Georgia road signs test

How does the Georgia road signs test work?

You take it on a computer at a DDS center, right alongside the Road Rules test. Each test is 20 questions with a pass mark of 15, and you must pass both. If you fail the signs part, you pay the $10 fee again and retest after 1 day, or after 7 days if it's your second fail.

DDS's testing page lists 26 languages for both parts of the exam. Its license FAQ still says the signs test is English only, so if you need it in another language, ask the center before you start.

Regulatory signs: rules you must follow

Regulatory signs are mostly upright rectangles that tell you what you must or must not do. A red circle with a slash means no. The keep right sign matters in Georgia: the 'Slow Poke' law says you must move out of the left lane when faster traffic comes up behind you, whatever your speed.

• Stop: the only eight-sided sign
• Yield: let traffic in the intersection go first
• Do not enter this road from here
• Wrong way: you're facing traffic
• Speed limit in good conditions
• No U-turn
• No turn on red, even after a full stop
• Slower traffic keeps right
• One way: traffic moves only toward the arrow

Warning signs: what's ahead

Warning signs are usually yellow diamonds with black words or symbols. The railroad sign is round instead. For deer, the manual is blunt: never swerve to avoid one. Slow down as much as you can, and expect another to follow.

• Curve ahead: slow down before it
• Crossroad ahead
• Stop sign ahead
• Merging traffic from the side
• Slippery when wet
• Deer crossing: slow down, never swerve
• Railroad crossing ahead: the round sign
• Railroad crossbuck: the tracks are here

School and work zone signs

The five-sided sign marks a school zone or crossing, and the manual says it's placed 150 to 700 feet before the school grounds. Orange means a work zone. Georgia fines for speeding in a work zone run from $100 to $2,000.

• School zone or crossing: five sides
• School crossing here
• School speed limit when the lights flash
• School bus stop ahead
• Road work ahead
• Flagger ahead: do what the flagger says
• Workers on or near the road

Traffic signals

The flashing yellow arrow is the one people miss. It lets you turn left, but oncoming traffic may have a green light, so you wait for a gap and check for people in the crosswalk.

• Red: stop before the crosswalk or intersection
• Yellow: the light is about to turn red
• Green: go if it's safe
• Flashing red: stop, as at a stop sign
• Flashing yellow: slow down and take care
• Green arrow: go only the way it points
• Yellow arrow: clear the intersection
• Flashing yellow arrow: turn left after yielding

Lines on the road

Yellow lines separate traffic going opposite ways, and white lines separate lanes going the same way. Georgia law lets you use the shared center lane for one thing only: making a left turn.

• Broken yellow: passing allowed when safe
• Solid yellow on your side: don't pass
• Double solid yellow: no passing either way
• Center turn lane: left turns only
• Broken white: lanes going the same way
• Double solid white: no lane changes
• Bike lane: keep out except to cross