NSW road signs and traffic lights explained

Stop and give way signs

These two signs decide who goes first at a great many NSW intersections, and they are not interchangeable.

• The red octagon STOP sign means a complete stop at the line, every single time.
• After stopping, give way to any vehicle or person you would otherwise cross or hit.
• The give way sign is a triangle with its point down, a red border and black lettering.
• At a give way sign you slow and look, and you only stop if someone needs to go first.
• A stop ahead or give way ahead sign warns you that one of these is coming up.
• LEFT TURN ON RED PERMITTED AFTER STOPPING: halt at the red first, then make the left turn once it is safe, letting traffic and people on foot go before you.
• A give way triangle ringed by circling arrows marks a roundabout, so everyone already going round has priority over you.

An empty road does not excuse you at a stop sign. The full stop is required even when nothing is coming.

Red ring signs: what you must not do

A round sign with a red ring sets a ban, and the picture inside tells you which move is off limits.

• No entry: do not drive past the sign into that road, often because it runs one way towards you.
• No U-turn: U-turns are banned where the sign applies.
• No left turn and no right turn: a red stroke through the arrow cancels that turn.
• These bans hold on an empty road too. Only times printed on the sign itself can switch one off.
• A speed limit sign is also a number in a red circle, and it sets the maximum from there on.

Signs for direction and lanes

Some signs ban nothing. They point you in the only direction you are allowed to take, or say who a lane is for.

• Keep left: drive around the island or obstruction on its left side.
• One way: the arrow shows the single direction every vehicle on that road must travel.
• TWO WAY: traffic ahead runs in both directions, often where a one way street finishes, so keep left and expect cars coming at you.
• RIGHT LANE MUST TURN RIGHT: once you are in that lane, the coming intersection means a right turn for you, whatever you had planned, so settle on your lane early.
• A turn arrow above the word ONLY: no vehicle there may go any direction but the one shown.
• KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING: the right lane is for passing, turning right or getting around an obstruction, and nothing else.
• Lane signs such as bus lane and transit lane set who may use a lane during its hours. A transit number counts everyone on board, driver included, and motorbikes may use any transit lane.

Yellow warning signs

Yellow diamond signs do not create a rule of their own. They tell you what is coming so you can slow down early.

• Animals: kangaroos, cattle or other stock may be on the road, most often around dawn and dusk. A plate underneath, such as NEXT 30 km, says how far the warning runs, so keep watching for all of it.
• Road shape: a sharp bend, a hairpin that doubles back on itself, a snaking arrow for a run of bends, a narrowing road, or a steep descent, where you change to a lower gear before you start down.
• What you cannot see: CREST means a hilltop hides the road beyond, so slow down and keep left. DIP means a sudden hollow in the surface, so slow before it.
• Room running out: a narrow bridge barely fits two vehicles side by side, and when a divided road ends, oncoming traffic shares your road. Slow down and keep left for both. A road divides sign means a median is about to split the two directions.
• Junctions: a T-intersection, a crossroad where traffic can join or cross from either side, a side road that vehicles may pull out of, a roundabout, or traffic lights hidden by a hill or curve.
• Who may be on the road: children crossing, people walking where there is no marked crossing, bike riders, trucks entering or crossing, plus a road hump or a slippery surface.
• A yellow speed plate under a bend sign is the safe speed for that curve in good conditions. In the wet, take it slower still.

Quick sort for the test: eight red sides stop you, a point-down triangle puts you second, a red ring forbids, and yellow means heads up.

Roadworks signs

Roadwork signs are rectangles rather than diamonds, and every one of them is a cue to slow down and be ready to stop.

• Workers ahead: ease off and be ready to stop, even when nobody is in sight. Machines and bends can hide people.
• Traffic controller ahead: someone holding a STOP and SLOW bat is in charge of the traffic, and you do exactly what they show.
• A controller's directions beat the usual rules wherever they stand, including at an intersection where the lights are out.
• Lane ends: move into the lane that carries on, giving way to vehicles already travelling in it.
• STOP HERE ON RED SIGNAL: at portable traffic lights, this sign marks where you wait while the light is red.

Railway crossing signs

Level crossing signs tell you how much checking the tracks need from you, from a look both ways to a full stop.

• A yellow diamond with railway tracks warns of a level crossing ahead. Some have no lights or gates, so the checking is up to you.
• A diamond showing a crossbuck with two lamps means the crossing ahead has flashing signals, so slow down and be ready to stop.
• Crossbuck above a stop sign: a full stop on every approach, a check in both directions, and across only when the line is clear of trains.
• Crossbuck above a give way sign: ease right off, check each way along the line and let any train have the crossing.
• Crossbuck with red lights: flashing means you wait, and you keep waiting until any gates have gone up.

Traffic light rules

Traffic signals look simple, but DKT questions test the moments in between colours.

• Red: stop behind the stop line and stay there until the light turns green.
• Steady yellow: stop, unless you are so close that braking would be unsafe. If it changes as you are already entering the intersection, carry on through.
• Green circle: go straight, left or right when safe, giving way to people crossing as you turn and to oncoming traffic as you turn right. Check the intersection is clear first, in case someone runs their red.
• Green arrow: you may only go the way it points, and while the round light is red, every other direction keeps waiting.
• Red arrow: no turning that way until it goes off, even at an hour when the road is deserted.
• Flashing yellow arrow: turn only once oncoming traffic and pedestrians are clear.
• Lights dark or flashing yellow: obey any stop or give way sign, such as the stop sign with three black circles kept for this, and with none, use the normal intersection rules.

White B and T signals only release buses and trams. A car facing a red light keeps waiting.