A traffic yield sign is a regulatory sign used to assign the right-of-way. When you see a yield sign, you should slow down and let cars/vehicles that arrived first, pedestrians, and people on bicycles approaching from another direction pass.
While both yield signs and stop signs are used to define the right-of-way for road users, yield signs do not require drivers to come to a complete halt but just slow down to let others pass. On the other hand, drivers must come to a complete stop at a stop sign/line or run the risk of being cited.
Yes, regulatory yield signs have to be a certain design to ensure convenient and consistent communication. The MUTCD guidelines require yield signs to be downward-pointing equilateral triangles with a wide red border. These should have the legend YIELD in red color on a white background.
Used to assign the right-of-way at the entrance to a roundabout intersection; yield signs are used to replace stop signs:
Please refer to MUTCD Section 2B.09 for more details.
Installed in advance of a yield sign, a yield ahead sign is used to alert road users about the need to slow down to respect the right-of-way requirement. This is done when the visibility of the yield sign is restricted.
