Recommended speed
Speed
- Sign code
- A4
- Category
- Speed
- Traffic signs
- Recommended speed 50 km/h.
Sign A4 gives an advisory speed. The number is a recommendation for that road in normal conditions, not an obligation. You may drive faster than the number as long as you stay under the applicable speed limit.
What to do at sign A4
Take the advice seriously. The sign is usually there because the road does something you cannot see coming: a tight bend, a slip road that narrows quickly, a gradient.
If you drive faster and it goes wrong, you can still be held responsible for driving too fast for the conditions, even though you were under the limit.
How to recognise the sign
A4 is a blue square sign with a white number. Blue and square means information or advice. A round sign with a red border would be binding.
A5 ends the advice and is the same sign with a line through it.
Where you will see it
On motorway slip roads, before sharp bends on provincial roads, and at roadworks where the road temporarily changes course.
A4 on the CBR theory exam
This sign is a classic trick question. The question shows A4 reading 70 and asks whether you may drive 80. The answer is yes, if the speed limit allows it, because advice is not a prohibition.
Difference from A1, speed limit
A1 is round with a red border and binding. A4 is blue and square and advisory. If you see a red border, it is a limit.
A1, speed limitFrequently asked questions
- May you drive faster than the advisory speed?
- Yes, as long as you stay under the applicable speed limit and your speed suits the conditions.
- Can you be fined for ignoring sign A4?
- Not for the sign itself. You can be fined for driving too fast for the conditions.
- How far does the advisory speed apply?
- Until sign A5, end of advisory speed, or until the hazard the sign warns about has passed.
Practise this sign for your theory exam
Recommended speed belongs to the Speed category. In the CBR theory exam a traffic sign is almost never asked on its own: you are shown a situation and have to know what you may or must do in it. In the free sign trainer you practise the signs by category, with the explanation shown right after every answer.
Practise traffic signs for free
