Traffic Circle Ahead sign

Federal designation W2-6 in the MUTCD, the national standard every state signs to. Increasingly common at intersections converted from traditional signals or stop signs to reduce crash severity, especially in newer suburban developments.

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 circular arrow on the sign shows the direction of travel around the circle, which in the United States is always counterclockwise. Exam questions usually check that you know entering traffic yields to whatever is already inside the circle, the reverse of how many uncontrolled intersections work.

The sign people confuse it with

Traffic Circle Ahead gets mixed up with Cross Road 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.

Traffic Circle AheadA roundabout or traffic circle is ahead where you will need to yield to traffic already circulating before entering

Cross RoadA road crosses ahead

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