What does this road sign mean? (Germany; red circle and X on a blue background, with a right-pointing arrow.)

Question

Okay, I don't know why I'm having such difficulty finding an answer online. I found an example of the sign on Google Images but the hosting site is down and there is no cache, and searches using "blue background red cross white arrow" aren't turning up relevant results. [Update, 2019: Now they do! This page being the top result.]

I'm driving for the first time in Europe—in Munich, Germany—and I came across an intersection where there seemed to a "main" signal above, straight ahead, and a "side" signal to the right, near the bicycle lane. The above pictured sign was affixed to its pole.

If this sign were standalone, there'd be less of a question about what it means. But...

1. It was a right turn from a smaller road to a main road, so it seemed unlikely that right turns wouldn't be allowed.

2. It was affixed to a side signal, so I thought it might mean to indicate that this side signal is a separate turn signal one should adhere to in order to make right turns (presumably to protect bicyclists and pedestrians).

3. A police car behind me, which I was nervously watching while waiting at the light, turned on its right-turn signal.

Was it fine to make a right turn? (The police didn't stop me, but I heard that you just get ticketed in the mail for violations.)

Answer 1

Provided there were no other sign or rule forbidding it, turning was perfectly fine. The red X cross on blue background means it's forbidden to stop (absolutes Halteverbot).

It's somewhat similar to the more well-known “no parking” sign, but stricter (parking is defined as leaving your vehicle or letting it stand longer than three minutes whereas this signs also covers shorter stops). Waiting because there is a traffic light, the conditions force you to come to a stop (traffic jam, emergency…) or the police orders it is explicitly allowed but stopping for any other reason (like letting someone get off your car) is not.

Arrows inside the circle are unrelated to any turn but specify the area of validity of the sign (it starts where there is a road-pointing arrow and ends where there is a an arrow pointing away from the road). In your case, and assuming the sign was placed on the right of the road, it would mean it's forbidden to stop before the sign (and the intersection).

I suspect it might have been affixed to another sign as a cost saving measure or to minimize obstruction and is completely unrelated to crossing rules for this intersection.

More details are available on Wikipedia (in German)

Answer 2

Red circle means Prohibition, round signal means law-enforced (as per driving code and rules), upper left to lower right red bar means prohibition to park your vehicle (2 or more minutes and stopped engine supposes your car is parked) and upper left to lower right with a 'mirrored' lower left to upper right red bar means prohibition to park or pulling over your car(be it to get up or down your car people or things) and the white arrows indicate "from this sign up the direction the arrow is pointing".

With exception of the arrow, this sign is internationally standardized by the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals (though not all signatories use this sign) as laid down in part 1, annex 1, section C II, Nr. 9.

Answer 3

What does this road sign mean?

It means you should do at least the theory part of the german driving license before driving around there clueless.

Here are the official rules (StVO = Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung):

https://www.juris.de/purl/gesetze/_ges/StVO

You should know them before even starting the car engine on a parking lot.

I would never drive in another country without getting familiar with the rules there, even if it's a similar country like Austria or Switzerland, there are such big differences, that they might cost lives.

To the question: The sign means no stopping, the arrows indicate the direction in which stopping is not allowed.

Usually the signs are parallel to the road, so the direction is clear. If you have a no stopping sign facing you while you drive, below a traffic light or such, imagine it rotated to the street.

A sign without arrows facing you means from here on, rotated to the side, it is usually a reminder for people who missed the start of the no stopping area. There's also those with two arrows.

That's already pretty complicated and that was only one sign. We have a lot more of those. Imagine additional signs for hours, types of vehicles and parking tickets. When do you need to buy one, when is it allowed to park, and so on.

Then there's people who do dangerous stuff like a full braking because of a speed limit that only applies to trucks with dangerous chemicals, suprising all the normal drivers behind them. And yes, that's the normal mode in germany, without a reason a car does not brake just for fun or without indicating it before.

It's just foolish to assume you will figure it out while driving, learn it before you start.