Diagonal stripes sloping downward left on a barricade or panel mean:
- The driver should stop.
- The driver should bear to the right.
- The driver should bear to the left. ✓
- The driver should drive in a straight line.
Answer: C. The driver should bear to the left.
The driver should bear to the left.
Why this is the answer
The handbook says diagonal stripes on a barricade or vertical panel guide traffic in the direction the stripes point. It states that stripes sloping downward to the left mean the driver should bear to the left. That matches the answer. The downward-left slope is the cue, not a stop command or a straight-ahead path.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. The driver should stop. — The stripes guide traffic direction; the passage does not say they mean stop.
- B. The driver should bear to the right. — Bearing right matches stripes sloping downward to the right, not downward to the left.
- D. The driver should drive in a straight line. — Driving straight ignores the direction the downward-left stripes are meant to guide you toward.
Remember it
Match the slope to your move: down-left means move left.
Official handbook: Texas Driver Handbook (DL-7), Chapter 5: Signals, Signs, and Markers , p. 36