Understanding illuminated signals on motorways

The location of the signs and signals that you see on motorway itself tells you some information: who it applies to.

Signs at the edge of the road will apply to all drivers, whilst those that appear above a specific lane for instance from an overhead gantry will apply only to drivers in that particular lane.

Ordinarily these signals are switched off in normal road conditions and just come on when there is some sort of problem affecting normal driving conditions: this could be an accident but in many cases it is due to volume of traffic or perhaps roadwords that are being conducted somewhere along the motorway.

There are amber lights on these signs - two at the top and two at the bottom, and these flash in sequence to help provide a visual clue to you that the sign is on and providing information that you need to read, understand, and react to accordingly adjusting your driving as necessary to conform to the message on the sign. If you see flashing red signals, this means you must stop unless you are able to join another lane.

All of the signs for motorway driving are listed in the highway code and you should take the time to read through them carefully and learn and understand what they all mean. Whilst some of them are obvious - for instance if it says 'Fog' or 'End', not all of them are so obvious and if you can get confused about what the different indicators with regard to which lane you should be in mean, then it is worth learning them.

Some of these signs may crop up in your driving theory test. You can use our sign learning tool for help learning them. Also be sure to sign in and go through all the theory test questions in advance so that you know inside out what the signs mean that might crop up in your driving theory test.

Related Articles...

driving theory test
Typical brake faults outlined
The brakes are a mechanical object and so it is possible that they will develop problems and not function the way that they should be. This is clearly very dangerous because brakes are one of the...

Selecting low gears when driving
When you are driving, you will just learn to change gears without really thinking about what you are doing and when. But generally you will change up gears the faster you are going, and this is...

What to do in an accident situation
If you do have an accident, then you must stop. Whilst you may read about people driving away from the scene of an accident, you should always stop and face up to any responsibilities involving...

Insurance for learner drivers
If you wish to learn to drive and you ever plan to use a private car then you need to ensure the car you are going to use has the appropriate cover. There are various levels of cover, the...

What causes accidents: overtaking
When you overtake a vehicle, there are often many things to consider. First of all you need to ensure that it is, as far as you are aware, safe to do so. Therefore don't overtake close to...

Why communication matters
When you are driving, in the vast majority of occasions there will be at least a fair number of other road users on them at the same time as you. This means that they will be reacting to how YOU...

Who needs to take a theory test
A theory test is part of the process required for anyone who wants to become a qualified driver in the UK. There are two stages to being a standard car driver: first passing a theory test, and then...

Driving Theory Test
Until relatively recently in driving history, there was no theory test. From the time the first person passed a driving test in the UK in 1935 through to 1996, there was no separate theory test. ...

Practical Driving Test
There is an online booking system available for a practical driving test which you can access from the DirectGov website. The web address to do this is: ...

Using emergency telephones
There are emergency telephones along motorways. There are telephones that occur roughly once per mile along the motorway which are connected to the emergency services. There are also blue and...


Back to home page of driving theory test questions