Exempt Crossing sign

Federal designation R15-3 in the MUTCD, the national standard every state signs to. Posted at lower risk crossings, often ones with gates or very light rail traffic, where forcing every bus and truck to stop would add little safety benefit.

How to recognise it

This sign is a square in white, the standard background for a rule you must obey. A round yellow advance warning, then the white crossbuck at the tracks themselves. The crossbuck has the legal force of a yield sign, which surprises a lot of test takers.

What the test wants you to know

An ordinary driver was never required to stop at a crossbuck unless a train is actually coming, so this plaque is not really about you, it is about vehicle classes with a stricter default rule. Test questions on this sign are usually checking whether you know which vehicles that mandatory stop law targets in the first place.

The sign people confuse it with

Exempt Crossing gets mixed up with Crossbuck 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.

Exempt CrossingMounted below a crossbuck or stop sign, this plaque tells certain vehicles, such as school buses or hazardous material carriers, that the law requiring them to stop at every railroad crossing does not apply here

CrossbuckMarks the railroad crossing itself

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