T intersection ahead sign

The road you are on ends at a road across it, so you will have to turn left or right and give way.

Reviewed on

Drawn for this site
T intersection ahead sign
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.

  1. Slow down early, because your road is about to end.
  2. Decide left or right before you arrive and signal in good time.
  3. Give way to traffic on the continuing road, which has priority over you.
  4. Stop if the sight line is short, even when the sign is a warning rather than a stop.

Where you see it

On the approach to a road that terminates at another, often where the terminating road comes over a crest or around a bend and the ending is not obvious.

Across the states and territories

The warning is national and so is the underlying rule that traffic on the continuing road has priority. The case worth learning is a continuing road that bends: the priority follows the continuing road, not the direction that feels straight ahead, and that catches drivers out in every state.

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.

  • T intersection aheadT intersection aheadthis pageCrossroads aheadCrossroads ahead

    Look at whether the stem crosses the bar. If it stops at it, your road ends there.

    Crossroads ahead: A road crosses yours just ahead, so watch for traffic entering from both the left and the right.

  • T intersection aheadT intersection aheadthis pageGive way aheadGive way ahead

    A T intersection is often controlled by a give way sign, so the two appear together, one describing the shape and the other the duty.

    Give way ahead: There is a give way sign just ahead, so slow down and get ready to give way.

How the knowledge tests use it

The bending continuing road is a standard question, and the diagram in the guides on this site is the fastest way to fix the answer in your head.

A real question from the sign deckWhat does this sign mean?
T intersection ahead sign
  1. The road ahead narrows to one lane
  2. The road you are on ends at a road that crosses itThe answer
  3. A road joins yours from the left
  4. There is a crossroads a short way ahead

The symbol shows your road running into a road across the top. You will have to turn left or right when you get there.

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.

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