What does the End School Speed Limit sign mean?
The End School Speed Limit sign (MUTCD S5-3) is a school zone sign under the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the national standard the states build from. From this point the regular limit is back in force, even where the marked school zone itself carries on.
Source: MUTCD 11th Edition, Part 7, Table 7B-1, checked 2026-09-09.
What shape and color is the End School Speed Limit sign?
| MUTCD code | S5-3 |
|---|---|
| Group | School zone signs |
| Shape | Vertical rectangle |
| Color | Fluorescent yellow-green background, black legend and border |
What a vertical rectangle means. Usually regulatory: a law you must obey. Speed limits, turn restrictions and parking rules take this shape. Rectangles are the loosely assigned outline in the system, though, so on this sign the shape alone does not tell you its family; the color and the legend do.
What fluorescent yellow-green means. Pedestrian, bicycle and school warnings. Reserved so those warnings cannot be mistaken for an ordinary hazard.
School zone signs. A pentagon means school and nothing else, so the outline alone answers the question. Fluorescent yellow-green is weaker evidence, because pedestrian and bicycle signs are allowed the same color, and that asymmetry is where the marks go.
What is the End School Speed Limit sign often mistaken for?
End School Zone (S5-2).
|  |
|---|---|
| GroupSchool zone signs | GroupSchool zone signs |
| ShapeVertical rectangle | ShapeVertical rectangle |
| ColorFluorescent yellow-green background, black legend and border | ColorFluorescent yellow-green background, black legend and border |
| What it meansFrom this point the regular limit is back in force, even where the marked school zone itself carries on. | What it meansThe designated school zone finishes here. |
What are the other school zone signs?
All 7 school zone signs on one page, or every US road sign by shape and color.
Test yourself on this sign and the rest of the set with a road signs practice test for Florida, Texas or California.
The artwork is the federal design itself, which the manual dedicates to the public domain in MUTCD 11th Edition, Part 1, Section 1D.06, checked 2026-09-09. The Interstate Shield, the 511 pictograph and the National Scenic Byway graphic are named exceptions and are not reproduced anywhere on this site.
Source: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, 11th Edition. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Federal Highway Administration or any state agency.