A signal recognizing apparatus detects a target traffic light from an image showing surroundings of a host vehicle and generates traffic light detecting information including a traffic light image. The apparatus recognizes a lighting state of the target traffic light and specifies a positional relationship between the host vehicle and the target traffic light on the basis of position information of the host vehicle and the traffic light detecting information, and determines a center of a lighting area corresponding to a lighting portion of the target traffic light in the traffic light image, and performs a predetermined conversion process on the traffic light image on the basis of the positional relationship in order to compare with the lighting pattern information, and recognizes the lighting state by comparing the center of the lighting area in a traffic light image with the lighting pattern information.