Signs, signals and markings in Indiana

By the end of this topic you can

• You can name the meaning of the seven sign colors the manual lists.
• You can identify the seven common sign shapes.
• You can explain steady, flashing and arrow signals.
• You can respond to pedestrian hybrid beacons and rapid flashing beacons.
• You can read yellow and white lane markings and know when you may cross them.

What you need to know and understand

• Red signs need immediate action (Stop, Wrong Way). White signs show regulations. Yellow signs warn. Fluorescent yellow-green warns of schools, pedestrians, bicycles and playgrounds.
• Orange is for temporary conditions such as road work. Green gives directions. Blue shows services. Brown marks recreation and cultural sites.
• Octagon means stop. Triangle means yield. Diamond warns of hazards. Pentagon marks a school area. A circle warns of a railroad crossing. A pennant on the left marks a no-passing zone.
• Rectangles can be regulatory, guide or advisory signs, such as speed limits or a curve advisory speed.
• Yellow lines separate opposite directions. White lines separate lanes going the same way.
• A slow-moving vehicle emblem (orange center, red border) marks a vehicle that cannot exceed 25 mph.

Signs you will see on Indiana country roads

Indiana's warning sign examples include several that suit a farming state: horse-drawn buggy, cattle, deer, farm machinery and golf cart crossings, plus Watch For Ice On Bridges. In some areas you will share the road with horse-drawn buggies, and riders of horses or horse-drawn vehicles have the same rights and duties as drivers. Tall crops such as corn can also hide cross traffic at rural intersections in summer.

Reading the signals

• Steady yellow: your right of way is ending. Stop if you safely can.
• Flashing yellow: slow down and go through with caution. Cross traffic must yield to you, but watch for anyone who does not.
• Flashing red: treat it as a stop sign.
• Rectangular rapid flashing beacon: yellow lights at a crosswalk that flash only when a pedestrian activates them. Be ready to yield.
• Pedestrian hybrid beacon: dark until a pedestrian presses the button, then flashing yellow, steady yellow, two steady reds while people cross, then flashing reds. On flashing red you may go after stopping if the crosswalk is clear.
• Bicycle signals apply only to bicyclists, and signals with white bars apply only to buses or transit.

Lane markings and colored pavement

You may cross a broken yellow line to pass when it is safe, but not a solid yellow line on your side except to turn. You may cross a broken white line to change lanes; do not cross a solid white line. A center lane with alternating arrows is for left turns only.

Green pavement highlights bike lanes and red pavement highlights bus or transit lanes. A sharrow (a bike symbol with two arrows) reminds drivers to expect bicyclists in the travel lane.

Work zones and flaggers

Orange signs announce work zones, lane closures and added penalties for violations in work sites. Stop when a flagger holds a flag straight out across your lane or shows a STOP paddle, and go slowly only when directed or shown SLOW. A flashing arrow board pointing a direction tells you to merge; one with no direction means caution only.

Common mistakes

• Mixing up the pentagon (school area) with the diamond (general warning).
• Treating a flashing yellow light as permission to speed through without checking cross traffic.
• Driving through a pedestrian hybrid beacon while it shows steady red.
• Crossing a solid white line to jump into a turn lane at the last moment.

Test yourself: Signs, signals and markings in Indiana

Answer each question, then read the explanation. Questions come in a random order each time.

Go deeper

• Indiana Permit Practice Test
• Indiana Bioptic Driver Program
• Indiana Permit Test