12.1 Warning Triangles: Geometry and Junctions

Warning triangles for geometry and junctions

The April 2025 Guyana Road Traffic Code prints TRAFFIC SIGNS — EXAMPLES OF SIGNS WHICH MUST BE OBSERVED, then an INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC SIGNS numbered list and a CONVENTIONAL BRITISH SIGNS plate set. This independent OpenExamPrep study of those named plates, of rule 78 (you MUST observe traffic signs and signals), and of the junction rules already taught in Chapter 6 is study material for the Guyana Police Force (GPF) electronic sitting. It is not a Traffic Headquarters booklet and it does not claim official approval, partnership, or exact equivalence with the three-book package issued from Eve Leary.

Quick Answer: An upright triangular warning (apex up) tells you a hazard or a change of road is ahead. Slow, look, and be ready to give way. It does not grant right of way. The Code names Roundabout, Road narrows, Uneven road, Merging traffic, Two-way traffic, and Opening bridge, plus junction warnings such as Intersection, Dangerous bend, Right bend, Double bend, Traffic Signals ahead, Danger, and Pedestrian crossing. Do not invent extra ISO plates the Guyana booklet does not print.

Shape language before the picture

Learn the silhouette first. Dust, rain, a mango tree, or a bent post on the East Coast can hide the symbol. The upright equilateral triangle with a red border and a white face is the warning family in the international set Guyana prints. The inverted triangle (point down) is Give Way, taught in section 12.3 — it is not a warning of a bump. The octagon is STOP. A red circle is a prohibition (Chapter 13). If you confuse those four silhouettes, you will answer the sitting from the wrong family.

Rule 78 of the Code is blunt: you MUST observe speed limits, traffic signs and signals, and the directions of Police controlling traffic. A warning triangle is not advisory art. Observing it means arriving under control. It does not mean claiming the triangle already warned the other driver so you may keep speed.

Warning triangles do not grant right of way. Sounding the horn does not grant it either (rule 76). Give Way and STOP are the plates that tell you who waits. A roundabout warning, a merge warning, or a two-way warning only tells you what the road is about to do.

Regulation 175 of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Regulations says signs the Commissioner of Police causes or permits on or near a road for Third Schedule purposes must conform with the diagrams in that Schedule, and that notices may be used in conjunction with a sign to show limitations. If a warning triangle has a small plate under it, read both. Do not assume the Code's illustrated numbers are the same integers as the Third Schedule diagram numbers. Study the names the Road Traffic Code prints.

Named geometry plates (Code signs 20 to 25)

Roundabout (sign 20). The symbol is circular arrows. In Guyana's left-hand traffic, vehicles on a roundabout circulate clockwise. Traffic already on the roundabout reaches an entry from your right. The triangle means a roundabout is ahead. Slow, choose the path for your exit, and prepare to give way to circulating traffic. The warning is not itself a STOP command, and it is not a licence to enter because you saw the triangle first. Georgetown and East Bank roundabouts still use the same priority idea Chapter 6 taught: give way to traffic already on the roundabout. The Certifying Officer's later practical notes even remind country candidates they may still be asked about traffic lights, signs, roundabouts. Geography does not delete a plate from the syllabus.

Road narrows (sign 21). The carriageway loses width on one side or both. Reduce speed. Rule 34 already forbids overtaking where the road narrows, or when overtaking would force other vehicles to swerve or reduce speed. On a pinch point — a culvert, a village street with parked minibuses, a temporary contraflow — only one vehicle may fit. The triangle does not award the first arriver a legal I-go token. If you cannot pass without forcing the other driver into the parapet, you wait. Combine this plate with rule 34's other no-overtake places: corner or bend, road junction, pedestrian crossing, bridge or narrow culvert, and the top of a hill or rising of the roadway.

Uneven road (sign 22). The surface ahead is rough, broken, or raised (a hump or a series of irregularities). Slow enough to keep steering and to keep a load on a goods vehicle from bouncing. Hitting a hump at open-road speed on the East Coast, or on a repaired patch near New Amsterdam, can put you into the opposite path — and Two-way traffic may be the next plate. The uneven-road triangle is not a speed-limit numeral; it is a command to match speed to the surface you can still see. Wet weather already lengthens stopping distance (Chapter 8); an uneven, wet surface is not the place to prove a hire car's springs.

Merging traffic (sign 23). Another stream is about to join yours, or you are about to join theirs. In left-hand traffic, a merge from the left (near side) is common when a slip or a side road funnels in. Do not assume the merging driver will stop. Do not assume you have priority because you are on the bigger road unless a Give Way, STOP, or major-road layout actually says so. Cover the brake, hold your lane, and leave a gap a joining vehicle can use without a sideswipe. Merging is not overtaking. Do not swing across the path of the joining vehicle to defend a lane. A minibus that joins late still does not receive a free pass from you — and you do not receive one from the minibus. The plate's job is to make both of you expect the join.

Two-way traffic (sign 24). Opposing vehicles are ahead. Typical places: leaving a one-way stretch, leaving a bridge or tidal working, or after a dual carriageway ends. Keep well left (near side). Do not overtake as if you still owned both sides of the road. A two-way warning after a one-way town block in Georgetown, or on an approach where a bridge has been running one way, is exactly the moment learners drift toward the centre. The plate is there because the road you just left trained your eyes wrongly. Meeting traffic, keep well left; that is still rule 22.

Opening bridge (sign 25). The deck can be raised or swung so river traffic can pass. Guyana's river crossings, including the Demerara Harbour Bridge and other movable or opening spans the Code warns about, can halt road traffic while the bridge is open. Slow, expect barriers, lights, or a queue, and never force a gap onto a moving deck. The Code already tells drivers to take care on the Demerara Harbour Bridge and the Canje Bridge within the prescribed or posted limit. An opening-bridge triangle is a warning that the road may end in a barrier, not a suggestion that you speed up to beat the opening. Do not overtake in the queue (rule 34 already named bridge or narrow culvert).

Junction and road-geometry plates that are still triangles

The Code also numbers junction warnings in the same international list. Teach the names it prints. Do not add a United States yellow diamond, a European priority diamond the booklet does not show here, or a slippery-road plate that is not in this numbered set.

Traffic Signals ahead (sign 3) is a warning, not a green light. You still obey the lenses when you arrive. Intersection (sign 12) is not STOP. It is a junction is coming — get ready for rules 40 to 45. Intersection with a non-priority road (sign 13) tells you the layout treats one arm as minor. Read who faces Give Way or STOP before you decide you are on the major road.

Dangerous bend / Right bend / Double bend (signs 14 to 16). Rule 34 forbids overtaking at or near a corner or bend. On a right-hand bend in left-hand traffic you stay closer to the left. Chapter 17 will teach later that only experienced drivers ease slightly toward the centre on a left-hand bend, and then without crossing to the wrong side. For this sitting, the plate means: slow on the straight, do not overtake, keep left.

Pedestrian crossing (sign 5) is a warning that a marked crossing is ahead. Chapter 7 teaches precedence on the crossing itself. Here you only need the plate: the triangle does not give you right of way over a foot passenger who is on the crossing.

Danger (sign 2) is the generic warning when the booklet does not print a more specific symbol. Treat it as something hazardous is ahead. Look for workers, a wash-out, a temporary plate, or the thing itself. Do not invent a second meaning such as Danger means you now have priority.

Level crossing with gates (sign 17) and Level crossing without gates (sign 18) appear in the same numbered list. If the electronic item shows those names, they warn of a railway crossing — gated or not. Stop for gates and for any rail movement. Do not invent extra Guyana rail timetables the Code does not print.

What you must not do with a warning triangle

Do not treat the upright triangle as Give Way (wrong way up). Do not treat it as STOP (wrong shape). Do not treat it as No entry (that is a red disc with a white bar, a conventional British plate taught in Chapter 13). Do not invent plates Guyana's list does not name.

Do not overtake because the warning was only for the other direction. Many of these plates protect both streams. A road-narrows or two-way warning on your approach is your problem now.

Memorise the family: upright triangle = warn; do not claim right of way. Then memorise the six geometry names the Code hammers for this chapter: roundabout, road narrows, uneven road, merging traffic, two-way traffic, opening bridge.