Road signs around the world
Red rings, blue discs, upside-down triangles: road signs are a picture language shared by the 75 countries that have joined the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. Learn to read a sign's shape and colour before its symbol, spot the rules that are easy to miss, and meet the countries that do things their own way, from Sweden's yellow moose to Japan's triangular STOP. A travel companion to Hello, Goodbye, and Thank You Around the World. The rules follow the consolidated 1968 text. A 2025 amendment gives the signs new numbers from 12 November 2026.
Questions
- Not answered. You don't recognise the picture inside this sign. What does the shape alone tell you?
- Not answered. What does a white disc with a wide red ring tell you, whatever is drawn inside it?
- Not answered. Which family of signs does a solid blue disc with a white symbol belong to?
- Not answered. Which shapes does the Convention use for just one sign each?
- Not answered. What does this sign warn you about?
- Not answered. The bold vertical bar in this sign is your road. What does the thin crossbar tell you?
- Not answered. What is this warning sign telling you, rather urgently?
- Not answered. Why would a warning sign show a windsock?
- Not answered. This sign says 10%. How many metres does the road drop for every 100 metres you travel horizontally?
- Not answered. Why does this Swedish sign show a moose when the Convention's example shows a deer?
- Not answered. What does a steam locomotive on a warning sign tell you about the railway crossing ahead?
- Not answered. This red-and-white cross stands right beside the tracks. What does the extra chevron below it add?
- Not answered. As you approach a level crossing, you pass a panel with three red bars, then one with two. How many bars does the last panel before the tracks have?
- Not answered. The exclamation-mark sign covers any danger not listed elsewhere. Which unusual case does the Convention name for it?
- Not answered. Which of these designs are legal danger warning signs under the Convention?
- Not answered. Each member country tells the UN which warning-sign design it uses. Of those that have, which one chose the yellow diamond?
- Not answered. This Irish sign warns of children. Why does it look more American than European?
- Not answered. What does this sign require of you?
- Not answered. It's 3 a.m., the crossroads is clearly empty, and there's a STOP sign. What does the Convention require?
- Not answered. Which inscriptions may a Convention STOP sign carry?
- Not answered. Is this a legal STOP sign under the 1968 Convention?
- Not answered. You are driving in Japan. What does this red triangle pointing down mean?
- Not answered. What does this sign tell you about the intersections ahead?
- Not answered. You reach a narrow bridge and see this sign. You're travelling in the direction of the upward arrow. Who goes first?
- Not answered. A Give Way triangle has a small panel underneath showing the word STOP and 150 m. What does it mean?
- Not answered. What does this plain sign prohibit?
- Not answered. What does this sign ban?
- Not answered. What does this sign cancel?
- Not answered. Under this sign, which road users may you still overtake?
- Not answered. You pass a no-overtaking sign, and no end sign ever follows. Where does the ban end by default?
- Not answered. This German sign has no red slash through the bicycle. What does it mean?
- Not answered. You can't read either word on this sign. What does it tell you to do?
- Not answered. On which days is parking banned on the side of the street with this sign?
- Not answered. What does this blue disc with a number mean?
- Not answered. This sign makes snow chains compulsory. On at least how many driving wheels must they be fitted?
- Not answered. What does the vertical line down the middle of this sign tell cyclists and pedestrians?
- Not answered. This motorway sign is green, but in some countries it is blue. Which colour does the Convention require?
- Not answered. From what length, in metres, must a tunnel have this Tunnel sign?
- Not answered. How far does the speed limit on this sign reach?
- Not answered. How does this blue sign differ from the red-bordered pedestrian triangle?
- Not answered. You cross a border and see this board. What does the middle row mean?
- Not answered. In a country that doesn't use the Latin alphabet, how must place names appear on direction signs?
- Not answered. Which of these countries signed the Convention in 1968 but never ratified it?
- Not answered. A 2025 amendment to the Convention takes effect on 12 November 2026. How did it become binding without each country voting to ratify it?
- Not answered. In what kind of country would you expect to see this roundabout warning?