Why is there a СТОП (STOP) sign along with priority signs on traffic lights in Russia?
If you drive around in Moscow you will see a plain white sign reading СТОП (STOP) attached to traffic lights at some intersections.
I've also seen priority road signs (which almost makes sense) and give way signs (which completely confounds me) along with the stop sign. For instance, these examples from Google Street View:
What do these apparently contradictory signs mean?
What are drivers expected to do?
And what do drivers actually do?
Best Answer
Just one more thing not covered in other answers.
There are two different STOP signs in Russia.
Black Cyrillic words ???? on white rectangle (as shown in the question) just mean the imaginary line where a car should stop during a red traffic light. Also, if this sign is in the middle of a complex intersection, this means that if you are caught by red light while moving across the intersection, you must stop at that sign and wait for the next green light.
A completely different sign is white Latin letters STOP on a red octagon. It is just the same sign you have in many other countries and it means "you have to completely stop before the intersection and you must yield to other directions". It is a priority sign, so it "works" only as long as traffic lights are not working, or on the intersections without any traffic lights at all.
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Do traffic lights take priority over road signs?
The end of the priority section must be marked with a 'Priority over oncoming vehicles' sign in conjunction with a supplementary 'End' plate....Traffic control by priority signs.Speed limit of roadVisibility before and beyond works30 mph or less60 m40 mph70 m50 mph80 m60 mph100 mDoes Russia have street signs?
Road signs in Russia are pretty much the same as the ones you would see in Europe. There are 8 categories of road signs, which are: Warning signs, priority signs, prohibitory signs, regulation signs, special regulation signs, information signs, service signs, and additional information signs (known as plates).Do they have traffic lights in Russia?
Where trams and road vehicles co-exist on public roads, special traffic lights are often provided to give them priority at intersections, and Russian cities are no different. I found this example of a tram only traffic signal in Saint Petersburg.Why are there no stop signs in Europe?
In Europe and Australia, stop signs are restricted to places where coming to a dead stop is deemed necessary because of severely limited sight lines.Why is there a \
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Answer 2
Traffic signs are there to regulate the traffic in case the traffic light is not working. This is a practice in many parts of the world.
For example, in Australia, there are combined traffic-light & stop signs that work the same way.
In Germany, the law regulates this also:
Lichtzeichen gehen Vorrangregeln und Vorrang regelnden Verkehrszeichen vor.
Translation: "Traffic lights have priority over rules or signs regulating right of way"
On top of that, if there is a policeman regulating the traffic, he would override whatever the traffic light signals.
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