What does the winding road sign mean?

This sign appears at the start of a stretch of road. How does it differ from the sign that warns of a single bend?

It marks a run of bends, so your speed choice has to last the whole stretch

One bend lets you slow, turn and get back to speed. A run of bends does not, and the driver who accelerates hard out of each one arrives at the next carrying too much speed. Pick a speed you can hold and leave it alone.

This sign is posted where a road climbs into the hills. What does it tell you to expect?

A run of curves that turn one way and then the other

The sign warns of several bends in a row rather than a single one, so you pick a speed you can hold through all of them instead of accelerating between them. Passing is a poor idea on this kind of road, because the view opens up and closes down again every few seconds.

This sign faces you on a country road. What does it tell you about the road ahead?

A run of bends, so settle at a speed you can hold through all of them

The difference between this and a single curve sign is that there is no straight to recover in, so speeding up between bends leaves you arriving too fast at the next one. Pick a pace for the whole stretch instead of for each corner. Passing here is a bad idea for the same reason: you never see far enough ahead to be sure.

This sign faces you where a highway starts climbing through a series of bends. How does it change the way you drive the next stretch?

Hold a lower speed through the whole stretch and stay well back from the vehicle ahead

A single curve sign warns you about one curve, while this one tells you the bends keep coming, so the lower speed has to last. Your sight distance stays short the whole way, which means you cannot see far enough to pass and you will not see a stopped vehicle until you are close. Straightening bends by borrowing the other lane puts you where oncoming traffic is.

A run of curves is ahead and you are behind a car that is taking them steadily. What gives you the best read of the road?

Drop back far enough to see past the car and read each curve early

Vision sets your corner speed, and a vehicle just ahead is a wall across the part of the road you most need to see. Backing off costs a few seconds and buys you the view of the surface, the shape of the bend and anything coming the other way.

You meet this sign at the start of a run of bends on a road you have never ridden.

Pick a pace you can hold through every bend, taking each one on what you can actually see

The sign tells you there is a series of bends, not that they all match, so the first one teaches you nothing reliable about the fourth. Riding to your sight line means you can always stop in the road you can see, which is the only speed that survives a bend that tightens or a patch of gravel just past the apex. Hugging the centre line puts you where an oncoming vehicle running wide will be.