How to learn UK road signs

Learning UK road signs is something that will unfortunately require you to take the time to study them all. Many signs turn up in the theory test so you do need to take the time to do this. But of course the most important reason is that you will encounter many road signs whilst driving and knowing what they mean and being able to take the appropriate action is key to being a safe driver.

There are some general rules that it is worth remembering when studying the different road signs.

There are two clues to a warning sign. The first is that they are generally triangular in shape; the second is that many of them have a thick red border line around them (although not all of them). Therefore if you see a sign that's triangular with a red border, and it contains a snowflake, then think of warnings related to snow and you should be able to come up with "risk of ice".

Road signs that give you information of some sort are rectangular, for instance a sign telling you that there are traffic cameras in operation.

When it comes to orders and telling you not to do something, then you will usually see a sign with a red circle on them.

For instance, a red bordered circle with a speed inside, say 40, tells you that you cannot go faster than 40, in other words that 40 is the maximum speed in mph that is permitted.

In addition to learning what all the road signs mean, remember that there are also the road markings, and it is essential that you learn and understand what all of these mean in order to be a safe driver. In addition questions on these form part of the bank of driving theory test questions too.

Related Articles...

driving theory test
What causes accidents: junctions
An alarmingly high proportion of accidents happen in and around junctions. This is because of the combination of busy roads, traffic that can be nose to tail and people crossing all sorts of...

The automatic car explained
In most cases, you will learn to drive with a car that has gears in the United Kingdom. However there are people who prefer to learn in an automatic car, and there are various driving schools...

Some common engine faults
It is beyond the scope of the articles here to go into detail about how the engine works and what the various parts of it are. For the theory test you won't need to know a great detail about the...

What signs with a percentage mean
When you are driving in some places, the roads will be up and down in terms of gradient, which refers to how the height of the road changes as you move along it, just like on a hill. When you...

What are greener fuels
One of the most well known of the green fuels is something that is called Biofuel. Biofuel is a group of different fuels rather than an individual fuel in itself, and the class contains things...

Driving Theory Stopping Distances
Stopping distances refer to the distance that you car is going to travel from the time that you decide that you need to press the brake through the time that the vehicle physically stops...

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...

Risks when driving: bright or low sun
When the sun is low and bright, it can be very hard indeed to drive. This is because we may have to squint and the bright light can make it hard to pick out objects and to see, sometimes right in...

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...


Back to home page of driving theory test questions