signs are blue discs with a white symbol. Where a prohibition sign tells you what you may not do, these tell you what you must — and there is no discretion in them.

Command signs are blue discs, and every one of them is an instruction. Where a prohibition sign says what you may not do, these say what you must.

Blue means do it

Regulatory signs split three ways by colour and shape. Red-and-white rings forbid. Blue discs command. Blue and white rectangles inform or reserve.

If you learn nothing else about a blue disc, learn that it is not advice. Ignoring one is the same class of offence as ignoring a red light.

Direction arrows

A blue disc with a white arrow pointing straight up.

A white arrow on a blue disc tells you the only direction you may take. Straight up means straight ahead only — you may not turn at that intersection at all.

A horizontal arrow means turn now, in that direction. There is no discretion in it: if the sign says left, going straight is an offence.

Where people lose the markReading a direction arrow as a suggestion about the best route. It is the only permitted route.

Keep left and keep right

A blue disc with a white arrow slanting downwards to the left.

These two look like direction arrows but do a different job. The arrow slants downwards, and it tells you which side of an obstruction or island to pass.

You will see them on the approach to a traffic island, a construction barrier or a bridge pier. They are about which side of an object to go, not about which way the road goes.

Work it through

A blue disc with a white arrow slanting down to the left sits on a traffic island in the middle of your road.

Pass to the left of the island.

The arrow points at the side you must take. Passing on the other side puts you into oncoming traffic.

Minimum speed

A blue disc with a number on it in white.

A number on a blue disc is a minimum, not a maximum. A white 50 on blue means you may not travel slower than 50 km/h.

The same number in black inside a red ring is the opposite — a maximum. Colour is what separates them, and the test knows that people confuse the two.

Where people lose the markReading a blue 50 as a speed limit. Blue commands, red forbids.

Carry this into the practice

  • Blue disc = must. Red ring = must not.
  • A blue number is a minimum speed; a red-ringed number is a maximum.
  • Keep-left and keep-right are about passing an object, not about the direction of the road.