ROAD SIGNS

Practice them, learn them, and keep yourself and everyone else safe.

Our interpretation of some of the road signs to avoid copyright issues
Maximum speed limit
No goods vehicles over maximum gross weight shown in tonnes
Start of Motorway
Bridge showing height restriction
Give way
Risk of falling or fallen rocks
Our interpretation of some road signs to avoid copyright issues
Creators
Crossroads
Eco-Friendly Crafts
Countdown markers for motorway exit
Jewelry
All lanes closed.
this may change for 2, 3 or 4 lanes 
Wooden Crafts
No Entry
Phone Cases
End of minimum speed requirement
Wooden Crafts
Two-way traffic or route crossing ahead

Can you name all the signs above?

Just not knowing one of them could put you and other road users in danger.

Everywhere you look there is a sign!

And they are there for your safety!
The UK Highways department assess yearly, monthly, weekly and even daily, to check that any essential marking or signs are placed on our roads to keep us safe and to supply information to give drivers advanced warnings.
Learners feel like it is a minefield trying to understand what signs mean, so one of the easiest ways to make things easier with them is to understand the core principle of the shapes of the signs and what those shapes are instantly trying to tell you.
When it comes to signs, there are pretty much 3 shapes.

Understand what signs are trying to tell you

There are 3 main types of
Road Sign

Triangular
Triangular signs give warnings
Rectangular
Rectangular signs give information
Circular
Circular signs give orders

Circular signs

Circular signs that have a red ring around the outside of them tell you what you MUST NOT DO. This one is telling you that you MUST NOT exceed 30mph.

  • Just based on the sign above we can take from it that
  • 1. The maximum speed limit of 30mph has been deemed the safe acceptable speed for the road you are on.
  • This is not just a figure plucked out of the air and decided upon, but has been worked out based on size of the road, volume of traffic using that road on a daily basis, volume of pedestrians and its location to residential buildings, the amount of junctions or bends on it, along with many other items.
  • It would have been decided after careful consideration of many factors.
  • So it is why this type of sign gives you orders of what you
  • MUST NOT DO.
  • Don't exceed the speed limit.
  • Don't go under the bridge if your vehicle is higher than.
  • Don't overtake
  • Don't turn left / right
  • Don't drive a motor vehicle here
  • etc etc etc.

If round signs are blue
they are telling you things that you Must Do.

  • The sign is telling you that you MUST DO a minimum speed of 30mph (unless it unsafe or impractical to do so)
  • Again, these signs are also designed to keep you and others safe, and based on the surroundings or situations they are sited at will make it understandable as to why they are there.

Triangular signs

All Triangular signs are mounted this way up with the exception of one.
A Give Way sign is mounted pointing downwards to make it easily recognisable from a distance.

  • All Triangular signs give warnings and are placed in areas where consideration should be given to additional danger.

Rectangular signs supply Information
and can be coloured with  a Brown, Blue, Green or White background.

  • Generally signs that have Blue backgrounds are seen on Motorways
  • Generally Green background signs are seen on Primary route and used to give directions.
  • Brown background signs are mainly based around Tourist Information
  • White background signs are used for direction signs on non-primary routes, or for plates used in combination with warning and regulatory signs.

Other than the 3 main shaped signs there is only one that is shaped differently and that is the STOP sign

  • The Stop sign uses this unique shape so that it is easily recognisable even if covered in snow.

Know your Traffic Signs

The image opposite is our representation similar to that of the real book to avoid copyright issues.

  • The only way to ensure you have a reasonable understanding of what they all mean is by using a resource that lets you know all the signs currently on the UK roads.
  • The Book KNOW YOUR TRAFFIC SIGNS is the best resource.
  • Obviously you are not going to know them all off by heart, but the more you know the safer you and others using the road will be.

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