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    What do these signs mean?

    DVSA-style practice question · Road and Traffic Signs

    Illustration for the theory test question: What do these signs mean?

    The answer options

    • Picnic are
    • Emergency diversion routeCorrect
    • Cycle route
    • Pedestrian route

    Why the other options are wrong

    • “Picnic are” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which emergency diversion route does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.
    • “Cycle route” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which emergency diversion route does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.
    • “Pedestrian route” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which emergency diversion route does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.

    Why that is the answer

    Black symbols such as triangles, circles, squares, or diamonds on a yellow background mark emergency diversion routes. The Highway Code shows these are used to guide drivers around closures on motorways or major A-roads and safely back onto the original route. Drivers should follow the specific symbol shown for their route. They do not indicate cycle or pedestrian routes, nor tourist areas like picnic spots, which use entirely different coloured signs.

    What road and traffic signs covers

    • · Shape and colour rules for orders, warnings and information
    • · Regulatory signs including no entry, no waiting and weight limits
    • · Warning triangles for bends, junctions, crossings and gradients
    • · Road markings: give way lines, hatching, box junctions, edge lines

    Mistakes learners repeat on this topic

    • · Reading a blue circle as advice rather than a compulsory instruction
    • · Confusing the no-entry sign with the no-motor-vehicles sign
    • · Assuming hatched areas bordered by a broken line may never be entered
    • · Missing that the end-of-restriction sign returns you to the national limit, not to 30

    Instructor tip: Answer from the shape first, then check the pictogram — it stops you second-guessing on the look-alike pairs.

    How this comes up in the real test

    Questions from road and traffic signs appear throughout the 50-question multiple-choice section, and the wording changes between versions. Learn the rule rather than the sentence: the DVSA can ask the same point from the opposite direction, and a memorised answer falls over the moment the phrasing moves.

    The pass mark is 43 out of 50, so seven wrong answers is your entire margin. If a whole category is shaky, run the topic practice below until you are getting every question right for the right reason, then go back to full mocks under the clock.

    Practise Road and Traffic SignsSit a full mock test

    More road and traffic signs questions

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