Right Lane Ends sign

Federal designation W4-2 in the MUTCD, the national standard every state signs to. Posted well before a highway merge point or wherever a multi lane road drops back to one lane in each direction, usually with a second sign closer to the actual taper.

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

The arrow on this sign shows exactly which lane is closing, so read the picture rather than assuming it is always the right one. Riding the ending lane to the front of the merge and forcing your way in at the last second is the behavior examiners mark down hardest.

The sign people confuse it with

Right Lane Ends gets mixed up with Lane Ends 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.

Right Lane EndsThe lane you are in is about to disappear

Lane EndsThe road narrows ahead and one lane will disappear

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