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    What does this sign mean?

    DVSA-style practice question · Road and Traffic Signs

    Illustration for the theory test question: What does this sign mean?

    The answer options

    • Vehicles may not park on the verge
    • Vehicles may park fully on the vergeCorrect
    • Vehicles may park on the left only
    • Vehicles may only park on the right hand side

    Why the other options are wrong

    • “Vehicles may not park on the verge” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which vehicles may park fully on the verge 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.
    • “Vehicles may park on the left only” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which vehicles may park fully on the verge 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.
    • “Vehicles may only park on the right hand side” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which vehicles may park fully on the verge 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

    This square blue sign indicates that parking fully on the verge or footway is permitted in this area. Local authorities use these signs where roads are narrow, helping to keep the carriageway clear for passing traffic. Drivers often confuse this with a prohibition sign, but blue rectangular signs give positive instruction or permission. Red-bordered circular signs are used to show restrictions or prohibitions instead. Always park within any marked bays provided.

    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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