Die Sprache der Verkehrszeichen
You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?
Erklärung: A triangle with a red border and its point up is a warning. It does not order you to do anything and it does not forbid anything — it tells you that something is about to need your attention.
You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?
Erklärung: A round sign with a red border forbids. This one is empty, which means every kind of vehicle — and a bicycle is a vehicle in German law, so it includes you.
You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?
Erklärung: Blue circles order rather than offer. The blue circle with a bicycle does not mean "bicycles welcome" — it means bicycles belong here, and you have to leave the roadway.
You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?
Erklärung: The upside-down triangle is give way. You have to be able to stop and you have to let the crossing traffic through — but you may roll on without stopping if the road is clear.
You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?
Erklärung: The octagon is the only eight-sided sign in the system, and it asks for the one thing give way does not: the wheels actually stop. At three in the morning with an empty road, they still stop.
You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?
Erklärung: The yellow diamond marks a priority road. As long as it is repeated along your street, right-before-left is switched off in your favour. A diamond with a grey bar through it ends the priority.
You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?
Erklärung: Blue rectangles inform. This one marks a one-way street: traffic runs the way the arrow points, and you may only ride against it where a small white plate underneath permits it.
You are riding and you see this small plate under a "no cycling" sign. What do you do?
Erklärung: A plain white plate under a sign is a Zusatzzeichen and it changes the sign above it. This one is read "Radverkehr frei" — cycling permitted. It always gives a permission and never creates a duty.
This sign means bicycles are welcome here, but you may just as well stay on the road.
Erklärung: Blue circle means you must. The sign takes the roadway away from you and puts you on the path — which is exactly the difference between an obligation sign and an information sign.
At this sign you must bring the bicycle to a standstill even when no other vehicle is anywhere in sight.
Erklärung: Yes. Stop means stop, unconditionally — that is the whole difference between the octagon and the upside-down triangle beside it.
What kind of sign is this?
Antwort:
a warning
Erklärung: Red-bordered triangle, point up — something ahead needs your attention.
What kind of sign is this?
Antwort:
a prohibition
Erklärung: Round with a red border — you may not.
What kind of sign is this?
Antwort:
an obligation
Erklärung: Round and blue — you must use it.
What kind of sign is this?
Antwort:
information
Erklärung: Rectangular and blue — it tells you how the street works.
What does this sign tell you?
Antwort:
you are on the priority road
Erklärung: The yellow diamond runs along the road that has priority.
What does this sign tell you?
Antwort:
give way
Erklärung: Triangle on its point — let the other road through.
Which shape and colour tells you that you MUST use something?
Antwort:
a blue circle
Erklärung: Blue circle = obligation. Blue rectangle, by contrast, only informs.
Which shape and colour tells you that something is forbidden?
Antwort:
a white circle with a red ring
Erklärung: Red ring on white = prohibition.
Which shape and colour warns you about something ahead?
Antwort:
a red-bordered triangle, point up
Erklärung: Point up warns; point down gives way. The two are never confused once you look for the point.
Which sign is the only eight-sided one in the whole German system?
Antwort:
stop
Erklärung: Its shape is unique so it can be recognised in snow, at night, or from behind — when neither colour nor writing is readable.
What is a Zusatzzeichen?
Hattest du es gewusst?
Antwort:
a small white plate that changes the sign above it
Erklärung: White rectangle, black border, black writing or symbol, mounted underneath another sign. It narrows or lifts what the sign above says.
German on a small white plate: "Radverkehr frei" — what does it give you?
Hattest du es gewusst?
Antwort:
permission to ride, never an obligation
Erklärung: On a footway it lets you ride at walking pace; on a one-way street it lets you ride against the arrow. You may always decline and stay on the road instead.
What kind of sign is this?
Erklärung: Triangle, red border, point up: a warning. It neither orders nor forbids anything — it tells you something ahead needs your attention.
What kind of sign is this?
Erklärung: Round with a red ring — something is forbidden. Round and blue would order you to do something instead.
What kind of sign is this?
Erklärung: A blue rectangle informs: it tells you how the street works. The blue circle is the one that orders — shape, not colour, tells the two apart.
What does this sign tell you?
Erklärung: The yellow diamond is the one sign shaped like it — it runs along the road that has priority.
What does this sign tell you?
Erklärung: A triangle standing on its point is give way. Point up would be a warning; the eight-sided sign is stop. Look for the point first.
A small white plate fixed under a sign is only a reminder; it never changes what the sign above it says.
Erklärung: The plate is a Zusatzzeichen, and changing the sign above it is its whole job — it narrows the sign to certain times or vehicles, or lifts it for some, like bicycles.
What is the small white plate fixed under a German sign called?
Antwort:
Zusatzzeichen
Erklärung: Zusatz is "addition" — the plate adds a condition or an exception to the sign above.