Signs, signals and pavement markings
You are driving at night and the reflectors along the road ahead shine red in your headlights. What does that tell you?
- You are going the wrong way; back out or turn around when it is safe. Correct answer
- You are going the wrong way; stop where you are and put on your emergency flashers.
- Your lane is about to end; look for a sign telling you to exit or merge.
Why
Red reflectors at night are the handbook's wrong-way warning: if the road reflectors shine red in your headlights, you are facing traffic on a road you should not be on. DO NOT ENTER and WRONG WAY signs may also be posted, and the instruction that goes with all of it is a single one, to back out or turn around when it is safe. Stopping in place with your flashers on is the handbook's procedure for a vehicle that has broken down, not for a wrong-way entry. The lane-ending answer belongs to a different marking altogether, the large broken lines that warn you a freeway or street lane is ending. Color tells you which way you are facing; large broken lines tell you how much lane you have left.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, DL 600 ENGLISH (REV. 6/2025). The correct answer is You are going the wrong way; back out or turn around when it is safe..