When you get behind the wheel, you need to pay close attention to road signs because they are essential for the safety of all road users, yourself included. New drivers may find the surfeit of road signs more than somewhat intimidating even though they might have learned their meanings in their driver’s education courses. Every road sign is in a specific color for a reason. If you know the color-coding, you can immediately understand them and take action as required. Since it never hurts to refresh your memory, here’s a list of different road sign colors and their meanings:
Red Signs
Red-colored signs signal you that you must stop or yield way for others. Also, red is used for signs that point out things that you cannot do on the road like entering it, taking a U-turn, parking, turning, or the wrong way. Red signs have the highest priority as violating them can compromise the safety of all road users.
Green Signs
All direction signs are colored green. It is why you will find signs with the names of the street, mile markers, exit signs, and signs showing directions or the distance to a specific place, all colored green.
Blue Signs
Street signs colored blue do not regulate the behavior of drivers. Instead, they display the availability of services for road users like restrooms, hospitals, restaurants, gas stations, places of tourist interest, picnic areas, campgrounds, and other conveniences that motorists commonly seek when driving on highways and expressways.
Yellow Signs
Signs colored yellow act as general signs of warning to indicate that the road conditions ahead change and merit special attention. They also indicate the presence of potential hazards on the road ahead like narrow bridges, railway crossings, and pedestrian crossings; merge points, uneven surfaces, dead ends, etc.
Fluorescent Yellow/Green Signs
A relatively new introduction on the roads, these signs typically relate to warnings indicating the presence of schools, pedestrians, and cyclists. The colors are also finding increasing use in signs indicating construction work. The advantage of these fluorescent colors is that they are more visible even when it is raining or the weather is foggy.
Orange Signs
Orange signs on the road are typically displayed to indicate temporary work like road repairs, traffic control, and warnings about maintenance activities, according to the US Department of Transportation. When you see orange signs, you must be extra careful as there may be workers or construction staff in the area or the road.
Brown Signs
Just like blue-colored signs, brown signs are not intended to regulate the activity of road users. Brown signs either mark or show the directions to picnic areas, parks, sites and monuments of historical interest, tourism spots, and recreational areas.
Conclusion
When driving on the road, you must always be extra careful to pay attention to road signs. While there are many different kinds of signs, the first thing you will notice is their color. It is important to know that the color of a road sign is not arbitrary; instead, it stands for something particular that you should know and understand.