Ohio Traffic Signals practice test

Practice lights, arrows and pedestrian signals, with questions based on the Ohio Driver Manual, Digest of Motor Vehicle Laws.

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Sample Traffic Signals questions

A sign at an Ohio intersection prohibits turning on red, and your light is red. What should you do?

  • Stay stopped until the signal lets you go
  • Turn right after a full stop if it is clear
  • Turn right if no pedestrian is waiting
Show the answer

Stay stopped until the signal lets you go

Local authorities or the state may ban turns against a red signal by posting signs. Where a sign does so, the usual right turn on red is not allowed.

Source: Ohio Revised Code, Section 4511.13, Highway traffic signal indications; section not applicable to railroad crossings; Ohio Driver Manual, Section 5: Learning to Drive, Turning on a Red Traffic Signal

Heavy traffic gives you no gap to turn left on a green light in Ohio. Where should you position your car?

  • Fully inside the oncoming lane
  • With its front slightly past the stop bar
  • In the center of the intersection
Show the answer

With its front slightly past the stop bar

Do not move into the intersection until there is a chance to turn. Yield to pedestrians and oncoming traffic, then turn as soon as it is safe.

Source: Ohio Driver Manual, Section 5: Learning to Drive, Intersections and Turning

You have stopped at an Ohio stop sign and cannot see crossing traffic. What should you do?

  • Edge forward and check before you enter
  • Sound your horn and enter right away
  • Go on, since you have already stopped
Show the answer

Edge forward and check before you enter

Move forward a little to check for traffic before you enter the intersection.

Source: Ohio Driver Manual, Section 5: Learning to Drive, Intersections and Turning

An Ohio signal shows a mix of lights that does not make clear who may go. What should you do?

  • Stop, yield to close traffic, then go with care
  • Go without stopping, since no plain red is showing
  • Stay stopped until the signal is repaired
Show the answer

Stop, yield to close traffic, then go with care

Ohio law treats this like a signal showing no lights. Stop, yield to vehicles in the intersection or close enough to be a hazard, then proceed with ordinary care.

Source: Ohio Revised Code, Section 4511.132, Operation at intersections with malfunctioning traffic control signal lights; Ohio Driver Manual, Section 10: Emergency Situations, Inoperable Traffic Signals

What does a flashing upraised hand tell an Ohio pedestrian who has not yet started to cross?

  • Cross only with vehicle traffic
  • Start now and cross quickly
  • Do not start to cross
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Do not start to cross

A flashing upraised hand stands for "don't walk." A person who has not started must not step out.

Source: Ohio Revised Code, Section 4511.14, Special pedestrian control signals

An Ohio work zone has no workers present today. Should you still slow down?

  • No, slowing applies only with workers present
  • No, unless a flagger tells you to do so
  • Yes, the lanes and pavement can be hazardous
Show the answer

Yes, the lanes and pavement can be hazardous

The manual says to always reduce speed in a work zone. Narrower lanes and rough pavement can be hazardous even with no workers there.

Source: Ohio Driver Manual, Section 7: Special Driving Situations, Work Zones

An Ohio pedestrian is partway across when the upraised hand starts flashing. Unless a device directs otherwise, what should the person do?

  • Continue to the far side
  • Stop and wait in the roadway
  • Go back to the starting curb
Show the answer

Continue to the far side

Someone who started on the walking-person signal goes on to the far side. A traffic control device may direct them only as far as a median or refuge.

Source: Ohio Revised Code, Section 4511.14, Special pedestrian control signals

Your light in Ohio has just turned green. What does the Ohio Driver Manual advise?

  • Sound your horn before you start
  • Move at once to keep traffic flowing
  • Pause, then enter when it is clear
Show the answer

Pause, then enter when it is clear

Other road users may not obey signs or signals, so do not rely on them yielding to you.

Source: Ohio Driver Manual, Section 5: Learning to Drive, Intersections and Turning

You must stop at an intersection that has no stop line and no crosswalk. Where should you stop?

  • Before the intersection, where you can see
  • Past the far corner
  • Inside the intersection
  • 50 feet before the corner
Show the answer

Before the intersection, where you can see

With no line or crosswalk, stop just before entering the intersection at a point where you can see traffic on the cross street.

Source: California Driver's Handbook, Section 6, Navigating the Roads: Turns; Official Florida Driver License Handbook, Traffic Controls: Regulatory Signs, Stop Sign; New York State Driver's Manual, Chapter 4, Traffic Control: Stop sign; Ohio Revised Code, Ohio Revised Code 4511.13; Georgia Drivers' Manual, Road Signs: Octagon signs; North Carolina Driver Handbook, Chapter 5, Signals and Signs: Stop signs; What Every Driver Must Know (SOS-133), Chapter 4, Traffic Laws: Right of way at intersections (p. 30); Virginia Driver's Manual, Section 2, Signals, Signs and Pavement Markings: Traffic Signals; Massachusetts Driver's Manual, Chapter 4, p. 81; Missouri Driver Guide, Chapter 7, Stop, PDF p. 51; Arizona Driver License Manual and Customer Service Guide, Section 3, Roadway and Vehicle Knowledge: Controlled Intersections diagram (p. 36); Minnesota Driver's Manual, Chapter 5, Traffic-control signals, p. 66; Alabama Driver Manual, Chapter 6, Traffic Laws, Stopping, PDF p. 62; South Carolina Driver's Manual, Section 6, Rules of the Road, Crosswalks and Stop Lines, p. 6-15 (PDF p. 74); Colorado Driver Handbook (DR 2337), Traffic Signs, Stop signs, printed p. 7 (PDF p. 10); Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, 47 O.S. § 11-202(3)(a); Iowa Code 2026, §321.322, §321.322(1); West Virginia Driver's Licensing Handbook, Chapter V, Pavement Markings, PDF p. 51

An intersection has a white stop line across your lane. Where must you stop?

  • Just past the line, for a better view
  • With your front bumper over the line
  • Before you reach the line
Show the answer

Before you reach the line

Stop short of the line.

Source: California Driver's Handbook, Section 7, Laws and Rules of the Road; Texas Driver Handbook, Chapter 5, Signals, Signs, and Markers, p. 34; Official Florida Driver License Handbook, Chapter 6, Traffic Controls: White Stop Lines (p. 45); New York State Driver's Manual, Chapter 4, Traffic Control; Illinois Rules of the Road, Chapter 4, Traffic Laws; Pennsylvania Driver's Manual (PUB 95), Chapter 2, Signals; Ohio Driver Manual, Digest of Motor Vehicle Laws, Ohio Revised Code 4511.13; Georgia Drivers' Manual, Section 7: Signs, Signals & Markings, Pavement Markings, Stop Lines; North Carolina Driver Handbook, Chapter 5, Signals, Signs and Pavement Markings: Traffic Signs (pp. 83-85); What Every Driver Must Know (SOS-133), Chapter 5, Stop lines, p. 46; New Jersey Driver Manual, Chapter 11, Road Markings, p. 217; Chapter 4, Intersections, p. 67; Virginia Driver's Manual (DMV 39), Section 2: Traffic Signals (pp. 5-6); Washington Driver Guide, Chapter 4, 4.16 Other road markings: Stop lines; Massachusetts Driver's Manual, Chapter 4, p. 92; Maryland Driver's Manual, Section 4.A, p. 17-18; Section 4.C, p. 25 (the stop-short wording, before reaching the stop line, is on p. 18; p. 25 only defines the line); Missouri Driver Guide, Chapter 7, Crosswalks and Stop Lines, PDF p. 44; Wisconsin Motorists' Handbook 2026, Section 5.B Types of Line Markings, p. 34; Arizona Driver License Manual and Customer Service Guide, Section 3, Roadway and Vehicle Knowledge: Signal Lights (p. 34); Controlled Intersections diagram (p. 36); Tennessee Comprehensive Driver License Manual, Section B, Chapter 3, Traffic Signs and Signals: Stop Lines (p. 43); Section B, Chapter 4, Rules of the Road: Stops Required by Law (p. 49); Minnesota Driver's Manual, Chapter 4, Stopping, p. 41; Chapter 5, Traffic-control signals, p. 66; Alabama Driver Manual, Chapter 6, Traffic Laws, Stopping, PDF p. 62; Louisiana Class D & E Driver's Guide, Chapter 3, Signs, Traffic Lights, and Pavement Markings, Regulatory Signs, Stop Sign, PDF p. 32; Lane Markings, Stop Lines, PDF p. 41; Kentucky Driver Manual, Section Six, Crosswalks and Stop Lines, PDF p. 47; Section Ten, Turning, PDF p. 72; South Carolina Driver's Manual, Section 6, Rules of the Road, Crosswalks and Stop Lines, p. 6-15 (PDF p. 74); Colorado Driver Handbook (DR 2337), Traffic Signs, Stop signs, printed p. 7 (PDF p. 10); Oregon Driver Manual 2026-2027, Turns & Intersections, Intersections, p. 42 (PDF p. 50); Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, 47 O.S. § 11-202(3)(a); Connecticut Driver's Manual, Chapter 5, Know the Road, Crosswalks and Stop Lines, p. 44; Nevada Driver's Handbook, Chapter 3, Signals, PDF p. 30; Highway Markings, PDF p. 32; Iowa Code 2026, §321.257, §321.257(1); Arkansas Driver License Study Guide (Vol. 1, Ed. 10, October 2026), Chapter 3, General Driving, Stop Line, PDF p. 46; Idaho Driver's Handbook, Stopping, PDF p. 69; Nebraska Driver's Manual, Section 3C-4, Stop Lines, PDF p. 54; Hawaii Driver's Manual, Chapter VI, Traffic Signals, PDF p. 39; West Virginia Driver's Licensing Handbook, Chapter V, Pavement Markings, PDF p. 51

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About these questions

We wrote these practice questions from the facts in the Ohio Driver Manual, Digest of Motor Vehicle Laws and from official sources on road signs. Every answer links to its source, so you can check it and read more.

DMV Decoded is an independent guide, not a government agency. This practice test is not connected to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and your actual test will have different questions. Study the handbook, and check the agency's website for current rules.