North American vs. European road signs (to rent, live, versus)

[Red.Apple]

Originally Posted by StoryFriend

I voted for Europe because many our signs include words and I think it should only be symbols, because then you have to speak English to understand them.

Most of U.S. road signs are symbolic. There are only few signs, such as "BUMP" and "NARROW BRIDGE" that are word, otherwise all others are mainly symbolic.

[Glucorious]

Originally Posted by Red.Apple

Most of U.S. road signs are symbolic. There are only few signs, such as "BUMP" and "NARROW BRIDGE" that are word, otherwise all others are mainly symbolic.

Iced bridge, iced street, workers present, higher fines, slow, no parking, must turn, no turn, keep off median, this lighg for left turn, school zone, keep right or left, be prepared to stop, don't pick up hitch hikers, caution, children playing, cross traffic, ded end, one way, flash flood area, lane merges, lane ends, loose gravel, no outlet, low shoulder, no passing zone etc. There are many.

[Red.Apple]

Originally Posted by StoryFriend

Iced bridge, iced street, workers present, higher fines, slow, no parking, must turn, no turn, keep off median, this lighg for left turn, school zone, keep right or left, be prepared to stop, don't pick up hitch hikers, caution, children playing, cross traffic, ded end, one way, flash flood area, lane merges, lane ends, loose gravel, no outlet, low shoulder, no passing zone etc. There are many.

< NO PARKING

< School (X-ING)

< Stop Ahead / Be prepared to stop

< Children at play (Could be different similar sign too)

<< ONE WAY

<< Lane ends (right)

<< Road work (Although text sign is more widely seen)

So what are you talking about? There are few old ones' that might be text only, but those are not standard and definetely not widely seen.

[Acajack]

The U.S. has certainly greatly increased the number of pictograms on its road signs but there are still a lot of them with words only, certainly when compared to Europe and even Canada.

[Glucorious]

Originally Posted by Red.Apple

< NO PARKING

< School (X-ING)

< Stop Ahead / Be prepared to stop

< Children at play (Could be different similar sign too)

<< ONE WAY

<< Lane ends (right)

<< Road work (Although text sign is more widely seen)

So what are you talking about? There are few old ones' that might be text only, but those are not standard and definetely not widely seen.

You apparently don't even live in the US.

[Sweden]

Originally Posted by Red.Apple

In North America there are different types of road signs. Black on white are for regulatory signs. Yellow diamond shaped for warning signs, and red on white for STOP or YIELD signs. Red on white means prohibited, and green on white means allowed. Orange for construction/road work. How easy could that be?

The Swedish Yield sign is ugly, and No stopping/standing is hard to understand. "Annan fara !" is ununderstandable symbol with just an " l" instead of "!" like continental Europe lol.

Center line dividing opposite traffic is white in Sweden, while it is yellow in North America (but also in Norway and Finland).

Well, I was very specific with what sign I was talking about. And if you've ever driven on a road in a state where the winter is white, you'd know what I mean when I say the speed signs don't really show. In Sweden you can't miss them, they're very colourfull, hence I have no problem noticing the Swedish speed signs during winter.

And I don't care how estetically pleasing a road sign is. All that matters to this driver is:
1) Can I see it at all times/seasons?
2) Can I understand it?

(I spend so much time on the road, and I have driven in so many countries by now that my preferentials are pretty set: Swedish/European model(s), hands down.)

[elliottman98]

In response to the many posts in preference of European road signs because they rely more on universal symbols than words as the US signs do, many signs in Canada (not Mexico as many of their signs look different), while Canadian signs look almost identical to US signs, they use more symbols than the US ones. It's the best of both worlds in my opinion. I like the colours of the North American signs, but do prefer more symbols as opposed to just English writing. Canadian signs typically cover both of these. Here are a few examples of US signs that use text and the same Canadian signs using symbols.


Narrowing Road: US - Canada -
Uneven Road: US - Canada -
Loose Gravel: US - Canada -
Draw Bridge: US - Canada -
No Motorcycles: US - Canada -


Among some others

[forgotten username]

There are already vast differences within Europe... For instance I think they are often poorly designed in Belgium (like written in white on yellow with a police size similar to the one used on this board).

France has a color system that is the reverse of the rest of (western) europe, green means main roads while blue means highways, whereas green means highways everywhere else. Because of that I have already several times mistakenly missed highway entrances in France after weeks spent here because I got used to the Italian color system.

Also, in France the speed limit is shown roughly every half kilometer whereas here in Italy you usually have to guess because it won't be written before at least 20 kilometers. That might explain why many drivers assume 120 km/h is ok on country roads ?

I'll try to think of other differences...

[Tim Randal Walker]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I find the North American road signs more visually attractive but they still use too many words as opposed to pictograms, especially in the U.S. The use of pictograms has increased steadily in North America, and hopefully this will continue.

Pictograms are used more in Europe, although even there there are still quite a few words, though not so much as in the U.S.

Ideally, almost everything road signs except place and street names should have a universally recognizable pictogram-type illustration.

[Minato ku]

Originally Posted by forgotten username

France has a color system that is the reverse of the rest of (western) europe, green means main roads while blue means highways, whereas green means highways everywhere else. Because of that I have already several times mistakenly missed highway entrances in France after weeks spent here because I got used to the Italian color system.

In Germany, freeways (autobahn) have also blue road signs like French autoroutes.