Winding Road sign

Federal designation W1-5 in the MUTCD, the national standard every state signs to. Found on mountain passes, canyon roads and other long stretches where the highway follows uneven terrain for a mile or more.

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

Unlike a single curve or reverse curve sign, this one warns that the twisting continues beyond what you can see, so the expected habit is holding a reduced speed through the whole stretch rather than accelerating back up between bends. A speed plaque mounted underneath applies to the entire section, not just the first curve.

The sign people confuse it with

Winding Road gets mixed up with Reverse Curve 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.

Winding RoadA series of three or more curves lies ahead, alternating direction over a longer stretch

Reverse CurveThe road bends one way and then immediately the opposite way, forming an S shape

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