Keep right

What it means

The keep-right sign tells you to pass a divider, island, median end or obstruction on its right-hand side. It appears where a raised island splits traffic, where a median ends and traffic funnels together, or where a physical obstruction stands in or beside the roadway. Its job is to remove ambiguity about which side to use, because at the moment a driver meets an obstruction head-on, hesitation or a wrong-side choice produces head-on or sideswipe collisions. The black barrier symbol and right-curving arrow communicate the instruction without words.

How it gets misread

Drivers sometimes read it as a general instruction to stay in the right lane of a multi-lane road, which is a different rule with different signs. Others assume it applies only to the lane the sign is beside, when it governs everyone approaching the obstruction.

What to do

Steer to pass the obstruction or island on the right, adjusting speed and position early enough that the manoeuvre is calm rather than a late swerve. Check your mirror and blind spot before shifting laterally, and hold your new path until fully past the divider, because the far side often returns you to a single lane.

More regulatory signs

• Left lane must turn left →
• No passing zone →

Browse all road signs