Traffic Signals on Irish Roads
16 signs, each with what it means and the rule behind it.All 16 signs
Traffic lights
The ordinary three lamp head. Red means do not drive past the lights or the stop line, steady amber means stop unless you are already so close that you cannot stop safely, and green means you may go if nobody is endangered.
Traffic lights: directional arrows, bus or U-Turn display
A head that can show a directional arrow, a bus lamp or a U-turn arrow. A red arrow or a red bus lamp stops that movement just as a red circle stops the rest.
Traffic lights: 4 lamps including directional green arrow, flashing amber arrow, or bus display
The flashing amber arrow lets you go in the direction of the arrow, but you must yield to anyone on a cycle track beside you before you take the turn.
Directive traffic lights
Directive lights. Where the lowest amber arrow flashes at a stop line you may proceed in that direction, and where it flashes before a yield sign or line the ordinary yield rule applies.
Level crossings
Level crossing lights. These are the signals that stop traffic for a train, and they are prescribed separately from ordinary junction lights.
Traffic lights for pedal cyclists and e-moped and electric scooter drivers
A cycle signal. Cyclists, e-moped riders and electric scooter users stop on the red cycle symbol and go on green, and on a steady amber may continue only if they are already crossing.
Traffic lights for pedal cyclists and e-moped and electric scooter drivers
A cycle signal in its second prescribed arrangement. Flashing amber on a cycle signal means yield to pedestrians rather than stop.
Tram Stop
A tram signal. The horizontal bar tells a tram driver to stop, and it is worth knowing on street running sections because it is not a signal for you.
Tram Proceed
The vertical bar tells a tram to proceed. Tram signals use bars rather than colours so that they cannot be mistaken for the lights governing other traffic.
Tram Proceed to Left
An angled bar sending a tram to the left.
Tram Proceed to Right
An angled bar sending a tram to the right.
Tram Stop Unless Too Close to Stop Safely
The tram equivalent of a steady amber: stop unless the tram is too close to stop safely.
Traffic lights: 5 lamps including directional green arrow and bus display
A five lamp head carrying a directional green arrow and a bus display, used where buses and turning traffic need their own release.
Traffic lights for pedal cyclists and e-moped and electric scooter drivers
The third prescribed cycle signal arrangement, for junctions where cycle movements are released separately from general traffic.
Traffic lights: 5 lamps including a directional green arrow and additional amber lamp
A five lamp head with a directional green arrow and an extra amber lamp.
Traffic Lane Control Sign
The lane control signal. A red X over or beside a lane closes it, and traffic in that lane must not pass the sign.
The Traffic Signs Manual numbers a further 4 codes in this chapter. They are not prescribed in the Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025, and the manual's own wording is not ours to reprint, so they are not listed here. Sources: Department of Transport, Traffic Signs Manual; Irish Statute Book, Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025, S.I. No. 433 of 2025; checked on 2026-09-15
Some sign diagrams on this page come from the Irish Statute Book. Contains Oireachtas material, © Houses of the Oireachtas, reused under the Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence (CC BY 4.0). Source: Houses of the Oireachtas, Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence, clause 3.1, checked on 2026-09-15
15 sign codes
Source: Irish Statute Book, Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025, S.I. No. 433 of 2025, Regs. 38 to 52 and Schedule 7, dated 2025-09-22, checked on 2026-09-15
Traffic signals are the one group on this site that changes while you look at it, so the rule attaches to the aspect showing rather than to the sign itself. The Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997 set what each colour and arrow requires of a driver, and article 30 of those Regulations was rewritten by S.I. No. 473 of 2025 with effect from 9 October 2025. The signal heads themselves, including the tram signals and the lane control sign, are prescribed by the Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025.
What each colour asks of you
Red is absolute. You must not drive past the lights or, where there is one, past the stop line. That covers a red arrow, a red U-turn arrow and a red BUS lamp as much as it covers the plain red circle.
Steady amber means stop. The only excuse for going on is that you are already so close to the lights that stopping cannot be done safely, which is a question about where your vehicle actually is and not about whether you would rather keep moving.
Green is permission, not priority. You may go if no other road user is endangered by it. You still yield where the general yielding rule applies, and you still may not enter a yellow box junction unless you can clear it without stopping.
Arrows, filters and flashing amber
A green filter arrow lets you go in the direction it points for as long as it is lit. It is a release for that movement only.
A flashing amber arrow is different from a filter. You may go in the direction of the arrow, but you must yield to vehicles on an adjacent cycle track first. Where the lowest amber arrow of a directive head flashes ahead of a yield sign or line, you proceed under the yield rule rather than as of right.
At pedestrian crossing lights a flashing amber has its own meaning again: you may go only once you have yielded to any pedestrian already crossing. Three different flashing ambers, three different duties, and questions are written on exactly that distinction.
Signals for cyclists, e-mopeds and electric scooters
Cycle signals carry a cycle symbol and govern cyclists, e-moped riders and electric scooter users. Red stops them, green releases them, a steady amber lets them continue only if they are already crossing, and a flashing amber means yield to pedestrians.
Where sign RUS 026A is provided at a set of lights, those same users may go in the direction shown on the sign while the light is red, provided nobody is endangered and they yield. It is a narrow exception tied to that sign being present, not a general permission to pass a red light.
Tram signals and lane control
Tram signals use white bars rather than coloured circles: a horizontal bar to stop, a vertical bar to proceed, angled bars to turn, and a second horizontal form meaning stop unless the tram is too close to stop safely. They are prescribed in Schedule 7 of the Traffic Signs Regulations, and they are addressed to the tram driver. Knowing them keeps you from reading a tram signal as though it were yours.
The lane control signal sits above the running lanes and is the one signal in this group that is usually met at speed. A red X closes the lane beneath it and traffic in that lane must not continue past the sign.
Sources
Source: irishstatutebook.ie, Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, art. 30, checked on 2026-09-16
Source: irishstatutebook.ie, Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025, regs. 37 to 46 and 86, checked on 2026-09-16