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Comment by snaily | Hacker News Reader

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snaily·

Unlike in France, where for some reason a lot of symbolic signs come with text instructions on a separate sign:

http://s3.freefoto.com/images/41/03/41_03_88_web.jpg

(English: "Give way")

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Actually that's a really nice way for people to learn what traffic signs mean, way before they start studying for a driving license.

I don't own a driver's license either. I just pick this stuff up. Sometimes I ask my current driver what a certain sign on the road means.

Or you could teach it in school. In Germany we had bicycle excursions in school, including a mock "cycling license exam" where we drove on a test track with various road signs and traffic lights.

The same is true in the United States to a certain extent, though the instructions are a bit more complicated usually. The Yield sign and the Stop sign will have the relevant text within them, but below those signs you will have instructions for the given intersection, especially with stop signs:

"4 Way" or "All Way" -- Indicates that every entrance to the intersection has a stop sign. I understand all way stops are either uncommon or unheard of in Europe.

"Cross Traffic Does Not Stop" - often used with "Two Way" stop

"Traffic from the left/right does not stop" -- often used when one direction is coming off a signaled light or crossing railroad tracks, or other cases when traffic from one direction needs to continue to flow to prevent a backup that could be dangerous.

Crosswalk signal instructions regulatory sign -- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MUTCD_R10-3b.svg

Judging by what I've seen in photographs, the instructions on US signs often either state what should be obvious or are unnecessarily complicated (often because there are unnecessary exceptions other countries would simply omit).

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