United States Road Symbol Signs

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American road signs are increasingly using symbols rather than words to convey messages. Symbols provide instant communication with road users, overcome the language barrier and become the standard for traffic control equipment around the world. Being familiar with traffic signs is important for all road users to keep road facilities safe and efficient.

The colors of road signs are important indicators of the information they contain. The use of red to signs is limited to signs of stop, surrender and ban. White for regulatory signs, yellow for general warning messages, green for permitted traffic flow or directional guidance, fluorescent yellow / green for pedestrian crossings and school districts, warning and guidance for road work areas Orange, coral for accident management signs; ** Blue indicates road use service, travel information, evacuation route, brown is a guide to public entertainment and cultural attractions.

The shape of the sign also warns the road user about the type of information displayed on the sign. Traffic regulation is transmitted in rectangular vertical or square rectangular signs. The other signs of regulation are the inverted triangle of octagonal stop loss and production. Rhombuses indicate warnings. Longitudinal long rectangular signboard will provide guidance information. Pentagons represent school districts. Round-off sign warning railroad crossing

Please test your sign IQ by interactive form and color quiz at website http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov. In the navigation bar under "Knowledge", select "Signature shape / color".

Marking designs and application standards for marking shown here are included in the Unified Traffic Control Equipment Manual (MUTCD) as well as standards for other traffic control equipment. Dimensions of the logo are listed on standard road signs. Both books are available online at http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov. This website also contains information on standard fonts used for road signs and pavement markings and color specifications for road signs.

A hard copy of MUTCD can be found in the National Highway Transportation Bureau Association (http://www.aashto.org), the American Transportation Engineers Association (http://www.ite.org), the American Transportation Security Service Association (http: //). Www.atssa.com), and the US Government Printing Office (http://www.gpo.gov). Standard highway signs can be purchased from the US Government Printing Office and the American Transportation Security Service Association through the website above.

* This mark will be included in the 2003 edition of MUTCD at the time of printing.

** Coral will be included in 2003 MUTCD as event management logo at the time of printing.

Widely used MUTCD parking lot signs became law in the United States in 1966. In 1968, the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals adopted this symbol as part of the United Nations Economic Commission's efforts for the European Union to regulate cross-border road travel. . The treaty states that 'stop' should be written in English or national languages, allowing the use of alternate round yellow markings. Many European countries are parties to the Convention. Except for India, English-speaking countries are not Parties to the Convention, but usually they use red octagonal pause signs such as MUTCD, according to their own standards. Red octagonal pause signs are often used even in countries not associated with any of the above criteria. In countries like Japan, a unique type of parking sign is still being observed.

American road signs are increasingly using symbols rather than words to convey messages. Symbols provide instant communication with road users, overcome the language barrier and become the standard for traffic control equipment around the world. Familiarity with traffic signs is important for all road users to keep traffic safe and efficient. The colors of road signs are important indicators of the information they contain. Use red letters for signs is limited to stop signs, surrender signs, prohibited signs.