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UK road sign shapes and colours

You can tell what kind of message a road sign gives before you can read it. The shape tells you whether it is an order, a warning or information, and the colour adds detail.

Learn these few rules and you can make sense of signs you have never seen before.

The short version

  • Circles give orders: a red ring or red circle tells you what you must not do, and a blue circle tells you what you must do.
  • Triangles warn of a hazard ahead. Warning triangles are red.
  • Rectangles give information. Their colour shows the kind of route: blue for motorways, green for primary routes, white for other roads and brown for tourist destinations.
  • Stop and Give way break the shape rules on purpose, so they stand out.

Circles give orders

Most signs that give orders are circles. Many of them are legal requirements, so these are the signs you most need to get right.

Look at the colour. A red ring or a red circle bans something. A blue circle with no red border tells you what you must do, such as turn left or keep left.

  • Most regulatory signs are circular. A red ring or red circle indicates a prohibition. A blue circle generally gives a positive (mandatory) instruction.

    Know Your Traffic Signs, p. 16

  • Signs with red circles are mostly prohibitive, and plates below signs qualify their message. Signs with blue circles but no red border mostly give positive instruction.

    The Highway Code, Traffic signs

Triangles warn

A triangle with a red border warns you of a hazard ahead, such as a bend, a junction or people crossing. It doesn’t tell you to do anything specific, but it gives you time to slow down and get ready.

Some warning signs have a plate underneath giving the distance to the hazard or how far it goes on.

Rectangles inform

Rectangles give information and directions. On direction signs, the background colour tells you what kind of road the sign is on or leads to.

What the colour of a rectangular sign tells you
ColourUsed for
BlueInformation signs, and direction signs on motorways
GreenDirection signs on primary routes (main A roads)
WhiteDirection signs on non-primary and local routes, and plates under other signs
BrownTourist destinations

Know Your Traffic Signs, pp. 9, 118

  • Blue rectangles are used for information signs, except on motorways, where blue is used for direction signs. Green rectangles are direction signs on primary routes, and white rectangles are direction signs on non-primary routes, or plates used with warning and regulatory signs.

    Know Your Traffic Signs, p. 9

  • Tourist destinations are shown on signs or panels with brown backgrounds.

    Know Your Traffic Signs, p. 118

The exceptions: Stop and Give way

Two of the most important signs break the rules so that they stand out: Stop is an eight-sided octagon, and Give way is a triangle pointing downwards. No other signs use these shapes.

  • There are a few exceptions to the shape and colour rules, to give certain signs greater prominence. Examples are the STOP and GIVE WAY signs.

    Know Your Traffic Signs, p. 9

Test yourself

Check you can tell these signs apart with the UK Road Signs Quiz: 10 questions, with an explanation after each answer.

Take the UK Road Signs Quiz

Sources

Last reviewed 6 October 2026. This guide explains the rules in our own words; for the full rules, see The Highway Code. How we source and check content

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