Die Sprache der Verkehrszeichen

The language of the signs

29 Aufgaben
VerkehrszeichenVerkehrssicherheitNeu in Deutschland

Deutsche Verkehrszeichen sind ein System, kein Katalog: Form und Farbe sagen die Sprechhandlung, bevor das Symbol den Inhalt sagt. Rotes Dreieck = Warnung, roter Kreis = Verbot, blauer Kreis = Gebot, blaues Rechteck = Hinweis, gelbe Raute = Vorfahrtstraße; zwei Zeichen brechen das Muster mit Absicht (Dreieck auf der Spitze, Achteck), damit man sie auch verschneit erkennt. Wer das Raster hat, kann ein unbekanntes Schild erschließen, statt es auswendig zu lernen.

Es gibt hunderte deutsche Verkehrszeichen, und niemand lernt sie einzeln auswendig. Das ist auch nicht nötig. Die Schilder sind eine Sprache: Form und Farbe sagen, um welche Art von Aussage es geht, und erst danach sagt das Symbol, worum es inhaltlich geht.

Fünf Familien decken fast alles ab, was einem begegnet:

  • Dreieck mit rotem Rand, Spitze oben — eine Warnung. Etwas kommt: eine Kreuzung, Radverkehr, eine Kurve. Niemand schreibt dir etwas vor; du sollst hinschauen.
  • Rund mit rotem Rand — ein Verbot. Du darfst nicht. Kein Radverkehr, keine Fahrzeuge, nicht schneller als diese Zahl.
  • Rund und blau — ein Gebot. Du musst das benutzen. Der blaue Kreis mit dem weißen Fahrrad heißt nicht „Räder willkommen", sondern: Räder gehören hierhin und nirgendwo sonst.
  • Rechteckig und blau — ein Hinweis. Eine Einbahnstraße, eine Fahrradstraße, ein Fußgängerüberweg.
  • Gelbe Raute — du bist auf der Vorfahrtstraße, bis eine Raute mit grauem Balken sie beendet.

Zwei Zeichen brechen das Muster mit Absicht, und genau darin liegt ihr Sinn. Vorfahrt gewähren ist ein Dreieck auf der Spitze, Halt ein Achteck — die beiden einzigen Formen im ganzen System, die je einmal vorkommen. Man erkennt sie verschneit, nachts oder von hinten, wenn weder Farbe noch Symbol lesbar sind. Wo eine Form einmalig ist, ist die Form die Botschaft.

Noch ein Stück Grammatik: ein schlichtes weißes Rechteck mit schwarzer Schrift oder schwarzem Symbol unter einem anderen Schild ist ein Zusatzzeichen — es verändert das Schild darüber. Das wichtigste für dich heißt Radverkehr frei: Es macht aus einem Verbot eine Erlaubnis. Aus einer Erlaubnis macht es nie eine Pflicht.

Ermöglicht (2)

Schilder für den Radverkehr
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Vorfahrt
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Leicht
Wahr / Falsch #1 12s ▶ Testen

This sign means bicycles are welcome here, but you may just as well stay on the road.

✓ Falsch
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.
Wahr / Falsch #2 10s ▶ Testen

At this sign you must bring the bicycle to a standstill even when no other vehicle is anywhere in sight.

✓ Wahr
Yes. Stop means stop, unconditionally — that is the whole difference between the octagon and the upside-down triangle beside it.
Multiple Choice #3 10s ▶ Testen

What kind of sign is this?

  • ● A warning
  • ○ A prohibition
  • ○ An obligation
Triangle, red border, point up: a warning. It neither orders nor forbids anything — it tells you something ahead needs your attention.
Multiple Choice #4 10s ▶ Testen

What kind of sign is this?

  • ● A prohibition
  • ○ A warning
  • ○ An obligation
Round with a red ring — something is forbidden. Round and blue would order you to do something instead.
Multiple Choice #5 10s ▶ Testen

What kind of sign is this?

  • ● Information
  • ○ An obligation
  • ○ A prohibition
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.
Multiple Choice #6 10s ▶ Testen

What does this sign tell you?

  • ● You are on the priority road
  • ○ Right before left applies at the next junction
  • ○ Give way to the road ahead
The yellow diamond is the one sign shaped like it — it runs along the road that has priority.
Multiple Choice #7 10s ▶ Testen

What does this sign tell you?

  • ● Give way
  • ○ A warning of something ahead
  • ○ Stop completely
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.
Wahr / Falsch #8 12s ▶ Testen

A small white plate fixed under a sign is only a reminder; it never changes what the sign above it says.

✓ Falsch
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.
Mittel
Karteikarte #1 15s ▶ Testen

What kind of sign is this?

✓ Antwort: a warning
Red-bordered triangle, point up — something ahead needs your attention.
Karteikarte #2 15s ▶ Testen

What kind of sign is this?

✓ Antwort: a prohibition
Round with a red border — you may not.
Karteikarte #3 15s ▶ Testen

What kind of sign is this?

✓ Antwort: an obligation
Round and blue — you must use it.
Karteikarte #4 15s ▶ Testen

What kind of sign is this?

✓ Antwort: information
Rectangular and blue — it tells you how the street works.
Karteikarte #5 15s ▶ Testen

What does this sign tell you?

✓ Antwort: you are on the priority road
The yellow diamond runs along the road that has priority.
Karteikarte #6 15s ▶ Testen

What does this sign tell you?

✓ Antwort: give way
Triangle on its point — let the other road through.
Karteikarte #7 15s ▶ Testen

Which shape and colour tells you that you MUST use something?

✓ Antwort: a blue circle
Blue circle = obligation. Blue rectangle, by contrast, only informs.
Karteikarte #8 15s ▶ Testen

Which shape and colour tells you that something is forbidden?

✓ Antwort: a white circle with a red ring
Red ring on white = prohibition.
Karteikarte #9 15s ▶ Testen

Which shape and colour warns you about something ahead?

✓ Antwort: a red-bordered triangle, point up
Point up warns; point down gives way. The two are never confused once you look for the point.
Karteikarte #10 15s ▶ Testen

Which sign is the only eight-sided one in the whole German system?

✓ Antwort: stop
Its shape is unique so it can be recognised in snow, at night, or from behind — when neither colour nor writing is readable.
Karteikarte #11 18s ▶ Testen

What is a Zusatzzeichen?

✓ Antwort: a small white plate that changes the sign above it
White rectangle, black border, black writing or symbol, mounted underneath another sign. It narrows or lifts what the sign above says.
Karteikarte #12 15s ▶ Testen

What is the small white plate fixed under a German sign called?

✓ Antwort: Zusatzzeichen
Zusatz is "addition" — the plate adds a condition or an exception to the sign above.
Schwer
Multiple Choice #1 12s ▶ Testen

You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?

  • ● Slow down and look ahead for whatever is coming
  • ○ Stop completely before riding on
  • ○ Turn around; you may not continue
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.
Multiple Choice #2 12s ▶ Testen

You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?

  • ● Do not ride in; no vehicles at all are allowed
  • ○ Ride in slowly and carefully
  • ○ Ride in; the sign is only for cars
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.
Multiple Choice #3 12s ▶ Testen

You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?

  • ● Ride on this path instead of the road
  • ○ Stay on the road; the path is optional
  • ○ Get off and push along this path
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.
Multiple Choice #4 12s ▶ Testen

You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?

  • ● Slow down and let the other road go first
  • ○ Come to a full standstill every time before going on
  • ○ Carry on; the other road waits for you
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.
Multiple Choice #5 12s ▶ Testen

You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?

  • ● Bring the bicycle to a complete standstill, then go on if clear
  • ○ Slow right down and roll through if nothing is coming
  • ○ Carry on; the sign only binds motor vehicles
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.
Multiple Choice #6 12s ▶ Testen

You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?

  • ● Carry on; the side roads have to wait for you
  • ○ Give way to anything coming from your right
  • ○ Stop before every junction along this road
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.
Multiple Choice #7 12s ▶ Testen

You are riding and you see this sign. What do you do?

  • ● Ride in the direction the arrow points, and only that way
  • ○ Turn round; the street is closed to you
  • ○ Ride on the side of the street the arrow points to
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.
Multiple Choice #8 15s ▶ Testen

You are riding and you see this small plate under a "no cycling" sign. What do you do?

  • ● Ride in; the plate lifts the ban for bicycles
  • ○ Ride in; the plate now makes riding here compulsory
  • ○ Stay out; the plate repeats the ban
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.
Karteikarte #9 20s ▶ Testen

German on a small white plate: "Radverkehr frei" — what does it give you?

✓ Antwort: permission to ride, never an obligation
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.