What Does A Road Sign With Two Arrows Pointing Downward Mean?

While driving, we pass so many road signs constantly that their meanings become second nature. Yet every so often, we see some truly confusing road signs or maybe just one we haven't seen in awhile. We don't have instant recall to our driver's education classes and just need a quick refresher on what exactly the sign means. One of these could possibly be a yellow diamond warning sign that features two arrows pointing downwards. These arrows are set a roughly 45 degree angles, with one pointing slightly to the left and the other the right. Even though they're pointing down, they are in fact not telling you you're about to go down a hill.

This sign is placed in front of islands, gores, or obstructions in the road, and it indicates that a driver is able to freely pass on either side of it. Sometimes, the two split lanes will come back together to be side by side once the obstruction has passed, like how they're used to separate lanes for toll booths. Other times, the lanes will instead go off in their own directions. Having a sign like this is important to also signal to drivers that going into a left lane is safe and won't be putting you directly in front of oncoming traffic.

You may also see versions of this same sign in an orange color instead of the traditional yellow. These are used in construction zones to indicate the exact same thing, though the need for a lane splitting could just be temporary until the construction is completed. These may not be the most common, but they're just as vital as any warning road sign.

There are other road signs out there that indicate there's some kind of median or obstruction to drive around to avoid. These are typically divided highway signs. They are also yellow diamond warning signs, but they have one arrow on the right pointing up and one on the left pointing down. Between them is a rounded block either at the top of the sign or the bottom. When it's at the top, it's letting you know that the median, gore, or other obstruction is coming up. When it's at the bottom, it's a divided highway ends sign, indicating that whatever this obstruction is will be going away to bring two lanes next to each other. As the arrows indicate, these signs are for two-way roads. Drivers are only meant to keep to the right of the obstruction. Otherwise, they'll be driving straight into oncoming traffic.

Another sign in a similar vein to this is a keep right of divider sign. Unlike the other road signs mentioned here, the keep right sign is a white rectangle, making it a regulatory sign rather than a warning one. This instructs drivers that they're only allowed to keep right at an upcoming median or divider with an arrow curving to the right of a rounded block on the bottom of the sign. More rarely, you will see the keep left of divider sign. This is the same design, only with the arrow on the left side of the rounded block. It's only when you see that sign with two arrows pointed down can you pass on either side of an obstruction.