Winding road sign
What the Winding road sign means: The road ahead has a series of bends, so keep your speed down through all of them.
- Group
- Warning signs
- 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
- Set a speed you can hold through all the bends rather than accelerating between them.
- Use the whole of your own lane to straighten your line, without crossing the centre.
- Look as far through each bend as you can see.
- Let a faster vehicle behind you pass at the first safe opportunity rather than being pushed along.
Where you see it
On hill and mountain roads, on coastal routes and on old alignments that follow rivers and ridges.
Across the states and territories
Used nationally. The roads it appears on differ in character: the Great Dividing Range routes, the Adelaide Hills, the Tasmanian midlands and the coastal roads of New South Wales and Victoria each combine winding alignment with traffic that is unfamiliar with it, which is why tourist routes carry the sign heavily.
Tell it apart from these
- Winding roadthis pageCurve to the left
One bend or many. The single curve sign lets you slow, turn and speed up again. The winding sign asks you to settle at one speed.
Curve to the left: The road ahead curves to the left, so slow down before you reach it.
- Winding roadthis pageNo overtaking
Winding roads often carry an overtaking ban, and even where they do not, the sight distance rarely supports it.
No overtaking: You must not overtake another vehicle on this length of road.
How the knowledge tests use it
It supports questions about fatigue and concentration on long rural drives as much as questions about cornering.
What does this sign mean?
The zigzag line stands for several bends one after another, not just a single curve. The winding section can run for some distance.
State and territory driver handbooks, warning signs
Common questions
- What does the Winding road sign mean?
- The road ahead has a series of bends, so keep your speed down through all of them.
- What should you do when you see a Winding road sign?
- Set a speed you can hold through all the bends rather than accelerating between them. Use the whole of your own lane to straighten your line, without crossing the centre. Look as far through each bend as you can see. Let a faster vehicle behind you pass at the first safe opportunity rather than being pushed along.
- Where is the Winding road sign used?
- On hill and mountain roads, on coastal routes and on old alignments that follow rivers and ridges.
- What is the Winding road sign confused with?
- Curve to the left: One bend or many. The single curve sign lets you slow, turn and speed up again. The winding sign asks you to settle at one speed. No overtaking: Winding roads often carry an overtaking ban, and even where they do not, the sight distance rarely supports it.
- How do the knowledge tests ask about the Winding road sign?
- It supports questions about fatigue and concentration on long rural drives as much as questions about cornering.
Try it in a question
Original practice questions, not the official bank. How we write and check them.
More warning signs
Yellow diamond with a black symbol.