Driver's License Test Prep
US Road Signs Road Markings

The white word legend SCHOOL XING is painted in your travel lane. What does it warn you to do as you approach?

The word SCHOOL on an upper line and XING on a lower line, painted as bold white block letters on dark gray pavement. The letters are large and fill the frame, with the outer edges of each word running to the image border.
  1. A.
    Slow down, scan both sides for children, and be ready to stop for a pedestrian or crossing guard. Correct
  2. B.
    Stop at the legend and wait for a crossing guard to wave you through.
  3. C.
    Reduce speed only after a child steps into the roadway ahead.
  4. D.
    Change into a non-adjacent lane before reaching the school property.
The Why

The answer is "Slow down, scan both sides for children, and be ready to stop for a pedestrian or crossing guard."

The SCHOOL XING legend warns that a school crossing is just ahead. Slow down, scan both sides of the road for children, and be ready to stop for a pedestrian or crossing guard using the crosswalk. Drivers who wait until a child steps into the roadway are treating the marking as a reactive brake cue, when a legend printed ahead of the crossing exists to prepare you before anyone appears.

Why the others miss

The traps in the wrong answers

B. Stop at the legend and wait for a crossing guard to wave you through.

The legend is a painted warning, not a stop line. You slow and prepare as you approach; you stop when a pedestrian is crossing or a crossing guard directs you to stop. This answer reads any school-related pavement marking as a mandatory halt, borrowing the rule for a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm out.

C. Reduce speed only after a child steps into the roadway ahead.

Slowing begins where the legend is painted, because the marking exists to prepare you before a child appears in the roadway. This answer treats an advance warning as a reactive cue like a brake light, so the driver only responds after seeing motion in the roadway.

D. Change into a non-adjacent lane before reaching the school property.

The legend tells you to slow and watch in your own lane; nothing about a school crossing calls for a lane change. This answer confuses an advance school-crossing warning with a rule that requires changing lanes around certain stopped roadside vehicles.

The Rule

This question tests your knowledge of Road Markings on the roads of every US state . Source: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, marking 3B.21 (SCHOOL XING Pavement Legend)..

More from this topic

Related questions

Free study plan

A free knowledge-test study plan

Pick your state and we'll send a short run of study emails for that test. The printable cheat sheet is free to grab either way.

One email a few times a month. No spam, unsubscribe anytime. Privacy.