96
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What does this British road sign mean?
Looks like a "Temporary lane closure".
The situation in Winchester, you referred to, supports this.
See another example from gov.uk
Temporary lane closure (the number and position of arrows and ...
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80
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What does this traffic sign with a crossed-out black octagon mean?
This is the 5th sign on the "regulatory signs" section of the Ontario Drivers Handbook.
As it says there:
Do not stop in the area between the signs. This means you may not stop your vehicle in ...
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74
votes
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Where and why are there metric road signs in Arizona?
That photo looks like I-19 in Arizona, America's only metric road (more from Atlas Obscura).
Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act in 1975, the last time the US had a serious metric system push, ...
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73
votes
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What does this Swiss black on yellow rectangular traffic sign with a symbol looking like a dart mean?
Signals with a black border and black text on yellow ground are military signals, as defined in Art 101.8 of the Swiss Road Signal Ordenance (Signalisationsverordnung, not available in english):
...
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70
votes
Traffic light fails to give a green to one's movement even after several cycles -- what can a driver do?
Some jurisdictions may have laws that specifically address this situation. For example, in Colorado, CRS 42-4-612 says:
Whenever a driver approaches an intersection and faces a traffic control ...
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70
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Why don't American traffic signs use pictograms as much as other countries?
The US has never signed the Vienna convention on Road Signals, which is what is used everywhere in Europe. Neither have Canada and Australia, who mostly follow the US standards on the road-signs.
As ...
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62
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What is the symbol on a worker ahead sign?
Here's the US Department of Transportation's official description from the 2009 MUTCD:
W21-1 is shown as a diamond-shaped sign with a symbol of a right-facing person with a shovel digging.
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62
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What's the meaning of the sign "Broken white line only marks the centre of the road"?
It definitely means you mustn't assume *any meaning whatsoever, re overtaking, turning, or even whether "your" side of the road is actually all yours, exactly as it says, over and above that it marks ...
- 599
56
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What does this Swiss black on yellow rectangular traffic sign with a symbol looking like a dart mean?
The pictogram on the road-sign is just the symbol within the swiss armed forces for a Truck driver. That's the reason why you probably won't find it unless you know what you are looking for.
The ...
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54
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What does a red X on a yellow sign mean on an Austrian autobahn
These signs are, as some answers state, for snow plow operators to mark parts of the streets where the snow plow has to be lifted to prevent hooking into the surface and damaging the plow.
The crosses ...
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53
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What's the meaning of the sign "Broken white line only marks the centre of the road"?
In short: It means "Don't assume any of the usual meanings of a broken line in Spain, except for marking the center of the road".
In long:
The meaning is obvious. At least, it seems obvious ...
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52
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What are these half-size parking spaces in a supermarket lot?
It's two motorcycle parking spaces, somewhat confusingly embedded in markings of similar size that mean "don't park here".
- 99.3k
43
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What does this traffic sign with a crossed-out black octagon mean?
According to Wikipedia, it is a Canadian form of "No Stopping".
I guessed it from the grammar of signs - it is prohibiting something, and that something is represented by an octagon, the shape of a ...
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42
votes
Is this "warning for prostitutes" sign actually a real, official sign in Italy?
These signs were real. According to Italian newspapers, they were promised (la Repubblica) and then actually installed (la tribuna di Treviso) in 2007 by the mayor of Mogliano Veneto, a town in the ...
- 526
41
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Is it legal to exceed the Advisory Speed Limit?
Yes, it's legal to ignore it. However, if you do and cause an accident, you're at fault.
Drive Smart BC:
An advisory sign gives advance notice of conditions on or adjacent to a highway that are ...
- 99.3k
40
votes
What does the Free Recovery sign (UK) actually mean?
What does this exactly mean and are there specific reasons when is used?
This is used under specific conditions listed below and it means you will be recovered to the end of the roadworks to ...
- 19.9k
38
votes
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In Norway, when number ranges are listed 3 times on a sign, what do they mean?
The short answer is "because it's convention". This form of signifying hours for different days of the week/holidays is used in many situations, whether parking place, store front, or on the ...
- 486
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What's the meaning of the sign "Broken white line only marks the centre of the road"?
If I understand it correctly, it has to do with overtaking, but the signage is really confusing.
In Spain, a continuous line means that overtaking is prohibited and it is in no case allowed to cross ...
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33
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Do road signs showing a country and a city as destinations really exist?
Sure they do, here's a few:
(credit ojdo.de, CC licensed)
However, these are uncommon for anything larger than city states, because drivers are usually trying to go a specific city, not an entire ...
- 99.3k
31
votes
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What does the Apple Command key symbol (⌘) mean on Icelandic road signs?
I found the definitive answer when I was typing this question; while inserting the ⌘ in the question's title and hovering over it, the dialog showed me it's a Place of Interest Sign:
According to ...
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What does this British road sign mean?
It means both lanes closed. It is one of the options for the British motorway variable signs, see the official highway code pages for more details.
Note that the example on the page only shows one ...
- 410
29
votes
What do these white blocks mean at an intersection?
This is a "unterbrochene Haltelinie" (broken wait line).
You are supposed to stop here to let pass cars that have right of way. However this is just a suggestion and serves as an indicator where it ...
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28
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What is the meaning of this black/white (likely non-traffic) sign seen on German highways?
These signs are part of a test track for autonomous driving.
The German Wikipedia says in its article about the A9:
Teststrecke für autonomes Fahren
Abschnitte [der A9] in Bayern sollen als Testfeld ...
- 3,401
25
votes
What is the symbol on a worker ahead sign?
Its a person digging. Its based on the UK roadsign by Margaret Calvert (who inspired roadsigns across the world - see the German or Australian ones for the same).
She is on record as saying she ...
- 350
25
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What does this traffic sign with a crossed-out black octagon mean?
As per the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, the octagonal shape as shown in this diagram is used only for a "Stop" sign. Normally a stop sign would be red in color and also include the ...
- 124k
24
votes
Do road signs showing a country and a city as destinations really exist?
Yes, they do exist. The first situations that come to my mind are:
On motorways when you are approaching the border and there are not many "big cities" ahead. For example: Sign for France
When you're ...
- 1,196
23
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What does a red X on a yellow sign mean on an Austrian autobahn
In Switzerland, there are signs of the same size positioned at the beginning and end of bridges, overpasses, etc... along motorways and some secondary roads.
Likewise, there is no reference to them in ...
- 11.4k
23
votes
Why don't American traffic signs use pictograms as much as other countries?
The US has English as a de facto, but not official, national language. At a state level, 31 states have enshrined English as an official language (28 have it as the only official language). Over 90% ...
- 1,448
21
votes
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What do these white blocks mean at an intersection?
If you see those lines without any sign at the road, it's usually there to remind people to respect the "right before left" rule. In the picture, you can see a white car that seems to approach the ...
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20
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What is this sign with red triangle and black bottom up "T" on cars in Lithuania?
Given that very similar sign is employed in Russia, I would theorise it means that this car has little spikes built in its wheels' tyres, facing outwards. Spikes allow car to come to halt much faster ...
- 12.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible