Sixty three of the 368 questions in the Gibraltar bank are about traffic signs, and they are the fastest marks on the paper. You either recognise the sign or you do not. There is no working it out.
The good news is that most of the meaning is carried by the shape, before you have read a single word.
Circles give orders
A circle tells you what you must or must not do, and the colour says which.
A red ring forbids something. No entry, no overtaking, no waiting, no vehicles over a certain height or width. If it has a red ring around it, you are being told to stop doing something or not to start.
A blue circle instructs something. Ahead only, turn left, keep right, a route for cycles only. Blue is not a suggestion either. It is an order, just a positive one.
Triangles warn
A red bordered triangle always means a hazard is coming. Bend ahead, road narrows, slippery road, steep hill, pedestrians, level crossing, roundabout. Nothing is being demanded of you; you are being told what is about to happen.
There is one triangle that behaves differently. Give way points downwards, and it is the only sign that does. That shape is unique so it can be recognised even when it is dirty, faded, or seen at an angle.
Rectangles inform
Directions, information, one way traffic. A blue rectangle is telling you something rather than ordering it.
The octagon
Stop is the only eight sided sign, for exactly the same reason give way is the only downward triangle. Its outline is unmistakable even if you cannot read the face. The paper tests this directly: you must stop even if the road is clear.
The pairs that catch people
A handful of signs differ from each other by one detail, and the paper deliberately puts them near each other.
- Road narrows on the left, on the right, or on both sides. Look at which edge kinks inward.
- Bend to the left against double bend first to left. One curve or two.
- No waiting against no stopping. One red diagonal bar means waiting is restricted. A red cross means you cannot stop at all.
- Height limit against width limit. The arrows point up and down for height, and outward to each side for width.
How to learn them
Reading a chart does not work. Being shown a sign, guessing, and being told immediately does. The traffic signs section is free here, all sixty three questions, with the artwork printed on the official paper.