The full set lives in the official Highway Code traffic signs guide — this page gives you the system behind them, so unfamiliar signs stop being guesswork.
Circles give orders
A circular sign is an instruction, not a suggestion — you must obey it.
Red ring or red circle: you must NOT
A red ring prohibits. Speed limit signs, no overtaking, no entry, no right turn, no motor vehicles — if it’s circular with red on it, something is forbidden. The number inside a red ring is the maximum speed, never a target.
Blue circle: you MUST
A solid blue circle gives a positive order — something you must do. Turn left ahead, keep left of a bollard, mini-roundabout (give way to traffic from your right), route for cycles only.
Instructor tip
Theory question favourite: the national speed limit sign (white circle with a black diagonal stripe) is a circle giving an order too. On a single carriageway that means 60 mph for a car; on a dual carriageway or motorway, 70 mph.
Triangles warn
A red-bordered triangle warns you about a hazard ahead: bends, junctions, roundabouts, crossroads, pedestrian crossings, animals, slippery roads, road narrowing. The sign doesn’t tell you what to do — it expects you to slow down, check your mirrors and be ready.
Around our patch you’ll meet plenty of them: deer warnings on the wooded stretches near Beccles, tractor and mud warnings on the lanes around Poringland and Loddon, and hump-backed bridge signs along the marshes. Rural Norfolk is a living theory test.
Instructor tip
Two triangles are special. The give way sign is the only one that points downwards — so you can recognise it from behind or covered in snow. And the STOP sign isn’t a triangle at all but an octagon, again so its shape alone is enough. Both come up in the theory test constantly.
Rectangles inform
Rectangular signs give information and directions, and their colour tells you which kind of road you’re dealing with:
- Blue — motorways (and, away from motorways, general information signs like one-way streets).
- Green — primary routes, like the A47 or A146 direction boards you’ll see on lessons all over Norfolk.
- White with black border — local routes, and plates that add detail underneath other signs.
- Brown — tourist attractions: the Broads, the seafront at Great Yarmouth, stately homes.
Road markings
Paint on the road follows its own rule of thumb: the more paint, the stronger the message.
- Short broken centre line — normal lane divider. Cross it only when it’s safe.
- Longer dashes (hazard warning line) — a hazard ahead, often a junction or bend. Don’t cross unless you can see it’s clear well ahead.
- Double white lines, solid nearest you — do not cross or straddle, except to turn into a property or pass a stationary obstruction, a cyclist, horse or road-works vehicle moving at 10 mph or less.
- Single yellow line — waiting restrictions during the times shown on the nearby plate.
- Double yellow lines — no waiting at any time.
- Zigzag lines (white at crossings, yellow outside schools) — no stopping or parking at all. At pedestrian crossings, no overtaking the leading vehicle either.
- Yellow box junction — don’t enter unless your exit is clear (you may wait in the box only to turn right, blocked by oncoming traffic).
- Give way triangle painted on the road — a junction is coming; the big white triangle repeats the sign you’re about to reach.
Highway Code rules every learner needs
The Highway Code has over 300 rules; these are the ones your first months of driving — and your theory test — lean on hardest.
- Speed limits: street lights usually mean 30 mph unless signs say otherwise. National speed limit is 60 on single carriageways, 70 on dual carriageways and motorways — and a limit is a maximum, not a target. On narrow Norfolk lanes the safe speed is often far below it.
- Separation: keep at least a two-second gap to the vehicle in front — double it in the rain, and up to ten times the distance on ice.
- Mirrors, signal, manoeuvre: every change of speed or direction starts with mirrors. Signal in good time, and only when it helps someone.
- The hierarchy of road users: those who can do the greatest harm carry the greatest responsibility. Give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road you’re turning into.
- Passing distances: leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking a cyclist at up to 30 mph, and give horses and pedestrians on rural roads plenty of room at low speed — a daily reality on lessons out of Bungay and Haddiscoe.
- Roundabouts: give way to traffic from your right. Signal left after the exit before yours — and on mini-roundabouts, you must pass around the central markings, not over them.
Instructor tip
Don’t try to memorise the Highway Code cover-to-cover in one go. Ten minutes a day with the official app beats a weekend cram — the rules stick when you spot them on real roads between revision sessions.
Signs and rules sorted? Put them to work in the theory and hazard perception guide, or see how the examiner tests them on the road in our test day guide.