Europe: differences between colours of highway road-signs

Europe: differences between colours of highway road-signs - Time Lapse Photography of Cars on Road during Night Time

I'm now travelling in France and - as any Italian - one of the first thing we learn when running on highways is that the road signs have a different colour.

In particular, in this case it is pretty difficult because higways are green in Italy and blue in France, while state highways are exactly the opposite (blue in Italy and green in France).

I browsed a bit arounf and find a nice page on wikipedia, which lists all (very many) roadsigns (not just highways).

There is also a reference to "European Standard for Traffic Signs - EN 12899-1:2001 Fixed, Vertical Road Traffic Signs – Part 1: Fixed Signs, Requirements" (couldn't find any link on the internet) which is expected to be the 2007 EU standard for roadsigns.

Therefore I'm still amazed by the fact that the European countries still have, in real world, so different signs (colours, dimension etc).

Does anybody knows if there is some work going on on this? Shall we ever have common EU roadsigns?



Best Answer

I seriously doubt there will be any work to unify the signs. The benefits are questionable (looking at the Wikipedia article you linked) - it is really easy to understand the signs in different countries - and the cost of changing all the signs in even one country is huge.




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Europe: differences between colours of highway road-signs - Time Lapse Photography of Cars on Road during Night Time
Europe: differences between colours of highway road-signs - Aerial Shot of a Road Between Farm Lands
Europe: differences between colours of highway road-signs - Street sign placed on pole between old overpasses



What are the 3 most important Colours of road signs?

The Meanings behind Traffic Sign Colors. Stop signs are red. Caution signs are yellow. Construction signs are orange.

Why do signs have different colors?

Street signs come in many different colors, making them difficult to keep track of. Knowing the differences between what each color means could be the difference between getting lost and arriving at your destination safely. Street signs are different colors because, to put it simply, they mean different things.

Why are some road signs Green UK?

Green panels indicate that the primary route starts at the junction ahead. Route numbers on a blue background show the direction to a motorway. Route numbers on a green background show the direction to a primary route.

What country has blue signs?

Horizontal road surface markings A chargeable parking place is identified by white lines in Germany, France, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, and Switzerland and by blue lines in Italy and Spain.



Unusual European Road Signs




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Images: Ivan Rebic, Martin Cheung, Heibby Cris Marvel, Tim Gouw