You enter a ramp and see a large white arrow painted on the pavement pointing straight back toward your vehicle. What does this marking tell you?
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A.
You are going the wrong way; stop and turn around when safe. Correct
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B.
The lane ahead ends and you must merge into the next lane.
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C.
Continue in the direction the arrow points at the next intersection.
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D.
The lane can carry traffic in either direction at certain hours.
The answer is "You are going the wrong way; stop and turn around when safe."
A white arrow aimed back at the driver marks the correct direction of traffic on a one-way road or exit ramp, so seeing the arrowhead means the vehicle has entered against the flow and must stop and turn around as soon as it is safe. The tempting wrong pick is the lane-ending reading, chosen by a driver used to reading every pavement arrow as a movement instruction; the lane-reduction arrow angles diagonally into an open lane rather than aiming straight back at the vehicle.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. The lane ahead ends and you must merge into the next lane.
A lane-reduction arrow curves diagonally into the surviving lane; it does not point straight back toward the vehicle. This answer defaults to the most common pavement arrow meaning, the lane-reduction warning drivers see on multi-lane highways every day.
C. Continue in the direction the arrow points at the next intersection.
A turn or through arrow shows where the lane must go; following an arrow aimed back at the vehicle would drive deeper into oncoming traffic. This answer reads every pavement arrow as a movement instruction, the habit turn-lane arrows build, instead of a warning to reverse course.
D. The lane can carry traffic in either direction at certain hours.
Reversible lanes are controlled by overhead lane-use signals or signs, not by a single pavement arrow aimed back at one driver. This answer applies the time-of-day changing lane rules from urban commuter reversible corridors, missing that this arrow is a permanent warning on a one-way roadway.
This question tests your knowledge of Road Markings on the roads of every US state . Source: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, marking 3B.24 (Wrong-Way Arrow)..
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