Railroad Crossing Ahead sign

How to recognise it

This sign is a circle in yellow, the warning colour. 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

The round yellow sign is the only circular warning sign in the system and exists purely for railroad crossings. Remember it as the advance warning, not the crossing itself.

The sign people confuse it with

Railroad Crossing Ahead 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.

Railroad Crossing AheadA railroad crossing is ahead

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