South African Road Signs and What They Mean
All 420 road signs in South Africa, grouped the way the manual groups them
South African road signs are set by the South African Road Traffic Signs Manual, and every sign belongs to one of seven groups: control, command, prohibition, reservation, warning, information and temporary. Learn the group first and most of the test answers itself: a red triangle always warns of something ahead, a red-bordered circle always forbids something, a blue circle always commands something, a blue rectangle always informs or reserves, a green rectangle guides, and a yellow background always means temporary — and a temporary sign beats the permanent sign it contradicts.
How to read any South African road sign
| Shape and colour | Group | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Red octagon | Control | Stop completely. The only octagonal sign on the road. |
| Red-bordered inverted triangle | Control | Yield. Give way to traffic already on the road. |
| Red-bordered circle, white face | Prohibition | You may not do the thing shown. Every speed limit sign sits here. |
| Blue circle, white symbol | Command | You must do the thing shown. |
| Red-bordered triangle, point up | Warning | Something ahead. It is not a command. |
| Blue rectangle | Information or reservation | Tells you something, or reserves a lane or bay. |
| Green rectangle | Information (guidance) | Route and direction information. Guidance signs sit with the information signs. |
| Yellow background, any shape | Temporary | Overrides the permanent sign it contradicts. |
The twelve signs learners look up most
The first three have a page of their own, because they carry the most questions and the most confusion. What the stop sign means · What the no entry sign means · What the yield sign means
What the stop sign means
What the no entry sign means
What the yield sign means
Every sign, by group
- Control SignsStop, yield, no entry, one-way — the signs that assign right of way. — 15
- Command SignsBlue circles. What you must do: keep left, turn, minimum speed. — 40
- Prohibition SignsRed-bordered circles, including every speed limit sign. — 52
- Reservation SignsBlue rectangles reserving a lane or bay for one class of vehicle. — 96
- Warning SignsRed triangles warning of what is ahead. — 101
- Information and Guidance SignsBlue and green rectangles that tell you something useful. — 53
- Temporary SignsYellow faces at roadworks — they override the permanent signs. — 63
Sign faces on this page are the official diagrams from the South African Road Traffic Signs Manual (SARTSM), which implements the SADC Road Traffic Signs Manual. Codes are the manual’s own. K53 Academia is an independent study resource and is not endorsed by the Road Traffic Management Corporation.
How road signs are tested
The learner’s licence test asks 28 road-sign questions and the pass mark is 23. Questions show the sign face and ask for its meaning. The shape and colour rules above cover the reasoning; these pages cover the individual faces.
This catalogue holds 420 official sign faces across 7 groups.
Practice questions with answers · Road markings · Rules of the road