Road narrows sign
The road ahead gets narrower, so slow down and hold your position in the lane.
- Group
- Warning signs
- The group at a distance
- Diamond, standing on one point, with no exceptions in this group. Yellow ground, black symbol.
- Does this group carry the law
- Not enforceable on its own. It changes nothing about right of way.
- 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 down before the narrowing rather than in it.
- Hold your lane position and resist drifting towards the centre line.
- Check your mirrors for a vehicle trying to overtake as the space closes.
- Give way to oncoming traffic where the sealed width will not take two vehicles.
Where you see it
Where a sealed road loses a lane or a shoulder, on the approach to bridges and cuttings, on country roads that change surface width, and through roadwork.
Across the states and territories
Nationally consistent as a warning. The version that matters most is the transition from a sealed road to gravel, which is common in Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and outback Queensland and is signed separately, since loose surface changes braking as well as width.
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.
- Road narrowsthis pageNarrow bridge
The bridge version means a structure with fixed edges. Road narrows means the road itself gets tighter and may open out again.
Narrow bridge: The bridge ahead is narrower than the road, so slow down and be ready to give way to oncoming traffic.
- Road narrowsthis pageNo overtaking
A narrowing is a warning you judge for yourself. Where overtaking is actually banned through it, the red circle says so and removes the judgement.
No overtaking: You must not overtake another vehicle on this length of road.
How the knowledge tests use it
It is used alongside questions about lane position and about overtaking, both of which get harder as the road tightens.
A real question from the sign deckWhat does this sign mean?
Both edges of the road are shown squeezing in. There may still be the same number of lanes, but there is less room either side of you.
State and territory driver handbooks, warning signs
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 warning signs
Yellow diamond with a black symbol.