What Country Has the Best Road Signs?

[cebuan]

There are the uniform road sighs, and then there is the willingness of local engineers to use them. In the Mexican state of Oaxaca, there are virtually no road signs. In rural areas, which way to go is often intuitive, and in the cities, you need to roll down your window and ask somebody at every important looking intersection.

In Illinois and North Carolina, it is n early impossible for a stranger to find his way on secondary roads, which are not numbered, only signposted by the name of the road, with no destination pointers. The need for signs is now obviated by electronic location and mapping.

In Canada, of course, picto-signs are essential because of two-language laws, so without pictures, sign would need to say "slippery when wet -- glissant si humide"

[engineman]

It is interesting that in Spain they have red octagonal signs that say "STOP".
In Mexico the large red octagonal signs say "ALTO".


In Vancouver BC the blinking green lights were a puzzlement until a local told me they were at pedestrian crossings.

[elnina]

I am not particularly fond of US road signs. Especially the cardinal directions.
How the heck I supposed to know those directions in an unfamiliar city, and when is overcast or night? Not every car has a compass...
Imagine - I am on a highway entering a big city, and the signs says only the cardinal directions and highway numbers. How I supposed to know which hwy to take that bring me to airport area, or convention center or a hotel? Stop and unfold the map? Very inconvenient!
Nowadays most people have GPS that tells them where to go, but how foreign tourists dealt with that, say, 20 years ago??
One has to have pretty good knowledge about American street grid numbering system, where the main streets are and how the city’s compass directionals and numbering system works (and in particular, where the zero points are).
Hearing someone saying: go south three blocks, then turn west for another 5 blocks, then keep going north ... drives me insane!!!

I wonder how many countries use such system...

[motormaker]

Originally Posted by engineman

It is interesting that in Spain they have red octagonal signs that say "STOP".
In Mexico the large red octagonal signs say "ALTO".

And in Puerto Rico the red octagonal sop signs sat “pare”.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by engineman

It is interesting that in Spain they have red octagonal signs that say "STOP".
In Mexico the large red octagonal signs say "ALTO".


In Vancouver BC the blinking green lights were a puzzlement until a local told me they were at pedestrian crossings.

I believe that Spain is in compliance with Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. Mexico is not. Likewise France is in compliance and uses STOP, but Quebec uses ARRET just to mess with English speakers. LOL.

Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals - Wikipedia