Driver's License Test Prep
Texas Practice Road Signs

You see a pentagon-shaped sign along a Texas road. According to the manual, what does this shape indicate?

  1. A.
    No-passing zone advance
  2. B.
    General road hazard
  3. C.
    Railroad advance warning
  4. D.
    School advance or school crossing Correct
The Why

The answer is "School advance or school crossing"

The manual assigns the pentagon shape to school advance and school crossing signs. A driver seeing the pentagon knows to slow and look for children before reading a word. The trap is railroad advance warning: both the round railroad sign and the pentagon are 'advance' warnings that alert you to something coming, and a learner who remembers only 'advance warning' pulls the wrong target off the shape list.

Why the others miss

The traps in the wrong answers

A. No-passing zone advance

The pennant shape carries the no-passing zone advance warning in the manual. Picked by a driver who confuses pentagon with pennant, since both are unusual shape names starting with P, and recalls only the pennant's no-passing rule.

B. General road hazard

The diamond, not the pentagon, is the shape exclusively used to warn of hazards. Reached for because a learner treats every unusual shape as 'some kind of warning' and defaults to the most common warning category.

C. Railroad advance warning

Round is the manual's railroad advance warning shape, not pentagon. Picked because a learner remembers 'advance warning' from the shape table and grabs the wrong advance-warning target.

The Rule

This question tests your knowledge of Road Signs in Texas. Source: Texas Driver Manual, "Chapter 5, Table 17: Signs by Shape," p.26..

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