Match the sign to its meaning

Why matching is harder than picking one of three

With a multiple choice question you can often get to the answer by elimination. If two options are plainly wrong, the third one wins even when you do not know the sign. Here each meaning is the right answer for one of the six signs on the board, so every option looks reasonable and the only way through is to recognize the sign.

That makes this game a fair check on whether you know a sign or only half know it. When you can clear a round with no misses, the same signs will not slow you down on a test.

When you get stuck, read the outline

Look at the border and the background before the symbol in the middle. US signs follow one national system, so the kind of sign shows before the details do:

• Red, white and black signs give an order. A red circle with a slash means the thing drawn inside is not allowed.
• Yellow diamonds warn you about the road ahead: curves, merges, crossings, a signal you cannot see yet.
• Orange marks work on or next to the road.
• A five-sided sign means a school is close. A round yellow sign means railroad tracks ahead.

With that alone you can sort half the board. A yellow diamond describes the road ahead and never forbids anything, and a red and white sign gives you an order. The California road signs guide covers shapes and colors with the handbook page for each point.

Where the meanings come from

Each meaning is our own short wording of what the sign requires, checked against the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the national standard that defines every sign used on US roads, and against the California Driver's Handbook when it covers the sign or its rule. The references are printed under each sign in the list on the games page.

Once the signs feel easy, try a California practice test to see them next to the rest of the rules.