Exit sign
This is the way off the freeway, so move into the exit lane early and slow down once you are in it.
- The group at a distance
- Rectangular, often wide. Green for routes, blue for services.
- Does this group carry the law
- Mostly informational, but the road it announces carries rules.
- In the sign deck
- 3 questions ask about this sign
What to do when you see it
In the order you do it, from the moment the sign comes into view.
- Decide on the exit well before it, using the advance signs.
- Move to the exit side lane early, not in the last hundred metres.
- Signal, leave the through lane and then slow down in the exit lane rather than braking on the freeway.
- Watch the advisory speed on the ramp, which is often far lower than the freeway limit.
Where you see it
On motorway approaches, repeated at set distances before the ramp, and on the ramp itself.
Across the states and territories
Green guide signs with white legends are used nationally on freeways. Exit numbering schemes differ between jurisdictions, and some routes are numbered by alphanumeric route markers instead, so the number on the sign is not a national system.
Tell it apart from these
Both signs at the same size, next to each other, with the one line that separates them. These are the pairs people mix up under time pressure.
- Exitthis pageFreeway ends
An exit leaves the freeway while the freeway continues. Freeway ends means the road itself has stopped being one.
Freeway ends: Freeway conditions end here, so expect a lower limit, intersections and traffic that can stop.
- Exitthis pageDetour
A detour sends you off the normal route because it is closed. An exit is part of the normal route.
Detour: The road ahead is closed, so follow the arrows on these signs along the marked alternative route.
How the knowledge tests use it
Questions cover braking on the ramp rather than in the through lane, which is where sudden slowing causes rear end crashes.
A real question from the sign deckWhat does this sign mean?
Green signs give direction and guidance. This one marks the exit and which side it leaves from, it does not force you off the road.
State and territory driver handbooks, freeway and motorway driving
Try it in a question
The sign tests draw the artwork above the question and ask what it means, which is closer to the way you meet a sign on the road than reading a page about it. They are original questions written for this site rather than an agency's published bank.
More guide and service signs
Green for routes and directions, blue for services.