Signal Ahead at Crossroad sign

Posted on the approach to busier intersections where sight lines to the actual signal head are limited, most often just past a hill crest or a bend.

How to recognise it

This sign is a diamond stood on its point in yellow, the warning colour. Yellow diamonds telling you what the road is about to do. They are advisory rather than mandatory, but ignoring them is how people end up in ditches and how examiners end up failing you.

What the test wants you to know

This combination tells you two things a plain Signal Ahead sign does not: that cross traffic exists at all, and that the crossing is controlled by lights rather than signs, which matters if you are planning a turn and need to judge a protected arrow against a permissive green. It typically appears where the signal head itself is hidden by a hill, curve or trees, the same logic behind the standalone signal ahead sign.

The sign people confuse it with

Signal Ahead at Crossroad gets mixed up with Traffic Signal Ahead more than any other pairing in this category. Put them side by side and the difference is obvious, which is exactly why it is worth doing once rather than meeting them cold in the exam.

Signal Ahead at CrossroadA crossroad ahead is controlled by a traffic signal rather than a stop or yield sign

Traffic Signal AheadA traffic light is coming, often where you cannot see it in time otherwise

Practise it

Reading about a sign is not the same as recognising it in half a second with an examiner watching. Every state road signs test on this site shows the sign and asks you to name it, then shows four faces and asks you to pick the right one.

Take a road signs test