Stop sign: what it means

Stop sign: a red octagon with a white border and the word STOP in white
Drawing: DriveQuiz, based on MUTCD sign R1-1. Simplified; real signs follow the FHWA Standard Highway Signs specifications.

The stop sign means you must come to a complete stop and wait until it is safe to go. The octagon shape is used only for STOP signs.

Take the free road signs quiz

Last checked against the sources: · Report a mistake

What it means

The national sign manual, the MUTCD, uses a STOP sign where a full stop is always required on an approach to an intersection (Section 2B.04). The eight-sided octagon is reserved for STOP alone (Section 2A.05), so the shape tells you what the sign is.

Where a white stop line is painted, it marks where you are required to stop (Section 3B.19). Who goes first after you stop, and where to stop when there is no line, is set by state traffic law, so check your state’s driver handbook.

Where you see it

At intersections where traffic on your road must always stop, such as where a minor road meets a busier one, and at all-way stops, where a red ALL WAY plaque is mounted under each STOP sign.

A common mistake

Rolling through slowly instead of stopping. At a STOP sign the car must come to a full stop before you look and go; slowing down without stopping is what you may do at a YIELD sign when the way is clear.

Quick quiz

Which sign is the only one with an octagon shape?

  1. Yield
  2. Stop
  3. Railroad crossing
Show answer

B. Stop. The MUTCD reserves the octagon for STOP signs (Section 2A.05). Source: MUTCD 11th Edition, Chapter 2B, Regulatory Signs, Barricades, and Gates: Section 2B.04, FHWA; MUTCD 11th Edition, Chapter 2A, General (signs): Section 2A.05, FHWA; MUTCD 11th Edition, Part 3, Markings: Section 3B.19, FHWA; MUTCD 11th Edition, FHWA

Compare with

Next in regulatory signs: Yield sign. See all regulatory signs or the full road signs list.

Want to test someone else? Play a road-sign quiz with friends and family.

Sources

  1. MUTCD 11th Edition, Chapter 2B, Regulatory Signs, Barricades, and Gates: Section 2B.04, FHWA
  2. MUTCD 11th Edition, Chapter 2A, General (signs): Section 2A.05, FHWA
  3. MUTCD 11th Edition, Part 3, Markings: Section 3B.19, FHWA
  4. MUTCD 11th Edition, FHWA. FHWA lists the current version as the 11th Edition with Revision 1, dated December 2025

Sign pictures are our own simplified drawings of the MUTCD designs, which are in the public domain (MUTCD Section 1D.06). Sources and image credits.