Advisory Speed Plaque: Meaning and What to Do
The small yellow square with a number and MPH, mounted beneath a warning sign, is an advisory speed plaque. It recommends a maximum comfortable speed for the hazard the sign above it describes, most often a curve or a ramp. The design shown uses an example figure; a real plaque carries the speed engineers chose for that spot.
Advisory Speed Plaque
The advisory speed is not the speed limit and does not change it. It is the speed at which the curve can be taken in good conditions without the vehicle feeling unstable. In rain, ice, or with a heavy load, the safe speed is lower still.
What to do when you see the advisory speed plaque
Slow to the advisory speed or below before you enter the curve, not in it. Treat the number as a ceiling for that hazard in dry conditions and reduce further for weather, darkness, or a tall or loaded vehicle. Exceeding the advisory speed is not automatically a violation, but losing control is.
The signs it is confused with
Tests contrast the yellow advisory plaque with the white Speed Limit sign, which is the law, and with the Reduced Speed Limit Ahead warning, which announces a change in the legal limit. Yellow with a number is advice for a hazard; white with a number is a limit.
Signs are one topic of ten on every test
Every state practice test covers signs, signals, and markings among its ten topics, with every answer explained. Pick your state and see how its exam asks about signs like this one; it is free, with no sign-up.
Choose your stateQuestions about the advisory speed plaque
What does an advisory speed plaque mean?
The recommended maximum speed for the hazard on the sign above it, usually a curve. Slow to that speed before you reach the hazard.
Is the advisory speed a legal limit?
No. The legal limit is on the white Speed Limit sign. The advisory speed is engineering advice for that curve or ramp.
Can I be cited for exceeding it?
Not for the number itself, but every state has a basic speed law requiring a safe speed for conditions. Losing control above the advisory speed is evidence you were going too fast.
Why is it yellow?
Because it belongs to the warning family. It is attached to a warning sign and describes the hazard, not the law.
How does this plaque appear on the written test?
As the classic contrast with the white speed limit sign: which number is the law and which is a recommendation.