mailcaroline/Shutterstock Add Jalopnik on Google: Google Discover In the world of road signs, some have meanings that are a lot less obvious than others, and some road signs are so simple that modern cars can recognize them automatically. Those wordless, arrowless, retroreflective signs with diagonal black-and-yellow stripes seem to fall into a vague middle ground. On color and vibes alone, one would probably assume that they're telling drivers some shade of "be careful" or "slow down," such as yellow speed limit signs that announce sharp speed limit decreases or hazards, and they'd be right. These are known as "object markers," and they exist to signal to drivers that there is an obstruction on or adjacent to the roadway. These could be a median or a barrier. They sometimes line the edges of an on-ramp to help drivers know where they're going, especially in the dark, and they can even be seen at the bottom of other road signs to signify that there's a road sign there. And here's something you might not have known: The direction in which the stripes go actually means something. Drive toward where the lines slope down MJK22/Shutterstock More specifically known as Type 3 object markers, the official U.S. Department of Transportation names for these are OM-3L, OM-3C, or OM-3R, depending on which direction the diagonal stripes go. The DOT describes them as "a vertical rectangle with diagonal alternating black and yellow stripes." 3L has the stripes at a 45-degree angle slanting downward to the right, 3R has them slanting downward to the left, and 3C has both types that converge in the middle. Wherever the lines slant down is where you should drive toward, with the chevron-laden OM-3C indicating an obstruction that you can drive past on either side. These are placed, say, to signal the existence of a median where there are lanes on either side. But when these object markers are placed on the outside of a highway on-ramp, they're the single-slant kind with the stripes pointing down toward where the ramp is. So, there you have it. When you see a rectangular road sign with nothing but diagonal black-and-yellow stripes on it, there's an obstruction or at least something you shouldn't drive toward. Look where the stripes slope down and go that direction instead.
