PassPathK53

K53 road signs and their meanings

By The PassPath Team · Updated

Road signs are 28 of the 64 questions in the K53 learners test, and you may only get five of them wrong. Learning the groups first is worth more than learning the pictures: once you know what a group obliges you to do, a sign you have never seen still tells you something. Here are the groups, what each one means in law, and drawings of the signs a car learner meets.

Every drawing here was made for PassPath from the prescribed design and is named from the manual’s own legend. Sources last re-checked on . For Code 2 (car) learners. Motorbike (Code 1) and heavy vehicle (Code 3) aren't covered yet.

This page shows 29 signs across five groups. The prescribed signs run to several hundred, which of them the test draws from is not published, and we do not claim this is the examinable set. Per-group pages with every sign in each group are next.

Regulatory signs

Regulatory signs regulate and control what road users do. They either prohibit something or command it.

Failing to obey a regulatory sign is an offence, punishable by a fine or imprisonment or both. This is the group where a sign is not advice.

Shape. Ordinarily round. The manual names exactly three exceptions: the octagonal stop sign, the triangular yield sign, and the diamond-shaped pedestrian priority signs. No other regulatory sign uses those shapes, so at a distance, in poor light or on a faded sign, the shape alone tells you which of the three you are looking at.

  • STOP
    STOP
  • YIELD
    YIELD
  • NO ENTRY
    NO ENTRY
  • ONE-WAY ROADWAY (LEFT)
    ONE-WAY ROADWAY (LEFT)
  • PROCEED LEFT ONLY
    PROCEED LEFT ONLY
  • PROCEED STRAIGHT ONLY
    PROCEED STRAIGHT ONLY
  • SPEED LIMIT 60
    SPEED LIMIT 60
  • NO LEFT TURN
    NO LEFT TURN
  • R217 Stopping prohibited sign. A round plate with a wide red border and a white face. One mark in black and red over about a quarter of the face. It is not the same left and right: the ink with no mirror on the other side lies to the right.
    Stopping prohibited sign

Warning signs

Warning signs alert you in time to a dangerous or potentially dangerous condition on the road or next to it.

A warning sign does not itself command an action. It tells you what is coming so that you can decide on one, which is why the distance in front of the hazard matters as much as the picture on the face.

Shape. Ordinarily triangular.

  • W101 Crossroad sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. One mark in black over about a quarter of the face.
    Crossroad sign
  • W104 T- & skew T-junction sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. One mark in black over about a sixth of the face.
    T- & skew T-junction sign
  • W201 Traffic circle sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. 3 separate marks in black over about a fifth of the face.
    Traffic circle sign
  • W204 Sharp curve sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. One mark in black over about a fifth of the face, set to the left of centre. It is not the same left and right: the ink with no mirror on the other side lies to the left. The marks run up to the right.
    Sharp curve sign
  • W318 Railway crossing sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. 2 separate marks in black over about a third of the face, low on the face. It is not the same left and right: the ink with no mirror on the other side lies to the left.
    Railway crossing sign
  • W326 Narrow bridge sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. 2 separate marks in black over about a sixth of the face.
    Narrow bridge sign
  • W332 Speed humps sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. One mark in black over about a sixth of the face, low on the face.
    Speed humps sign
  • W333 Slippery road sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. 3 separate marks in black over about a sixth of the face. It is not the same left and right: the ink with no mirror on the other side lies to the left.
    Slippery road sign
  • W339 General warning sign. An upright triangle with a wide red border and a white face. 2 separate marks in black over about a tenth of the face, high on the face.
    General warning sign

Guidance and information signs

Guidance signs are an aid to the road user: where a road goes, which lane to be in, what is ahead. Information signs supply general information.

Neither group creates an obligation of its own. Regulation 285(1) of the National Road Traffic Regulations draws the line: a regulatory sign directs you to take or not take a specific action, and disregarding it is an offence, while a guidance or information sign indicates a destination, a direction, a distance or an amenity, or imparts general information and advice.

Shape. Guidance signs are ordinarily rectangular: short messages on small plates, longer ones on bigger plates. Information signs are the one group the manual gives no ordinary shape of its own.

  • IN7 Right of way sign. A diamond-shaped plate with a white face. 2 separate marks in yellow and black over about two fifths of the face.
    Right of way sign
  • IN12 Information centre sign. A rectangular plate with a green face. 3 separate marks in white over about a third of the face.
    Information centre sign
  • GS103 Traffic movement affected by obstruction. A rectangular plate with a wide red border and a white face. 4 separate marks in black and red over about a quarter of the face, set to the left of centre and high on the face. It is not the same left and right: the ink with no mirror on the other side lies to the left.
    Traffic movement affected by obstruction

Temporary signs

Temporary signs are used where the normal standards do not apply: road works, maintenance, construction, collision scenes, and temporary traffic control including school grounds and scholar patrols.

A temporary sign carries the same force as the permanent sign it stands in for. The manual's own instruction is that normal standards are not applicable and more attention must therefore be given to the specific circumstances. In plain terms: this is where you are most likely to meet something you were not expecting.

Shape. The same shape as the permanent sign, on a yellow face, with a T in front of the number. The permanent speed limit sign R201 becomes the temporary TR201.

  • PROCEED LEFT ONLY (temporary)
    PROCEED LEFT ONLY (temporary)
  • SPEED LIMIT 60 (temporary)
    SPEED LIMIT 60 (temporary)
  • AXLE MASSLOAD LIMIT 2 t (temporary)
    AXLE MASSLOAD LIMIT 2 t (temporary)
  • NO LEFT TURN (temporary)
    NO LEFT TURN (temporary)

Road markings

Road markings regulate, control and warn by defining the limits of the carriageway and the traffic lanes and by directing traffic in a particular direction.

As with regulatory signs, it is an offence to disregard a regulatory road marking. A stop line and a yield line have their full effect even where no sign is posted: where there is no stop sign at all, the stop line on its own means what a stop sign means.

  • RM1 No overtaking marking. One view of dark grey road surface. 3 separate marks in white and black over about a tenth of the road surface.
    No overtaking marking
  • RM3 Channelizing line marking. One view of dark grey road surface. 3 separate marks in white and black over about a sixth of the road surface.
    Channelizing line marking
  • RTM1 Stop line marking. One view of dark grey road surface with green ground along the left side. 5 separate marks in white over about a tenth of the road surface, high on the road surface. It is not the same left and right: the ink with no mirror on the other side lies to the left.
    Stop line marking
  • WM5 Yield sign ahead marking. One view of dark grey road surface with green ground along the left side. 2 separate marks in white and black over about a twelfth of the road surface, set to the right of centre. It is not the same left and right: the ink with no mirror on the other side lies to the right.
    Yield sign ahead marking

The group that is not on this page

The manual gives six groups, not five. The sixth is traffic signals, which regulate vehicles and pedestrians and which you are also punished for disobeying. They are not drawings on a plate, so they are taught in the course rather than shown here. Temporary signs, which have a section above, are not a group of their own in the manual: they are the same signs on a yellow face with a T in front of the number.

Where every fact on this page comes from

Each claim, its source, and how strongly we can stand behind it.

  • Road traffic signs are divided into six main groups: regulatory, warning, guidance, information, road markings and traffic signals, and the purpose of each.

    Manual on Road Traffic Signs, Department of Transport learner manual Part 2, version 1.00, June 2012, section 1, page 2, read directly

    OFFICIAL MANUAL

  • Regulatory signs are ordinarily round, with three named exceptions: the octagonal stop sign, the triangular yield sign and the diamond-shaped pedestrian priority signs. Warning signs are ordinarily triangular and guidance signs ordinarily rectangular.

    Manual on Road Traffic Signs, Part 2, section 1, page 2, read directly

    OFFICIAL MANUAL

  • Disregarding a regulatory sign, or a regulatory road marking, is an offence punishable by a fine or imprisonment or both.

    Manual on Road Traffic Signs, Part 2, section 1, pages 2 and 3, read directly

    OFFICIAL MANUAL

  • A regulatory sign directs a road user to take or not to take a specific action and disregarding it is an offence, while a guidance or information sign only indicates or informs.

    National Road Traffic Regulations 2000, regulation 285(1), read directly

    GAZETTED

  • A number beginning with T marks a temporary sign, on a yellow face, and temporary signs are used where the normal standards do not apply.

    Manual on Road Traffic Signs, Part 2, section 1, page 3, read directly

    OFFICIAL MANUAL

  • A stop line and a yield line carry their full effect even where no sign is posted.

    Manual on Road Traffic Signs, Part 2, section 7.1, pages 49 to 50, read directly

    OFFICIAL MANUAL

  • The drawings on this page.

    Drawn for PassPath from the designs prescribed in Schedule 1 of the National Road Traffic Regulations and set out in the SA Road Traffic Signs Manual. They are our own artwork, not scans, and each one is named from the manual's own legend.

    PASSPATH

  • How many signs are examinable, and which ones.

    The list of signs the learner's test draws from is not published. The prescribed signs run to several hundred, this page shows a selection of the ones a Code 2 learner meets, and we do not claim it is the examinable set.

    NOT PUBLISHED

OFFICIAL MANUAL
: From the Department of Transport's own learner manuals, the material the state tells you to study. We read them directly.
GAZETTED
: We read the government notice or regulation itself.
PASSPATH
: A description of our own software.
NOT PUBLISHED
: This is not published, so we say so instead of guessing.

Test format based on official statements as at 4 September 2026. These pages cover the K53 learner's licence test for Code 2, a light motor vehicle. PassPath is an independent study tool: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or accredited by the RTMC, the Department of Transport, or any driving licence testing centre.