Know your European road signs

Whether you’re taking your car abroad this Christmas because you own a second home, you’re looking for a property to buy or you’re just going on holiday, it’s worthwhile making sure you understand the roadsigns you’ll come across. You’ll be that much safer.

Airport Parking and Hotels (APH) the long stay airport parking and travel extras specialist, has put together a table of European road signs for the ‘Know Before You Go’ section of its website.

The table highlights unusual road signs found in popular holiday destinations in Europe. Many road signs in Europe are internationally standardised. However, recent research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has found that tourists driving in foreign countries are ‘three times more likely to be involved in an accident abroad due to ignorance of local traffic laws’.

Helping travellers

The APH research table highlights the unusual signs that could confuse drivers and found that while France has few signs that differ from those in the UK, Germany has a number of confusing ones including the ‘path of priority road’ sign and ‘city speed limit’ signs.

Some of the Swedish road signs also have a slight variation on the international signing system. For example, the ‘Warning’ sign in Sweden is a yellow triangle with a red border and a black vertical line in the centre while in the UK, the sign is a white triangle with a red border with an exclamation mark in the centre and a small rectangular sign underneath.

Nick Caunter, managing director of APH, says: “More and more holidaymakers choose to hire a car in Europe or drive their own car abroad, so we felt it was important to highlight the most confusing European road signs for drivers.

The table helps travellers to study the road signs they’ll come across at their holiday destination before leaving the UK and they can also print off the table from the ‘Know Before You Go’ section of our website, and take it abroad with them”.

APH is also a carbon-balanced company and has, through the World Land Trust, helped purchase more than 1,000 acres of Belize rainforest. Airport Parking and Hotels Ltd is one of the UK’s leading booking agencies and has over 29 years’ experience as a retailer of pre-booked airport parking and travel extras. APH offers parking at all major UK airports, ports and Eurotunnel terminals plus airport hotels packaged with parking, airport lounges, travel insurance, car hire and holiday taxis.

For further information visit www.aph.com or call 01342 859515.

Road Sign	Country	Meaning
	Throughout Mainland Europe	Snow Chains Obligatory
	Throughout Mainland Europe	No Stopping
	Throughout Mainland Europe	No waiting or parking
	Throughout Mainland Europe	Give way
	Throughout Mainland Europe	No traffic at all
	Throughout Mainland Europe	Centre of Town
	Throughout Mainland Europe	Priority to the right
	Throughout Mainland Europe	End of priority road
	France	No cars or bikes
	France	Parking start and end
	Germany	Bus/Tram Stop
	Germany	One way
	Germany	Path of priority road is seen beneath the diamond-shaped ”priority sign“
	Germany	City limit (unless posted otherwise the speed limit in a town is 50km/h (31mph)
	Germany	End of city limits
	Italy	No vehicles carrying explosives
	Italy	Pay toll
	Italy	Customs
	Sweden	Junction
	Sweden	Warning
	Norway	Countdown to level crossing
	Norway	Passing without stopping prohibited at customs
	Norway	End of maximum recommended speed
	Norway	Lay-by or passing place
	Norway	National Heritage
	Norway	Accident
	Poland	Toll
	Republic of Ireland	Yield
	Republic of Ireland	Junction at corner with a minor road sign.
	Republic of Ireland	Unguarded Level Crossing

© Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.