Dip Sign: Meaning and What to Do
The yellow diamond reading DIP warns of a sunken stretch of pavement ahead: a drainage swale, a settled utility cut, a low water crossing. Taken fast, a dip compresses then launches the suspension, floating the tires exactly like a bump.
Dip Sign
Dips add a wet-weather clause: they are where water gathers. Many DIP locations double as low-water crossings, and a dip full of moving water is an absolute stop; vehicles float sooner than drivers believe.
What to do when you see the dip sign
Slow before the dip, hold the wheel firm and inputs steady through it, and resume speed after. If water covers the dip, do not enter it: depth and current are unknowable from the driver's seat, and every state manual now says turn around.
The signs it is confused with
Tested with BUMP as the legend pair, and in flood questions where the dip becomes a crossing. The turn-around-do-not-drown answer appears in multiple state banks in nearly identical words.
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 dip sign
What does the dip sign mean?
A sunken section of road is ahead. Slow before it, steady through it, and treat any water in it as a reason to stop.
Why is a water-filled dip so dangerous?
Depth and current cannot be judged from the car, and a foot of moving water can float a vehicle. The tested answer is never to enter.
What does speed do in a dip?
Compresses then unloads the suspension, floating the tires at the exit; steering and braking fade exactly where the road bends your path.
How do bump and dip differ?
Direction of the same problem: raised versus sunken pavement. Both are solved by slowing before, steady hands through, speed after.
How is it tested?
Legend identification with BUMP and flood-scenario questions where refusing a flooded dip is the correct choice.