Hospital sign
What the Hospital sign means: A hospital is ahead in the direction shown.
- 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
- Follow the direction shown if you are heading for the hospital.
- Expect ambulances joining and leaving the road nearby, often in a hurry.
- Give way to an emergency vehicle with lights or a siren by moving safely out of its way as soon as you can do it lawfully.
- Slow down and pass wide where an emergency vehicle is stopped at the roadside with its lights on.
Where you see it
On approaches to a hospital in a town or a suburb, at the intersections leading to it, and on highway approaches to regional centres.
Across the states and territories
The service sign itself is used consistently nationally. The rule that matters near hospitals is the one about passing a stationary emergency vehicle with flashing lights: the reduced speed you must slow to is set by each state and territory, and it is not the same number in all of them, so check your own agency's page.
Tell it apart from these
- Hospitalthis pageRest area
Both are blue and white service signs. Only one of them is about the driver's own condition.
Rest area: There is a place to pull over and rest ahead, which is the safe answer when you start to feel tired.
- Hospitalthis pageDetour
Guide signs point you somewhere. A detour tells you the normal way there is closed.
Detour: The road ahead is closed, so follow the arrows on these signs along the marked alternative route.
How the knowledge tests use it
The stationary emergency vehicle rule is the tested part, and it is one of the more recently introduced rules in several jurisdictions.
What does this sign mean?
The blue plate with a white H points the way to a hospital. Blue and white signs give services and information rather than orders.
State and territory driver handbooks, service and information signs
Common questions
- What does the Hospital sign mean?
- A hospital is ahead in the direction shown.
- What should you do when you see a Hospital sign?
- Follow the direction shown if you are heading for the hospital. Expect ambulances joining and leaving the road nearby, often in a hurry. Give way to an emergency vehicle with lights or a siren by moving safely out of its way as soon as you can do it lawfully. Slow down and pass wide where an emergency vehicle is stopped at the roadside with its lights on.
- Where is the Hospital sign used?
- On approaches to a hospital in a town or a suburb, at the intersections leading to it, and on highway approaches to regional centres.
- What is the Hospital sign confused with?
- Rest area: Both are blue and white service signs. Only one of them is about the driver's own condition. Detour: Guide signs point you somewhere. A detour tells you the normal way there is closed.
- How do the knowledge tests ask about the Hospital sign?
- The stationary emergency vehicle rule is the tested part, and it is one of the more recently introduced rules in several jurisdictions.
Try it in a question
Original practice questions, not the official bank. How we write and check them.
More guide and service signs
Green for routes and directions, blue for services.