Workers ahead sign
People are working on or beside the road ahead, so slow down and give them room.
- Group
- Roadwork signs
- The group at a distance
- Diamond or rectangular plate. Orange ground, black legend or symbol.
- Does this group carry the law
- Enforceable, and it overrides the permanent signs underneath it.
- 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.
- Slow to the posted work zone speed and hold it through the whole site.
- Move away from the work area within your lane where there is room to do so safely.
- Watch for people stepping out from behind plant and barriers.
- Keep the speed down until the end of roadwork sign, not until you have passed the last worker you can see.
Where you see it
Inside work zones on any road, from suburban water main repairs to long highway rebuilds.
Across the states and territories
Several jurisdictions apply a specific reduced speed for passing stationary work vehicles or workers on foot, and the number is set by each of them rather than nationally. Enforcement in work zones has increased across most jurisdictions in recent years, so the posted temporary limit is not advisory.
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.
- Workers aheadthis pageRoadwork ahead
One warns of the site, the other of people inside it. The presence of people is what changes the speed and the penalty.
Roadwork ahead: Work is going on in the road ahead, so slow down and watch for changed conditions.
- Workers aheadthis pageReduce speed
Reduce speed tells you to slow. Workers ahead tells you why, and the why is the part that should keep you slow.
Reduce speed: Slow down from here because of the work zone ahead.
How the knowledge tests use it
Questions focus on the fact that the work zone limit applies whether or not you can see anyone working.
A real question from the sign deckWhat does this sign mean?
An orange diamond with a worker symbol warns that people are on foot in the work area, sometimes very close to the lane you are driving in.
State and territory driver handbooks, roadworks
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 roadwork signs
Orange plate with a black legend or symbol.