This road sign indicates:

Explanation

A road with no through passage; that is, a dead end.

This sign is rectangular and blue: a white vertical line ending in a horizontal red bar. It is a simple map of what lies ahead — a road you enter that is closed at the end. The red bar represents that wall or blocked end of the route.

The key point tested in the exam is that this sign belongs to the family of information signs, not prohibitions. Entering a dead-end street is free; the sign merely tells you that you have no exit that way and must turn around to come back. That is why the background colour is blue and there is no red ring around it.

The safety reason for posting this sign is clear: a driver who enters a dead end unawares is forced to turn around in a narrow lane, usually full of parked cars, or to reverse a long way. Long reversing in a confined space is one of the commonest sources of collisions with pedestrians — especially children — and with parked vehicles. Announcing the dead end before entry eliminates that manoeuvre altogether.

The common trap is confusing it with the "no entry" sign (a red circle with a horizontal white bar). That one prohibits entry, this one merely informs. Versions of this same sign with a horizontal stem also exist, showing that the road to the right or left at the junction ahead is a dead end.

• "Direction of travel to a facility in a populated area" is shown by a sign with a directional arrow and usually the name of the destination; there is no arrow at all in this image, and the end of the line is closed off by a red bar. • "End of an additional or acceleration lane" is depicted by an image of several lanes, one of which merges; here we have only a single route blocked at the end.

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