Guidance and Information Signs
Guidance and information signs are the navigational class of South African signs. They are rectangular (never round or triangular) and carry no legal command — they direct and inform. Guidance signs include freeway and route-direction signs, rural and urban direction signs, and brown tourism signs; information signs supply general facts (parking, services, exit countdowns) and have no directional arrow or destination name.
The defining learner skill is disambiguation: shape separates colour. A round blue sign is a regulatory command; a rectangular blue sign is guidance/information. See Road Sign Colour Code for the authoritative colour logic. Members include the Freeway Direction Sign, Rural Direction Sign, Urban Direction Sign, Tourism Sign, Hospital Sign, Fuel Sign, Parking Information Sign, Exit Countdown Markers and the Dead End Sign.
Ontology Guidance and Information Signs [part-of] Road Signs Signals and Markings Guidance and Information Signs [relates] Road Sign Colour Code
Learning objective
Recognise guidance (direction/route/tourism) and information signs by their rectangular shape and colour, and know they carry no command.
Question patterns
- What does a green direction sign tell you?
- Is this sign guidance/information or regulatory?
- What colour are tourism signs?
Common mistakes
- Confusing a rectangular blue guidance sign with a round blue regulatory command sign
- Treating an information ‘P’ as a regulatory parking control
Connections
- Freeway Direction Sign — covers_topic, source: 2026-06-28
- Tourism Sign — covers_topic, source: 2026-06-28
- Road Sign Colour Code — relates, source: 2026-06-28
- NaTIS Manual on Road Traffic Signs — derived_from_source, source: 2026-06-28