A direction sign, more fully defined as a direction, position, or indication sign by the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, is any road sign used primarily to give information about the location of either the driver or possible destinations, and are considered a subset of the informative signs group. Direction signs are far more varied internationally than other classes of sign, as the Vienna Convention does not specify sizes, colours, symbols or positions of such signs. [1]
Direction signs are the oldest type of road sign; Plutarch writes about milestones being placed in the 3rd century BC, [2] while some fingerposts in the United Kingdom date back to at least the 1690s. [3] However, it was not until the invention of the motor car at the turn of the 20th century that modern direction signs evolved, with fewer words and clear design allowing them to be read at speed.
The first direction signs were milestones on the Roman road network; finding one's location on the long, straight roads was difficult, and hence, large stones were placed at intervals along the roads, giving the distance in Roman miles to nearby major cities, and usually to the capitals of major provinces. As most Roman roads diverged from Rome, one of the numbers was usually the distance to the Milliarium Aureum, a large golden milestone in the centre of Rome, although sometimes other stones, such as the London Stone, were used in places where measuring distances from Rome was impossible or not useful. [2]
The use of milestones continued following the decline of the Roman Empire. However, as trading between towns and regions increased, milestones were found to be inconvenient for giving directions at crossroads. As a result, the fingerpost developed. [3] Erected by local parishes, fingerposts were easier to read from horseback and were cheaper to make. With the development of the turnpike and the stagecoach, the Turnpike Roads Act 1773 was passed, making signposting compulsory to allow the riders to judge their speed and prevent them from becoming lost. Similar signs were developed in other countries and remained in use until the early-20th century, when development of the motor car made the small and often wordy signs impractical.
Most early direction signs were based on the traditional styles in use in area; the United Kingdom used adapted, cast iron fingerposts for signing directions, [3] while the United States adopted an ad hoc scheme based on traditional trail markings. These proved unwieldy, and modernisation efforts quickly sprang up to change them. However, the changes faced opposition, both from traditionalists who preferred the style or charm of older signs, and from businesses along affected routes, which feared that standardised direction signs would favour the new highways, causing rural routes to fade into obscurity. [4]
The advent of World War II halted sign modernisation efforts across Europe, however, and governments removed direction signs from their road networks – fearing that they would assist enemy spies and/or invading forces. The end of the war, on the other hand, presented itself as an opportunity, seized by many European nations, to set about redeveloping their directional signage systems. [5] The construction of high-speed motorways meant that traditional road signs were no longer practical, and so new, modern signs with bold, sans serif typefaces and diagrams indicating lanes and sliproads ahead were developed. The British Worboys Committee (established in 1963) went even further, creating signs with detailed diagrams of junction layouts. Such signs have now been in use almost unchanged for over half a century. [6]
The Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals divides the direction, position, or indication sign category into direction signs, which are only those giving distances or directions to a given location; road identification signs (also known as "reassurance signs"), which repeat the name or number of the road, and place identification signs, which give the name of a landmark, such as a town, river or border. Unlike the other classes of sign, direction signs remain broadly undefined by the convention; the only restrictions given are that direction signs must be either a rectangle or an arrow shaped pentagon, and that they may not contain placenames in more than two languages. Additionally, direction signs on motorways must be blue or green, while temporary direction signs are yellow or orange. [1]
As a result, different nations can have wildly different direction signs; the United States uses verbose green gantry signs almost universally in built up areas, with few diagrams beyond basic arrows, [7] while the United Kingdom, Ireland and Iceland use signs with fewer words but detailed maps of the approaching junctions. Most areas use different colours to show different road types, but the implementation varies: the United Kingdom (and Ireland) uses full colour boards, colour-coded to match the type of road they are placed on, with relevant text highlighted within patches of other colours to indicate different road types using the Guildford Rules. [8] The United States, Canada, and Australia, as well as New Zealand on the other hand almost universally use the plain green signs, but some signs use different colours to highlight certain types of destination such as hospitals and rest stops, or, in Australia and Ontario, that the road is a tollway. [7] Road signs in Israel and the Palestinian territories are of similar design to North American signage, but vary in color depending on whether the sign indicates direction for through traffic, exiting traffic, etc.
Direction signs can also be used in conjunction with other types of sign: for example, in the United Kingdom, if a warning or prohibitory sign appears on a direction sign, it means that the route indicated by the sign contains the hazard or prohibition sign posted. [8]
Some areas have special evacuation route signs that are to be followed in case of certain disasters. The signs point to routes either to safety or to less danger.
Evacuation signs are common in areas where there is a high risk of dangers such as flash flooding, volcanic activity and lahar, tsunami, hurricane and storm surge. For example, along the Japanese shorelines, the tsunami warning signs are linked with a network of warning sirens, typically at the top of the cliff of surroundings hills. [9]
Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduced, for example the fingerposts in the United Kingdom and their wooden counterparts in Saxony.
Road signs in the Republic of Ireland do not differ greatly from those used elsewhere in Europe – with the notable exception that hazard or warning signs follow the "MUTCD" style of a yellow diamond. The symbols used on these warning signs do, nevertheless, resemble much more closely those used in the rest of Europe than many of those seen in the United States.
Road signs in the United Kingdom and in its associated Crown dependencies and overseas territories conform broadly to European design norms, though a number of signs are unique: direction signs omit European route numbers, and road signs generally use the imperial system of units, unlike the rest of Europe. Signs in Wales and parts of Scotland are bilingual.
Road signs in Sweden are regulated in Vägmärkesförordningen, VMF (2007:90), and are to be placed 2 metres from the road with the sign 1.6 m from the base for motorized roads. Except for route numbers, there are a maximum of three signs on a pole, with the most important sign at the top. All signs have a reflective layer added on selected parts of the sign as is custom in European countries; most larger signs also have their own illumination.
Road signs in Malaysia are standardised road signs similar to those used in Europe but with certain distinctions. Until the early 1980s, Malaysia closely practice in road sign design, with diamond-shaped warning signs and circular restrictive signs to regulate traffic. Signs usually use the Transport Heavy font on non-tolled roads and highways. Tolled expressways signs use a font specially designed for the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) which is LLM Lettering. It has two type of typefaces, LLM Narrow and LLM Normal. Older road signs used the FHWA Series fonts typeface also used in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
A fingerpost is a type of sign post consisting of a post with one or more arms, known as fingers, pointing in the direction of travel to places named on the fingers, often including distance information.
Road signs in Norway are regulated by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Statens vegvesen in conformity with the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, to which Norway is a signatory.
The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions is the law that sets out the design and conditions of use of official traffic signs that can be lawfully placed on or near roads in Great Britain and the Isle of Man. The regulations, originally introduced in 1965, were the result of the review of British road signage carried out by the Worboys Committee.
European traffic signs present relevant differences between countries despite an apparent uniformity and standardisation. Most European countries refer to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. The convention has been adopted by the following countries : Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. The convention has not been adopted by Andorra, Ireland, Iceland or Malta.
Road signs in Italy conform to the general pattern of those used in most other European countries, with the notable exception that the background of motorway (autostrada) signs is green and those for 'normal' roads is blue. They are regulated by the Codice della Strada and by the Regolamento di Attuazione del Codice della Strada in conformity with the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.
Road signs in Thailand are standardized road signs similar to those used in other nations but much of it resembles road signage systems used in South American countries with certain differences, such as using a blue circle instead of a red-bordered white circle to indicate mandatory actions. Until the early 1980s, Thailand closely followed American, European, Australian, and Japanese practices in road sign design, with diamond-shaped warning signs and circular restrictive signs to regulate traffic. The Department of Railway maintains a standard on the typeface used in the sign, with custom made type for Thai text, unofficially named "Thang Luang" (อักษรทางหลวง) and a small derivation of FHWA Series fonts typeface, which is used on American road signage, for Latin text. In most Bangkok Metropolitan Area's routes, TS Lopburi is still used.
Road signs in Iran are regulated in the INSO standard 14815-1. They generally follow the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.
The design of road signs in Poland is regulated by Regulation of the Ministers of Infrastructure and Interior Affairs and Administration on road signs and signals. The Annex 1 to the regulation describes conditions related to usage of the road signs – size, visibility, colors and light reflections, typeface and text, criteria of choosing the type of foil to signs faces, colorful specimens and schematics.
Road signs in Israel are regulated by the Ministry of Transportation in the Division of Transportation Planning, most recently set forth in June 2011.
Road signs in the Czech Republic are regulated by the Ministry of Transport and the police. The signs are nearly the same as the European norm, but with small changes. The law governing the road signs is Decree number 30/2001 Sb., many times amended, and replaced by decree 294/2015 Sb., in force since 1 January 2016.
The Worboys Committee was formed by the British government to review signage on all British roads. In its July 1963 report Traffic signs: report of the committee on traffic signs for all-purpose roads, it found existing road signs to be obsolete for the increasing numbers of motor vehicles and their increasing speeds, and made over a dozen key recommendations. The committee went on to completely revise road signs in Britain, with an emphasis on symbols alone, adopting standard colour and shape practices used in mainland Europe and a new typeface. Its principles were adopted and are still the basis of all road signs in the United Kingdom.
Road signs in Hong Kong are standardised by the Transport Department. Due to being a former British territory, the road signage in Hong Kong is similar to road signs in the United Kingdom, with the addition of Traditional Chinese characters.
This is a list of road signs in Denmark. Road signs in Denmark are regulated by the Road Traffic Act (Færdselsloven). The design and definitions of road signs is delegated to the executive, according to §95 ¶1 of the Road Traffic Act. The executive, in this case the Danish minister of transport (transportministeren), issues executive orders on the subject. The latest executive orders were issued on April 13, 2023
Road signs in Malta are regulated by the Road Signs and Road Markings Regulations 1969, amended several times over the years, most recently in 2011, and are standardised by Transport Malta. Maltese road signs are divided into warning signs, regulatory signs, information signs and road markings. The Transport typeface is used on road signs as well as on road signs in the United Kingdom. Maltese road signs, regulated by The Highway Code of Malta, are based on those used in the United Kingdom, since the island nation was a British colony until 1964 when it became independent, with minor exceptions, for example, speeds are measured in kilometres per hour and distances in metres. However, road signs produced in Italy may be found in Malta and are identical to those used in Italy currently or in the past, sometimes "mirrored"; in these cases the "Alfabeto Normale" typeface is used, as in Italy. To date, in the Maltese archipelago there is therefore the coexistence of different signs on the British and, to a lesser extent, Italian model for the same function. It is rarely possible to encounter, again without any official nature, diamond-shaped warning signs similar to those used in Ireland.
This article is a summary of traffic signs used in each country.