9.1 Layout, Lenses and Sequence
Key Takeaways
- A Guyana vehicular light signal uses three separately lit lamps facing the stream they control: red at the top, amber in the middle, green at the bottom.
- The red lens carries the word STOP in black lettering; the Light Signals Regulations allow no other lettering on those vehicular lenses.
- Each lens is 8 to 10 inches across; lens centres are not more than 14 inches apart; the green centre sits 7 feet 6 inches above the road, or up to 10 feet on a gradient.
- The ordinary sequence for controlling vehicular traffic is green, then amber, then red, then green again.
- The GPF Theoretical Programme sample treats the traffic light as controlling all road users, not motor vehicles alone.
Layout, lenses and sequence
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) learner package lists the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Light Signals) Regulations under the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Cap. 51:02, sections 2 to 8, as the source for how Guyana traffic lights are built and read. Subject 5 of the Theoretical Programme pairs those Light Signals Regulations with Regulations 175–189 (signs, surface lines, driver signals, and crossings). This OpenExamPrep chapter is independent study of that printed regulation text in the April 2025 booklet. It is not a Police booklet, not a claim of official approval, and not a substitute for the three-book package issued from Traffic Headquarters, Eve Leary.
Quick Answer: A Guyana vehicular signal uses three lamps, arranged vertically, facing the stream they control: red at the top, amber in the middle, green at the bottom. The red lens carries the word STOP in black. Each lens is 8–10 inches across. The centre of the green lens sits 7 feet 6 inches above the road (up to 10 feet on a gradient). Lens centres are not more than 14 inches apart. The sequence is green → amber → red → green. The GPF sample paper treats the traffic light as controlling all road users.
Who may put a signal up
Regulation 2 opens with the licensing authority. That authority may erect and maintain light signals for the control of vehicular traffic, but only if the signal follows the listed provisions. A homemade cluster of coloured bulbs, a temporary lantern that is not the prescribed three-lamp face, or a horizontal head copied from a right-hand-traffic country is not the Guyana regulation head described in the booklet. For the electronic paper, picture the vertical stack you actually meet on Georgetown streets, on East Bank and East Coast approaches, at Timehri, and in New Amsterdam and Bartica town centres.
The lamps face the stream of traffic which the signal is intended to control. Guyana is left-hand traffic. The face you obey is the face looking at your stream, not the one looking at the opposite carriageway and not the one looking at the crossing street. At a four-way junction you still only “own” the signal aimed at the direction you are travelling. Watching the side-street green while you sit on red is how people invent a false go. The same keep-left geometry that puts the driver of a typical Guyana car, hire car, or minibus on the off side (right) does not change which lamp face belongs to which stream.
Three colours, one vertical stack
Regulation 2(a) and (b) are the layout facts most items will swap:
- Three lights shall be used: one red, one amber, one green.
- They shall be arranged vertically.
- The lamp showing a red light is the uppermost.
- The lamp showing a green light is the lowermost.
Amber sits in the middle because that is the only place left once red is top and green is bottom. Do not add a fourth circular white, a blue, or a horizontal row. Pedestrian WALK / DON’T WALK faces are a separate regulation 7 device; they are not a fourth circular bolted onto the vehicle head. Flashing amber or flashing red alone (regulation 6) is a different operating mode of the same family of signals, taught in section 9.3. The ordinary running head is still three circular lamps, red-amber-green, vertical.
Each lamp is its own lamp
Regulation 2(c): each lamp shall be separately illuminated. The red, amber, and green are not one bulb behind a rotating filter. If the green is lit, that is the green lamp. If the red is lit, that is the red lamp. The effective diameter of the lens shall be not less than eight inches, nor more than ten inches. That 8–10 inch window is a construction rule for the authority that erects the head. You are not expected to carry a tape to a town-centre signal, but a multiple-choice item can ask the inch range, and “six inches” or “twelve inches” will be the distractors.
Height of the green and spacing of the centres
Regulation 2(d): the height of the centre of the green lens from the road shall be seven feet six inches. Where desirable because of the road gradient, that height may be increased to not more than ten feet. The extra height is a hill or slope allowance, not a licence to hang the head at first-floor window level as a habit. On a flat Georgetown street the default picture is 7 ft 6 in to the green centre. On a gradient, the booklet cap is 10 ft.
Regulation 2(e): the centres of the lenses shall not be more than fourteen inches apart. That keeps the three colours as one readable stack, not a scattered pole of lamps. Red, amber, and green belong in one vertical family with centres ≤ 14 inches. If an item gives you 7 ft 6 in, 10 ft, 8–10 inches, and 14 inches in four options, match each figure to its job: green-centre height, gradient maximum, lens diameter, centre spacing.
The only word on the vehicle lenses: STOP
Regulation 2(f) is a favourite swap:
- The word STOP in black lettering shall be placed upon the lenses of the lamp showing a red light.
- No other lettering shall be used upon the lenses or in connection with a light signal.
The red circular is not a blank disc. It carries STOP in black. The amber does not say WAIT. The green does not say GO. You do not get extra words painted around the head as part of the vehicular signal. Pedestrian wording (WALK, DON’T WALK) belongs on the pedestrian signals in regulation 7, not as extra print on the three vehicular lenses.
Sequence: green, amber, red, green
Regulation 2(g) prints the sequence in four numbered steps: (i) green, (ii) amber, (iii) red, (iv) green. Read that as a cycle: green → amber → red → green. There is no red-and-amber together in this Guyana regulation text. There is no green-and-amber together. The booklet does not insert a flashing phase into this ordinary sequence; flashing amber or flashing red alone is regulation 6, a different mode. If an item asks for the sequence “for the purpose of controlling vehicular traffic,” the answer is green, then amber, then red, then green again.
Amber is the change colour from green toward red. It is not a second green and it is not a “hurry up” colour. What you are allowed to do on each colour is regulation 4 (section 9.2). Layout questions only need you to know which colour follows which.
Who the traffic light controls
The Theoretical Programme sample questions include: The Traffic Light controls: with choices such as all road users, only cyclists, all motor vehicles, and pedestrians only. The printed sample’s correct choice is all road users. That matches how Guyana junctions actually work. Regulation 2 describes a device for vehicular traffic, but the same junction also uses pedestrian signals (regulation 7) and the Road Traffic Code tells foot passengers at a Traffic Light-controlled intersection to cross on the Green Light or the WALK signal only. Drivers, riders, cyclists, and pedestrians are all in the picture. A learner who treats the head as “cars only” will miss both the sample item and the Code’s pedestrian line.
The Code’s illustrated warning set includes Traffic Signals ahead. That plate is a warning that a signal-controlled place is coming, not a substitute for the signal. The Code also reminds country candidates that they may still be asked about Traffic Lights, signs, and roundabouts even if they live far from a Georgetown head. The electronic paper is national. Living up the Soesdyke–Linden Highway, or using the Demerara Harbour Bridge and Canje Bridge more than city junctions, does not retire the Light Signals Regulations from the syllabus.
When you are held up at a road junction by Police or a light signal, Code rule 50 says do not “Filter” to the left unless you receive a definite signal to do so. Left-hand traffic makes a left filter look tempting along the near side. The Code forbids the sneak unless the signal (or the constable) actually gives it. A green arrow (regulation 5, section 9.2) is the regulation device that does authorise a named direction while other circulars would stop you. A dark circular and a crowded near-side gap is not a filter.
Layout table for the electronic paper
| Construction rule (reg. 2) | Prescribed figure |
|---|---|
| Number and colours | Three lamps: red, amber, green |
| Arrangement | Vertical; red uppermost, green lowermost |
| Illumination | Each lamp separately illuminated |
| Lens diameter | 8–10 inches |
| Height to green centre | 7 ft 6 in (up to 10 ft on a gradient) |
| Lens centres | Not more than 14 inches apart |
| Lettering | STOP in black on the red lens; no other lettering |
| Sequence | Green → amber → red → green |
| Who it controls (GPF sample) | All road users |
Independent OpenExamPrep teaching of this layout follows the printed Light Signals Regulations. It does not rewrite the inch figures, invent a fourth circular, or treat a horizontal head as the Guyana default.
Under the Light Signals Regulations, how must the three lamps of a vehicular traffic signal be arranged?
What lettering do the Light Signals Regulations require on a vehicular signal?
What is the prescribed sequence of signal lights for controlling vehicular traffic?