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, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is You are going the wrong way; back out or turn around when it is safe.
The rule behind this one
California road signs, signals and pavement markings goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on signs, signals and pavement markings
- On a two-way road with only one lane going your direction, a single solid yellow line runs along your side of the center. May you pass the slow vehicle ahead?
- A single set of double solid yellow lines separates your side of a two-way street from oncoming traffic. When may you cross them?
- The yellow center line right next to your lane is broken rather than solid. What does that tell you?
- You see a shared roadway bicycle marking painted in your travel lane. What does it tell you?