American Reacts to The Ultimate Guide to UK Road Signs

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Reacting To My Roots
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In this video I react to UK road signs for the first time. I'm shocked at how many unique traffic signs the UK seems to have. This video alone had 100 UK road signs and their meaning! While some of these signs were similar to ones I'm used to seeing, most of them were completely new to me. The fact that someone needs to memorize and practice so many UK road signs and road rules in general, just goes to show how difficult the theory test probably is.
Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this reaction please give this video a thumbs up, share your thoughts in the comments and click the subscribe button to follow my journey to learn about my British and Irish ancestry.
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[@stewedfishproductions7959]

NOT just the UK, these are the 'internationally recognised' signs (except for America and couple of others). It means that 'words' are not needed in most cases and even people who speak other languages or can't even read, have mostly, no problem understanding their meaning. 😀

[@johnclements6614]

There is a UN convention on road signs. So many look similar outside the US.

[@leo_warren]

Vienna Convention on Road Traffic

[@AHVENAN]

Not all of these are the same though, I saw quite a few signs in this video that I've never seen before and I live in Europe as well, for example you guys seem to have a lot more signs with white background than we do here, all of our warning signs for example have yellow backgrounds not white

[@Escapee5931]

​@@AHVENANDo you live in Scandinavia? I think the yellow background is so that the signs show up against the snow.

[@AHVENAN]

@@Escapee5931 well if we're gonna be picky, I don't technically live in Scandinavia, but northern Europe, more specifically Finland

[@peterjenkins8522]

Quayside (pronounced Key side) is where ships tie up allowing vehicle access to load and unload - so the sign is reminding the driver to take care near the edge as no fences are present.

[@severnsea]

Yes, reference to a "drop in the ocean" as we called them, where you could drive straight off into the water because there's nothing there to stop you. Mostly only seen in ports.

[@gmdhargreaves]

When my wife on our first date got lost on the way to our hotel and told them we were opposite the Kerway-side Inn not Key-side Inn I knew she was the one❤😂

[@RogeyFrom70s]

@peterjenkins8522 -A better way of describing it than I managed.

[@Gazzxy]

also a word used internationally including america... though probably not one youd encounter unless coastal

[@timoliver8940]

This sign is often displayed at slipways onto ferry berths too

[@chrissmith8773]

Triangles warn, rectangles inform, circles give orders. It’s that simple.

[@davehopkin9502]

And colour differentiates between Motorway and other roads

[@jounik]

And other shapes as well as upside triangles are intended to be recognized by their shape alone, also from the reverse side.

[@Lemoncake34567]

Octagon STOP!

[@anthonyyarwood]

They did not show the lines on the Rd. I'll not go through them all but if you see a solid white line that means no overtaking . You would have to get someone to send you a highway code book.

[@purpleunicorn5253]

​@@anthonyyarwoodI was taught the more paint on the road its nore dangrous

[@misterflibble9799]

The "Sign Not In Use" sign frequently comes in for a lot of ridicule, but there is a sensible reason for it. It's usually attached to the electronic information signs, and it tells drivers that the sign is not working. The most common usage is during the construction and commissioning phase when the sign has been installed, but the system is not yet operational. This is for two reasons: 1. It stops drivers from inferring that "there are no problems ahead" and potentially rushing into a dangerous situation - for example, if a previous sign had posted a warning of queues ahead, but the next was blank, they might infer that the queues had dissipated. However, the "Sign Not In Use" sign tells the driver "the sign is blank because it doesn't work", not "the sign is blank because the hazard is gone". 2. It stops people from calling up the Highways Agency (or other authority) and complaining that the sign is blank when there is a hazard. Yes, people do that. Again, there is often a lot of ridicule levelled at the electronic warning signs on motorways stating "Fog", when it's obviously foggy. Part of the reason they enable the "Fog" sign is that if they don't, people call them up and tell them it's foggy, and ask why the "Fog" signs are not turned on.

[@MrBulky992]

Yes, that's right. The inportant point Steve may not have grasped is that "Sign not in use" is not self-referencing: it is referring to another, adjacent sign!

[@madbruv]

In europe we just put a trash bag over the sign.

[@kaneworsnop1007]

@@MrBulky992 well now I've learnt something, I'd always wondered why they were there and the only logical reason I could come up with was that when they removed the sign, but not the sign post they had to put sign not in use so people don't do something stupid thinking the sign has fallen off. I've never seen one bar possibly when there's road works to indicated road signs that are there are not in use and, they're always covered or painted over anyway so it seems pretty pointless to me.

[@dreadlindwyrm]

Potentially you've got the situation that the post is installed, but the permanent sign isn't placed yet (because it's a different crew. or it's in preparation for a known future situation (heavy machinery will be in use soon, there's an attraction opening soon which will use the post for directions, there's a new junction being added a mile down the road, but it's not open yet)).

[@jca111]

@@madbruvThey do that here as well, but some signs are massive! And the bin bags often blow off.

[@lloydcollins6337]

The UK actually started off a design study for motorway signs when we were building our first ones out in the 1950s and 1960s because the government of the time realised that for the first time people were going to be driving at sustained high speeds for long periods so needed clear, easy-to-read signs which had the maximum useful information on them but which weren't crowded, so that people could process them in the few seconds they had whilst they were in view. To this end, the commission set up to create the new signage had a custom font designed which is called "Transport" and which forms the basis for a number of country's road signage now.

[@matsv201]

This work was carried out in about 20 different countries simultaneously. Then in the late 50 there was a conference to unify the road signs across Europa (worth saying is that warsawapact countries was also in the conferanse). They hardly agreed on anything. Then there was a bunch more conferences after that in the 60 and early 70s and more and more signs was unified. Then it was entered in the Ten-T standard. Currently somewhere between 80-90 of UK road signs are unified with Ten-T standard. Its worth saying for some signs there is large flexibility in the standrad.

[@BillBlogs-t2i]

Remember Steve. We learn these signs from birth. Because even while walking, we need to know a lot of these signs. I knew most signs before I could even drive.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Yeah, I'm sure that does help!

[@severnsea]

I get your point, but in practice most people aren't that interested. Many drivers on the road don't know what half the signs mean.

[@BillBlogs-t2i]

I'm one of them lol.@@severnsea

[@sg-zd8eb]

I don’t drive but always studied my dad’s uk atlas which explained different road sign meanings. I always thought it was weird a plain red circle sign meant “no vehicles”.

[@AnnekeOosterink]

@@severnsea Interest has nothing to do with it, I learned most relevant signs in primary school. We had traffic classes.

[@Bungle-UK]

Nothing is more British than a sign directing you to a ‘secret’ nuclear bunker 😂

[@linesync]

I think it might be just ever so slightly more British if the sign also showed a cup and saucer, indicating where you can get your cup of tea and slice of cake, at the Secret Nuclear Bunker cafe. We British are just so.....British! Can't help ourselves! 🇬🇧 😉

[@Bungle-UK]

@@linesync I’d love to see what nuclear related items they are selling in the obligatory gift shop as you exit! I know people who go to a specific attraction just for the cafe, completely ignoring the attraction itself!

[@aidangorman6292]

Mate, the first time I drove past that sign I almost crashed my car I was laughing that hard.

[@linesync]

@@Bungle-UK Yep, I can totally believe it! That's (some of) the British people for you. We are just too cool/weird/unique to be any other nationality. "Ooh, so this is the very spot where all time and space began. That's nice dear. Do they have PG Tips? " 😉. As for souvenirs from the Secret Nuclear Bunker café Gift Shop.... well, there's got to be Glow-in-the-dark lily of the valley soap, Glow-in-the-dark honey, Glow-in-the-dark bookmarks (!) and of course Glow-in-the-dark tea bags, as well as postcards of the Secret Nuclear Bunker seen from above (i.e. photos of plain green fields) and of course fridge magnets in the shape of Geiger counters. ☢️

[@stephenlee5929]

I think maybe ' SIGN NOT IN USE' may be more British. 🤔

[@mxlexrd]

In the UK, the word highway doesn't refer to a specific kind of road. In fact, the word is not commonly used at all. When the word is used, it refers to roads in general. For example, the "highway code" is the set of rules that apply on all roads, not just some kinds of roads.

[@linesync]

....and the words "Highway Maintenance" on road repair vehicles.

[@Rachel_M_]

A much rarer used word these days is "byeways"

[@linesync]

@@Rachel_M_ ...yes, that is very true, sadly. The Highways continue while the Byways slowly fade into history. A very good and perhaps slightly melancholy observation. It must be Autumn.

[@Rachel_M_]

@@linesync i remember back in the day when we usually heard "highways and byways" together.

[@wessexdruid7598]

​@@linesync There are lots of signposts for 'Byway' in Wiltshire. Technically BOATs (byways open to all traffic) they are also known as 'green lanes'.

[@judithhope8970]

The bend sign is a lifesaver on our little country roads. They can be severe and acute, often with a ditch or tree just beyond it. Our roads probably have more hazards than yours, remembering the road system was first started by the Romans 2000 years ago. We're still riding on those roads, as they were straight and well built. I've seen hazard signs with all kinds of animals in, including ducks. It makes you slow down. Our speed limits are set when driving through a village or built up area with street light, thirty miles an hour is the maximum speed even when there are no signs. A single road with one lane of traffic going in each direction is sixty by default and a dual carriageway is seventy. A hidden dip is a dip in the road that cant be seen on approach, so you might be tempted to overtake the car in front, not being able to see a car already in the dip coming toward you that will suddenly appear on the road causing an accident. It can also cause you to suddenly think you are going off a cliff, so don't panic and be prepared. Most of our signs are warning of hazards that can and have caused accidents. Ice warnings are for certain areas of land that are prone to freezing. Frost pockets.

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

The 'Romans' did not create the first roads in Britain. The pre-celts did. Roads like the Ridgeway are thousands of years old. It is fairly straight too. Roman roads were also straight. The bendy nature comes from two main sources, the following of field boundaries and avoidance of natural features.

[@daleykun]

My favourite warning sign in Loch Lomond national park is a warning sign for red squirrels

[@jkasaunder228]

I was speaking to an American friend about the "twistys", Roads that are fun to drive, that twist and turn all over the place - My friend has to drive to some sort of mountain road for that - I have to drive 5-10minutes in any direction to find a country lane. We have some incredible driving roads in England. (We also have some awful ones...)

[@jkasaunder228]

@@I_Don_t_want_a_handle The romans built the roads - In a sense that it wasn't just dirt tracks that have been used and formed over time - They actually built foundations and footings (out of more than dirt and sticks, Stone, clay along with.... dirt and sticks were used) in certain areas so the road wouldn't collapse under heavy use or with rainfall. In that sense - They "built" them.

[@gaiaiulia]

Thanks for this. I regularly drive up to Northern Ireland from Dublin and when I cross the border there are no speed limit signs. I just assumed the limit was 70mph, so I usually drive at around 65mph till I see a speed sign coming into Newry.

[@michaelharris7251]

When we were 10 kids in the UK used to take the Cycling Proficiency Test at school so we were taught to ride our bikes safely and that included the highway code .

[@xxSydneyFox]

Sensible. Sadly I don't think this is done now? Correct me if I'm wrong.

[@Athelas93]

@@xxSydneyFox It is in all the schools I teach in. It's called Bikeability now.

[@michaelharris7251]

yes you are right just checked the government web sight, i didn`t know till your reply thanks@@Athelas93

[@brumtownmiller6130]

In some places, when I was a kid you just rode however and tried to pay attention to cars travelling on your side or ride on the pavement. I’ve seen it more now as an adult, a school by me does it on my road

[@jeanlongsden1696]

a Ring Road is a main road that will circle a town/city, to stop congestion from everyone using the same routes.

[@colinmorrison5119]

It's a necessity for old world cities which grow out from junctions in a rough circle , rather than new world, which are planned and laid out in grids.

[@PaulKer87]

It did make me laugh when you were confused about the double bend sign. Playing perfectly into the stereotype that all American cars can only drive in straight lines because you don't have many bends on your roads.

[@reactingtomyroots]

haha. We definitely have curves in our roads, the signs just look quite a bit different

[@severnsea]

That's an old one. I actually thought it came about because big old American cars were not very good at cornering.

[@brianharrison5500]

It says the road bends to the left and then to the right

[@livvymunro1929]

Don't Americans have things that "drive them round the bend"? Is that only a British saying?

[@RogeyFrom70s]

@@brianharrison5500 And then there's the SERIES of bends sign. Similar ,but the z is on the huh abit.

[@pixiepetal-jennie2038]

A lot of our roads are small, narrow, winding and rural. A whole new thing for a lot of USA visitors as I notice from various peoples videos.

[@charlieb749]

Yeah it's hilarious seeing them say "whoa this road is SO NARROW" and yet to us it's just a regular A or B road 😂😂

[@poppletop8331]

That roadworks sign just had me in stitches laughing, when I was about 5yrs old my brother told me it meant "to watch out for people with umbrellas & tell my parents when I see one." Needless to say my parents thought I had gone nutty.

[@nedrasellayah9314]

😂😂😂

[@watcher24601]

There used to be an advert where the man in the sign opened the umbrella during the narrative.

[@mewlyar8953]

I like to comment that when the local Council gets the road budget for the year and all the roadworks start that we're getting buried under a storm of men wrestling with their umbrellas.

[@twostroke350]

The "National speed limit" sign is historic. It used to mean "Unrestricted highway", quite literally that there is no speed restriction. This is still actually the case on the Isle of Man. During the Suez oil crisis, temporary speed restrictions were brought in nationally to help save fuel (60mph on single lane roads with either one lane or two opposing, unseperated lanes. 70mph on dual carriageways where opposing lanes are seperated and motorways). The temporary speed restrictions were never removed. One advantage is that they could in future change the national speed limit without having to change all the road signs. Governments often talk about increasing the motorway speed limit just before elections because it would be a popular move, then never follow it through.

[@andrewwmacfadyen6958]

Suez oil crisis was 1956. 70mph national limit was brought in in in 1967 in those days it applied to all roads that weren't signed as a lower limit

[@lucyamandasiobhananyteemil4487]

The 60/70 limit was in use before the 1973 oil crisis - nothing to do with the Suez crisis. Then it was reduced to 50/50. After the crisis it returned to 60/70. That's why the sign is used - so the government can change the speed without re-signing the whole country.

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

The national speed limit varies by road type, but also vehicle type. Typically 50, 60 or 70 if dual carriage way. Ca4s can unless towing go up to the fastest speed for a given road, vans unless based on a car chassis are typically limited to 60 and lorries 50 in a lot of cases, though some can do 60, most companies restrict them to 50 or 56.

[@LoneRanger100]

As a biker I appreciate the forwarning of tight twisties, or dbl bends, tight ones, coming up. Like you say, it’s not so much committing them to memory, they are mostly self explanatory and make sense in context. You’d enjoy taking/watching one of the driving test vids that are mock tests, loads of multi test questions, see how many you’d get right now.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Yeah I can imagine. And that's a good idea! I'm sure I'll do that at some point

[@lloydcollins6337]

The "emergency diversion route" signs are usually accompanied with an arrow, and are just shapes (either filled in or empty) so if there's a problem on a main road they can tell you to "follow the filled diamond" and the filled in diamond signs will take you around the diversion route back onto the road you wanted to be on.

[@virago496]

The other shapes are used when 2 (or more) diversion routes cross or even join. if your diversion is the diamond another might be the circle etc.

[@MrBulky992]

I am glad you explained those to me. I have been driving for over 30 years and have never seen them nor had any idea what they meant!

[@HenryLoenwind]

I'm a bit puzzled. Those were super obvious to me, and we use something completely different in Germany (roadtype-coloured rectangles with "U1" to "U99" and an arrow inside them. "U" for Umleitung=diversion).

[@thefunkslamdunk9224]

I found it really funny that of all the signs you could get confused over, it was the one warming about bends in the road. You should look up what English country roads are like, it will give you an appreciation of why that sign is very useful.

[@peterlee2622]

It strikes me that US and Canadian road signs tend to favour using words rather than graphical devices. The UK tends to have (relatively) a large number of drivers visiting from Europe for whom English is not their first language. Hence the use of pictures to show the necessary information. Sometimes the picture or graphic is backed up by a word (like the "ICE" sign) but the pictures allow easy understanding of what lies ahead (once you've got used to them!). I think the red circles giving "orders", and red triangles giving warnings etc are internationally used - except in North America.

[@cuddlestsq2730]

The UK follow the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, like the rest of Europe does and many other places, so the signs are the same in all these places irrespective of the local languages.

[@TheChiefSmeg69]

22:41 a ring road is (as the name suggests) a ring of roadway usually around the outer edge of a city, or inside a city that takes you in a giant circle. It allows access to major parts of it without having to drive through the centre. Keeps traffic moving better

[@westhighlandwarrior6998]

Sometimes referred to as a bypass by the Americans I believe!!

[@misterflibble9799]

I believe a US equivalent is "beltway".

[@carolineskipper6976]

The 'crossroad' sign that confused you a little- the broad central line with the point on top shows that you are on the major road, heading forwards, but warns that there wil be traffic turning on/ off your road at the crossroads ahead. The 'double bend' ahead sign is warning of a stretch of road ahead with some very tight turns that you will need to slow down conssiderably to negotiate - most usually found on winding country roads. 'Soft verges' means the dirt/ grass at the side of the road is prone to be particularly soft, so if you were to try to park up on it, your whells would sink in. A hump-backed bridge is, like the picture shows, a bridge that is arched over the top- so the road goes up and over, rather than a flat or gently curving surface. These commoly go over railway lines, small rivers or canals. If you drive too fast over it, your stomach lurches. 'quayside' ( pronounced 'keyside') is where there is a harbour or mooring for boats. The warning is "There's an edge you might drive over into the river if you don't watch what you are doing!!" See the picture. There might well not be a fence or wall to mark the edge. ' Loose chippings' signs go up after a road has been resurfaced, so there are loose bits of gravel on the surface which might fly up and damage your(or someone elses) car, so you should driv dlower than normal. The black and yellow 'emergency diversion route' signs are often permanantly attached to large information boards where diversions might often be required- for example if a stretch of motorway is closed due to an accident (or even planned roadworks) you will see a sign like "For Peterborough, follow [insert particular sign] " You can then take the alternative route, following the yellow signs, without anyone actually having rush about putting a whole series of signs in place when an event occurs. At oher times a series of temporary boards with the signs are put out for a specific event when it happens. The specific shapes of these signs are just a random selection, so you can flag up different alternative routes on the same sign - so "For Peteerborough, follow [Black Triangle] and for Nottingham follow [Black circle]" Motorways have very specific regulations that do not apply on other roads. For example: "Motorways MUST NOT be used by pedestrians, holders of provisional motorcycle licences, riders of motorcycles under 50 cc (4 kW), cyclists, horse riders, certain slow-moving vehicles and those carrying oversized loads (except by special permission), agricultural vehicles, and powered wheelchairs". The maximum speed limit is always 70 mph, as it is on dual carrigeways with a central barrier, whereas single carriageway roads ( that is, one carriageway in each direction) are never more than 60 mph. It would be fun to see how much you would score on a British Theory Test with no prep.....some things will be the same, or intuitive, but others wll be so specific you wouldn't know the correct answer.

[@philipjosefarmer5740]

the thicker line identifies that this road has the right of way and you don't have stop at the crossing, just go right through. However, it warns you that there might be crazy, blind, or whatever drivers coming from the side roads. So, it tells you that is better to be safe than sorry, so be aware of the crossing. The roads with thinner lines must have a sign that tells that driver driver that he has to, that he must wait at the intersection until it is safe to move forward.

[@jd-dev]

The National speed limit depends on the type of the road. In France for example, it is 50 kmph in a city, 70 kmph on a departemental road, 80 kmph on a national road and 130 kmph on a motorway. Home zone is a residential street, so you have to slow down and be very careful (I don’t know in UK but in France we have « zones de partage », limited to 20 kmph, where pedestrians have absolute priority, then come cyclists, and then cars)

[@bfcmik]

The National Speed limit is different for different classes of vehicle. For HGV's on single track roads it is 50mph, for small cargo, buses or towing vehicles (vans etc.) it is 50mph and for cars it is 60mph. Higher limits apply for each type of vehicle on dual carriageways, dual carriageways with a separating barrier and for motorways

[@benkt5657]

13:15 The arrow is the direction you're currently going. The thicker verticle bar shows the road you're on is the major road compared to the road it's crossing - this will normally mean it is your right of way while vehicle on the other road must give way. National Speed limit varies depending on the road. Usually if that sign is used it means 60mph. A Rign Road is a road that rings a place, usually a city centre or similar.

[@Fifury161]

Margaret Vivienne Calvert (OBE RDI) was commissioned in the 1960s to create a lot of the iconic road signs still in use today - they are used throughout the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies, and British Overseas Territories, as well as the Transport font used on road signs, the Rail Alphabet font used on the British railway system, and an early version of the signs used in airports.

[@lanky2610]

In combination with Jock Kinneir, who was the typographer

[@samd2660]

Great video as always! There were a fair few things in there that could've been explained better and that you asked that I can't remember 😂 - The diversion routes weren't really explained at all, when there's a road closure on a main (usually hgv/lorry/truck) route, they'll put diversion signs up, and one of those symbols will be on the sign, follow the diversion signs with the same symbol and they'll get you to the other side of the closure - It allows for multiple diversions to be in the same area, for example in one direction it might be the square, in the other direction it'll be the triangle. You'll also see those symbols on routes from ports and international terminals so that drivers who don't speak English very well can be told to follow the route with that particular symbol.

[@101steel4]

You would need to memorise all of them for your theory test. You only get asked 50 questions, but you dont know what they will be. The pass mark is 43. You can do mock tests online to practice, or in the olds days just buy and read the Highway code book

[@ABrit-bt6ce]

I may send this chap a copy of Roadcraft, maybe The Highway Code too just because. If you want then dude they'll be yours.

[@stevieinselby]

In terms of the road hierarchy, in the 1920s a system was developed of A-numbers for main roads and B-numbers for local/regional roads. _Usually_ a 1- or 2-digit A-road is a more important road and a 3-digit or 4-digit A-road is less important, but that doesn't always hold good as some roads have _become_ more or less important over time. Then in the 1960s we started to build motorways, which got M-numbers. And then to confuse things even more, we have "A-road with motorway regulations" with numbers like A1(M) - this traditionally was used where a short section of A-road was upgraded to motorway standard but it wasn't worth allocating a new number to it, so it was bodged. On direction signs, motorways (interstates) have blue signs; more important A-roads (national highways) have green signs; less important A-roads (state highways), B-roads (county roads) and unnumbered roads have white signs. Yes, signs like "no cycling", "no motor vehicles" etc would be a lot more obvious if they had a diagonal line through them (like the "no u-turn" sign does, and like they do in many other European countries), that's probably the set of signs that most British people are likely to get wrong. On some roads you will see electronic signs that can flash up warnings about traffic or road closures or direct people to car parks that have spaces, etc - a "Sign not in use" panel may be added if it is switched off for maintenance so that drivers don't assume that no message means no problems on the road ahead. "Try your brakes" is often used after a ford, to remind drivers to make sure their brakes are OK after driving through the water. "No stopping" means just that, you are not allowed to stop (unless the traffic in front is stationary, obvs!). "No waiting" means that you can stop temporarily, eg to let a passenger get in or out, but you can't park for any length of time. "Double bend" just means that the road bends to the left and then to the right shortly afterwards. (The bends probably won't be as sharp as depicted on the sign!) Roads have to be clear for vehicles up to a height of 5m (16'6") and a width of 2.5m (8'3") unless there are signs to warn drivers otherwise. "Soft verges" is warning you _not_ to pull off the side of the road if you want to stop, because your wheels might get stuck in muddy ground. A quay (pronounced "key") is like a small harbour or dock, and the sign is used where there may not be any barriers to stop you from driving straight off the edge and into the water. "Loose chippings" is put out as a temporary sign when a road has been freshly resurfaced with gravel chips, for a couple of weeks until the gravel has all bedded in or been swept away. It warns drivers not to go to fast because they may spray up gravel at other vehicles or road users, to be wary of stone chips from other traffic, and that there may be less grip than usual for cornering or stopping. The national speed limit (NSL) applies to all unlit roads, unless a lower limit is signposted. For cars, it's 60mph on single-carriageways and 70mph on dual-carriageways and motorways - for vans, lorries, buses and towing vehicles, it's generally 10mph less but there are some cases where it may be different (eg vans on motorways are allowed to do 70). If there is street lighting then a speed limit of 30mph applies unless signs say otherwise. The Ø sign is used either to mark the end of a lower speed limit _or_ if NSL applies on a road with street lighting. If either of those defaults applies (30 with street lighting, NSL without) then you will see a sign at the start and that's all, if the speed limit is anything else then you will see regular repeater signs to remind you of the limit. Yes, you got "with flow" exactly right. (Nobody calls it "with-flow", it's just a cycle lane or a bus lane). The "emergency diversion route" symbols are, frankly, a work of bureaucratic genius. The authorities designate certain routes as "alternative routes" in the event of a motorway being closed (eg because of an accident). Direction signs along that route are marked with one of the symbols. Then on the exit from the motorway, there will be a folding sign that the police can open out to show something like "To rejoin motorway, follow 🔸" if they need to close the road, and then drivers can just look for the 🔸 symbol to follow to get back on the motorway at the next suitable junction. This saves the police from having to put a load of temporary signs, but the subtle symbol on the signs doesn't get in the way at other times. There are a selection of different symbols because there might be some roads that are used by multiple diversionary routes and so the different symbols allow drivers to see which one to follow, but the symbols themselves are arbitrary and don't have any meaning.

[@Bazroshan]

British road signs convey a lot of useful information - it's a pity that so many drivers don't take a blind bit of notice.

[@brumtownmiller6130]

It’s because most only memorise them to pass their theory test, once they past they forget 90% of them lol

[@Erekose2023]

If a diversion is complicated/lengthy, affecting routes to multiple locations (and for opposite directions), the diversion signs include the symbol specific to that diversio to be followed. So if you start a diversion and the one you want is a black square, then you know to follow the black square routes when signed as a diversion, and not the others

[@johnclements6614]

They can also be used as permanent route markers to industrial areas.

[@Erekose2023]

@@johnclements6614 Around here, some of the 'diversions' have become semi-permenant.

[@England-Bob]

For example cars being diverted towards London might have a solid black square on the diversion sign so would follow all further diversion signs with a solid black square. HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicles aka Trucks) might have a round empty sign to follow missing out weak bridges and hight restrictions on their diversion route.

[@RiverMersey]

On that example slide, there were 8 symbols. Meaning, up to 8 routes could merge and leave on 1 road. Each of the symbols would be like "bread-crumbs" for a specific diversion route. When entering a diverted route, the driver would be presented with only 1 of these symbols and then follows the same symbol along the diverted route until the end.

[@module79l28]

I'm not british but I can explain some of the more confusing signs to you. That shows you how universal this signage is: - Try your brakes: that sign is usually located before a steep descent and warns drivers to check if the vehicle's brakes are working properly in case they need to use them. Pretty self-explanatory, frankly. - Crossroads, T-junction, traffic merging from the left: the wider, pointy line represents the main road, which means that road has priority over all the others. - Double-bend: remember, it's a warning sign, so it's telling you that you should be careful and slow down because there are two sharp bends ahead, the first one being to the left. - Two-way traffic straight ahead: that sign is used in situations where a one-way street or road continues into a two-way street or road, so the drivers are warned that there's oncoming traffic from that point on. - Contra-flow bus lane: it means that there's a bus lane going in the opposite direction of traffic on a one-way street. - No through road for vehicles: in other words, it's a dead-end.

[@chixma7011]

Try Your Brakes also appears if your route takes you through a ford - country driving - or where the road has temporarily flooded - heavy rain, burst water main - but is still passable with care.

[@module79l28]

@@AndrewJLeslie - That's correct (and frankly kind of obvious) but over here no one puts up a sign telling drivers to do that, it's just taught in driving schools. We don't have fords and when a road is flooded they just close it down and don't let anyone drive through it.

[@CinobiteReacts]

The triangle signs, the black parts are the roads. Think of them as roads not symbols and it'll make more sense for you :) The pointed end is the direction of travel (you going forward) and the size of the black is the priority, so you'll see other roads (thinner black) joining your road (thick Black). So the double bend is literally that, the road you are on is about to bend pretty hard like a snake and it bends left first then right so slow TF down :) Some of our tight bends you're down to like 10mph (16km in US), certainly not something you want to be tanking towards at 70mph. I mean to be fair, you don't even have bends in your cities let alone roads with your paint by numbers grid systems ;)

[@TheTamilian]

Just remember, the thick black line depicts the road you are travelling on. Imagine it as a map from above when you see a bend or curve, that is the route you will drive through those bends. Or there are junctions ahead joining from the left or right as indicated on the sign. The pointed end of the black line is the direction you will exit the "hazard".

[@twostroke350]

Also worth noting that in the UK (unlike some other countries) the two-way bend sign shows exactly what the road is about to do, not just a general indication that the road ahead is twisty

[@LooneyTune666]

The arrow on things like the cross roads etc shows the primary route for the vehicle on the road. So for the cross road, the arrow shows that ahead is the primary route for you as you read it. Soft verges was the last of your own explanation and is a warning that should you stop at the side of the road, it is soft, i.e grass or mud. It's a warning so people don't park up and get stuck or if they clip the edge of the verge they may lose grip. Quayside (pronounced keyside) is an area around a quay where it meets the water. National speed limit - is 70mph for dual carriage ways and 60mph for single. Your own explanation is pretty much spot on. A lot of rural roads in the UK don't have speed limit signs and no set speed limit, so a national speed limit sign would indicate you can go up to 60mph (for single carriageways) however for many of these roads, it would be very hard to get anywhere near that speed safely due to how narrow they are.

[@wobaguk]

Quay is pronounced Key, like the place Torquay - Torkee. A Quay is a part of a marina or dock where boats get tied up. Pretty much you could get to a place with a sudden drop or wall at which the bottom of is a body of water, just like the picture.

[@TheBaconWizard]

The diversion route symbols needed further explaination. It's simple: If the normal route is closed (perhaps for repair) they will mark out an alternative route for you to follow so that you end up where the closed road would have taken you. Quite often there is more than one potential destination, hence different shapes. You would see "Diversion" and a yellow shape (eg a square) and then you know to look for yellow squares and follow them. It's just a courtasy to keep everyone moving instead of having to consult a map or phone etc. Someone else might have wanted to get elsehwere via that same closed road, but they would have been given a different shape to follow. The signs are usually placed before a turn or roundabout, in good time to inform you (and then on it, also) It can be very nerve-wracking when you start following diversion signs and then you don't see one for ages! Like "I am lost here, GIMME SOMETHING!"

[@reactingtomyroots]

Ahhh okay! That sounds like the equivalent of our 'Detour' signs then. :)

[@severnsea]

Nice explanation. Yes, very easy to miss a diverted route sign and end up off-route for miles!

[@TheBirdManOfAzkaban]

What I love is how quickly you grasped the concepts, and try to logically work out ones that aren't as obvious. You're doing better than most Brits who have been allowed to drive on the roads for decades. 👌😂

[@kevinfairclough4619]

If you can find it, there is a BBC “top gear” episode where one presenter, James May, interviewed the lady who designed the UK road signs, she did the simple art. Her name was Margaret Calvert. The project was led by Jock Kinneir. But it was Margaret that designed all these signs.

[@w0033944]

"Quay" is a jetty or harbour edge and is pronounced "key".

[@knightwish1623]

The sign at 19:42 Hump bridge we used to call it a humpback bridge. You generally find them in small towns and villages crossing small streams. Back in the day of horse and carrage speed was not a problem. They were only built wide enough to span the gap and back then they were built from stone which was built in an arch form. This meant that they rose and fell quite steep on both sides. Now when you drive to fast over them you will get airbourne. Some of the bridges are a few hundred years old.

[@UnknownSquid]

Have you ever tried "bridge curling"? It's like ice curling, but with your car. Basically, when you know a suitable bridge is approaching, you have to go at a specific decided speed (eg somewhere between 10mph to 20mph) and then quickly put your foot on the clutch to coast towards the bridge. The goal is to judge the distance required to stop exactly on the bridge without rolling off (for at least a few seconds). Great fun with passengers, but the point you have to coast from will change depending on the loaded weight of the car, which adds a new challenge trying to figure out how much further or shorter having your uncle on board will cause you to travel! ( Of course, be safe. Typically best played only on familiar roads, and at night to not inconvenience other road users whilst you drift along at 5mph.)

[@knightwish1623]

@@UnknownSquid I was born near Portsmouth and there were a couple of humpback bridges. I been living in Germany now over 50 years and have never seen a humpback bridge here. So I won't be able to have a go at bridge curling 🙂

[@ChrisJay]

You find a lot of humpback bridges are for crossing canals..

[@ebnertra0004]

19:10 'Soft verge' is (I assume) the equivalent of 'Soft Shoulder' in the US. It's not so much that the shoulder drops off, it's more that if you get into it, it will likely pull you in, or otherwise be difficult to get out of. Also, you'd be surprised how many of these signs have functional equivalents in the US. Some are extremely rare in the field, but they are in the standards

[@jaycee330]

25:08 A "home zone" is an area where children are free to play in the street. Maximum speed is walking speed until you leave the zone. So, these are found in residential areas.

[@PLuMUK54]

Thanks for making me smile Steve! I loved your attempt at pronouncing quayside. It is things like that which make me love our common language. There may be a lot of signs in the UK, but some I have never seen in 40+ years driving, even some on this video. I remember during a driving lesson, my instructor asked what road sign we had just passed. He was not impressed when I said that I did not know. He made me go round to drive along the same road. He asked again. My answer was the same. He said that I was obviously not learning my Highway Code. I parked the car. Gave him my copy of the Code, and asked him to show me the sign - it wasn't there. He didn't apologise, and didn't explain, so to this day I've no idea what the sign was.

[@Brian3989]

Every UK road user should be aware of the Official Highway Code, pedestrians, horse rider, drivers, etc! For more information about road signs there is a book "Know your Traffic Signs. I've looked through a copy and knew what the majority meant. On Motorways there is always a sign showing exits, at one mile, half mile and 300, 200 and 100 yards. Still get idiots pushing for exit at last moment!

[@davebeattie9573]

@@Brian3989 I think you missed the point. A driving instructors job is to instruct. Where there is a lack of knowledge then they should convey that knowledge to the learner. Given that the sign was not in the highway code, it fell to the instructor to provide that information to the student but they failed to do so. In other words they were a poor instuctor. My own driving instructor was a nightmare, that put me off driving except anytime I needed to for my chosen occupation, which at that time was as a member of the British Army. Although I was being taught as part of my army career, the instructors were civilians, who were hired by the Army. This was done with 1 caar with instructor and 2 learners, swapping over from time to time during the course of a day. We'd fit fifty hours driving into a three week course. My first day I got to drive first and left camp and followed the directions that I was given, at least until we were appraoching a roundabout. The instructor gave me the following instruction. "At the roundabout ahead, take the road that leads to Darlington." I checked the signpost. The first exit was a small line and was unlabeled. The second was a larger line and included Darlington as a destination, but it also showed that it led to a motorway. Knowing, that as a learner, I was not permitted on a motorway, and given that only that this one exit mark was the only one to list Darlington, I assumed (wrongly) that we would travel down that road until directed to take another road prior to reaching the motorway. I entered the roundabout without any problem and followed what I believed was the correct route. As we passed the first, unlabeled exit the intructor slammed on the brake, bring the car to a halt, stalling the engine ("because I had not pressed in the clutch"), and most worrying caused an articulated lorry to narrowly avoiding hitting us. I was then berated for missing the exit, stalling the car, and nearly causing an accident. This berating included a lot of expletives. I point out that I was doing as instructed, and taking the exit that led to Darlington. My instructor said "This isn't the way we normally go to Darlington." I looked at him as if one of us is stupid, and said. "This is my first day. How am I supposed to know which way you would normally go?" All this time we were sat in the roundabout partly obstructing traffic, as my instructor refused to let me restart the car again until I had admitted that I was in the wrong. When we did start driving again we took the second exit (the one that was sign posted to Darlington and the motorway, and then took a turn onto a road before we reached the motorway, and we still reached Darlington, by this route, so I was not entirely wrong in my assumption. When the driving day was over and we got back to camp, the instructors filled in Captain Farmer, who was in charge of driver training, on the days events. I, and the other learner I was with, were summoned to his office to explain what had happened. My insturctor claimed that I had failed to follows his instructions, stalled the car on the roundabout, nearly caused a crash, and became abusive to him afterwards. I explained my version of events (as written above), and the other learner basically said that all he remembered was the lorry narrowly avoiding hitting us. Captain Farmer believed me, at least as far as the sign post was concerned, as he drove past it often enough, but also believed the instructor when he said that he had told me "to take the first exit". Things deteriorated from there, and in my second week, my instructor recommended dropping me from the course. As driving was a trade requirement, this would have resulted in over a year of basic and trade training being wasted, so Captain farmer arranged for a driving examiner to give me a mock test to see if I would continue driver training. Despite being required to carryout things that I hadn't yet been taught, the examiner reported back that I was fully able to pass a test. Despite this, at the end of my third week, my instructor refused to put me forward for the driving test, and as it needed the instructor to sign off, I was not allowed to sit my driving test at that time. A few months later I was again required to take the driver training course. This time I was hoping that I would get a different instructor, but was prepared if I didn't. I again got the same instructor, and before we set out on that first day, both me and the instructor had to meet with Captain Farmer. Captain Farmer said that he was pairing us up again and hoped for better this time around, and reminded the instructor that if I didn't get to pass my test this time, then I would have wasted over a year of training. When we set out this time I got to be the back seater, and the other learner was the driver. Being in the back seat let me use my secret weapon, a mini-cassette recorder. As we approached the same roundabout the instructor again gave the instruction, "At the roundabout ahead, take the road that leads to Darlington." If it wasn't for the seatbelt I'd have been jumping around for joy as I now had him on tape saying that. The learner who was driving made the same mistake that I had done on my first time, and again similar things happened, except for the near miss with an articualted lorry. Again there was another meeting with Captain Farmer. Again the instructor claimed that it was all the learners fault, and again the learner (this time not me) claimed otherwise. When Captain Farmer turned to me he asked if I had somehow arranged this as our two stories were so similar. My response was, "Sir, I will let [NAME REDACTED] tell you what happened in his own words." I then produced the mini-cassette recorder and pressed play, and everyone got to hear what actually happened. Me and the other learner were dismissed, and Captain Farmer "spoke" to the instructor. I was stuck with that instructor for the remainder of the three weeks, and at the end of it I was put forward for my driving test, over my instructors objections (seems Captain Farmer used the recording I had made to get him to sign off on me taking the test), and I passed. A few months after this I had to learn about military driving, such as operating in convoys, cross country driving, etc, etc. Once I got to my first working unit, which due to my trade being airfield support meant that I almost exclusively worked on RAF airfields (yes I was army but worked for the RAF), and I again had to learn new stuff. This time how to drive on airfields and around aircraft. I also had to take both written and practical tests to be able to drive in (what was then) West (and later become just) Germany. This was so I could drive military vehicles on German roads. At the end of all this I had a UK licence, a German driving permit (so I could operate military vehicles on German roads), and an airfield driving permit. In short, some instructors can be a-holes. Again, it is their job to instruct, and where there is a gap, they should fill that gap. They should never, as happened with me and at least one other, become abusive with a learner. The instructor described by @PLuMUK54 also sounds like an a-hole. Remember that the sign that was being complained about was NOT in the highway code, and when that was made clear to the instructor, no information, explanation or apology was forth coming. Chastising a learner for a lack of knowledge, when that knowledge is not listed in the highway code is abusive, and given that the instructor failed to provide the answer, it calls into question their own knowledge base.

[@MartinNelson]

So, first off you did incredibly well on some of your guesses. You should know however (as in I'm trying to give you some useful info) that the pass rate for the UK theory test is currently around 35%. Yeah, more than HALF of people fail their tests. This is often due to the Hazard Perception portion and tricky to answer questions designed to catch you out, It helps a little to consider that the UK is still laid out on Medieval or even Roman road networks. So their layouts and designs contain a lot more hazards. Travelling through the hills and tight rural areas of Wales for example you can easily get two or often more really tight bends in the road in very close succession. Again remember our road layouts are OLD so they went around obstacles rather than through them. As to the M, A, and B roads they are all catergories of roads. M is our equivelent of interstate highways, or as we know them, Motorways. They carry very high capacity at the highest speeds allowable on uk roads (generally), A roads usually tend to be dual carriageways where the two directions of travel are separated by a central 'verge' or barrier...though not all A roads are dual carriageways. Again relatively high flow traffic at higher speeds. B roads generally less important and less frequently travelled routes...although again it can kind of depend. Again the reason you can sometimes see things like A1(M) is because our network is real old. The M1 was once called the Great North Road and most of it was eventually converted into a motorway so most of it became an M (motorway). However, some areas simply couldn't be widened or made big enough to be a motorway so we get this weird A1(M) thing. No waiting tends to appear on high traffic roads where any vehicle waiting or stopping could be considered a danger. Thing of your average town street where you might pull up your car and wait for your passenger to pop into a shop for a bottle of water, you're still at the wheel of your car, you are waiting. On a high traffic road this would present a danger to other motorists and as such is something you shouldn't do. Minimum speed is a think, it's relatively rare but is again about safety. And believe it or not even on a road where there is no listed or signposted minimum speed you can get fined for driving too slowly on some roads. I could be wrong, but the cross roads symbol has a pointed tip to ensure it can't be misread as a Christian symbol, which is especially important given that most of these signs are international. Humps on the road you're talking about what we know as sleeping policemen or 'Speed Bumps', a traffic claming measure designed to ensure people stick to low speeds. Generally found in built up areas. The patrol when it comes to school crossings is what we know as Lollipop people, I believe the US has 'Crossing Guards'. Our lollipop people tend to carry a little sign instructing motorists to stop. So that they can escort school children across the road safely. You asked too if the signs sometimes appeared as text only....this is the least likely and very rare. You are more likely to see a circular or triangular sign without the additional text. The theory here is that they should be able to be understood by a speaker of any language as long as you understand the basic principles, which you began to with the remembering the triangle is a warning about something inside it. Verges tend to appear on the edge of a carriageway or road. So basically the terrain at the edge of the road is not firm. It could be soil, sand, loose pebbles or gravel, anything of that nature that could cause you trouble when pulling off to the side of the road (in an emergency for example). Quayside, is a boat Quay (pronounced KEY). So you're thinking Florida Keys here. In the UK and most other English speaking countries we key the two terms spelt differently to minimise comprehension mistakes. In otherwords we didn't want the terms Key and Quay being mixed up when written. Just a weird quirk of the English Language is all. Unmade or gravel roads do happen in the UK and so it's just a case of having a sign to warn of that. They're especially common around hill or mountainside areas, places where there has been quarry activity, or just where the road isn't tarmac (or ashphalt). Yeah national speed limit is complicated to say the least, but it depends on the type of vehicle you're in, the type of road you are on, and so much more. The diversion route signs have a logic behind them...the idea is that if large scale roadworks are happening and would cut off access to several roads, those roads would each be assigned a symbol so that you can follow the diversion signs for that route. Think about a large road with several side roads on it. Each of the side roads are blocked by road works. Each road would have a different diversion symbol attached, so to get past those road works you follow a diversion route by following the sybmol. That's the theory...not always in use practically though. There a lot to it, but you did amazingly to get as much as you did, and to be honest a lot of it is just that our road network is old, frail, and follows routes humans have been walking for centuries. For a Really interesting video on the reason that US has different roadsigns, see the Wendover video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/javVYXqPm7emgas

[@westhighlandwarrior6998]

You are wrong about the point at the top of the junction signs and has nothing to do with religion. The point shows direction of travel. If you look at a bend in the road sign it too has a point. The crossing sign with priority over traffic on the right has the right side road thinner than the left and thicker on the right showing the priority. Where I live no A roads are divided by a verge or dual carriageways, they are all single carriageways but I do live in rural Scotland!! Crazy how the network differs in such a small country!

[@MartinNelson]

@@westhighlandwarrior6998 So, I genuinely understood that to be the case from ages ago when I was learning I remember an instructor saying something along those lines. As to the A roads thing, yeah a lot of A roads in England and Wales aren't dual carriageway either, but I couldn't think of a better way to give a generalisation of the difference between A and B roads that would work to someone unfamiliar with our road network. Correct me if I'm wrong but the NC500 is mainly A roads isn't it? And they're single carriageways?

[@severnsea]

@@MartinNelson No, nothing whatsoever to do with religion. The thicker line with the point actually denotes the main road, generally the one that would have the right of way at crossroads or the "through route" (you would have to stop of give way on the road with the thinner line. Often the thicker line would be the A road and the thinner one a B road but that's not always the case, they could be 2 A roads or 2 B roads. Yes, lots of A roads can be single track roads (including the NC500 in parts) and a B road could be a dual carriageway! The difference is that an A road generally denotes the main route between two points, e.g. 2 towns. B roads are usually link roads, for example linking two A roads. Of course there are so many now that it's all a bot of a jumble, but that's the main difference.

[@alittlebitofkatie]

Small correction the A1 (M) is part of the A1 not the M1. While the M1 does merge with the A1 and and then is the A1 (M), it starts being the A1 (M) before then and there a bit of the A1 around Peterbrough that just becomes the A1 (M) for a bit and then goes back to the A1. I believe the "(M)" exists so that motorway restrictions can be applied to historically non motorway roads

[@gracesprocket7340]

Quayside is pronounced 'key-side' harbour loading dock, often no barrier as it is open for loading operations.

[@watcherzero5256]

Also sometimes get them next to canals or rivers where there is no road barriers separating them. Another place you see it is on small bridges over streams or raised up fording points which don't have side barriers stopping you going into deeper water.

[@rhonddalesley]

As an English person I enjoy these types of videos you do, seeing my country from an outsider’s perspective teaches me things I didn’t know and you made some pretty accurate guesses considering not all of the signs are necessarily self explanatory! It would help people more though if you could find out what you’re not sure about whilst doing the video rather than ask people to explain in the comments because not everyone reads them, especially when there’s so many. Not a criticism but a suggestion 😊

[@paulebroderick]

But think of the engagement!

[@jonntischnabel]

Loose chippings, refers to a road surface with small gravel, that have been top dressed with tar, then the vehicles themselves compress it down. It's a cheaper way of resurfacing roads on a short term basis.

[@chucky2316]

Sometimes you end up with a cracked windscreen 😅

[@Erekose2023]

Traffic has priorioty over on coming vehicles. One of the questions that got a smile off my examiner in my first (Class 4) driving test. I gacve that answer and hesitated. "Something else you want to say?" "Well that's what the Highway Code says, but, especially when the obstruction is on a blind bend, I read it as ... ' unless the oncoming traffic has begun its manouver before we become co-visible" he looked at my instructer sitting down the back who was almost laughing. "Never heard any one qualify it so well" A problem is, too many people, especially now we have multiople choice type answers rather than huyman questioning and feedback and discussion in tests, take the rules as being 'black and white' and forget the need to understand the nuances of road situations.

[@jaycee330]

20:39 New gravel put down may fly off if you drive too fast on it. Usually after a fresh tarmac on the road. It can also indicate gravel near the shoulder (especially by cliffs where you may also see the falling rocks sign).

[@malcolmdarke5299]

The "except bicycles being pushed" part of the "no vehicles" sign might not be obvious, but bicycles are generally held to similar legal standards to motorised vehicles. Probably the best-known example of this is present in the British version of Monopoly, where one of the cards has a small fine for the offence "drunk in charge of a bicycle". A major use of a "no vehicles" sign would be for access routes for emergency services vehicles responding to an emergency - they're generally given some leeway to break the rules of the road under those circumstances. "No waiting" signs mean exactly what they say - vehicles may not wait on the affected stretch of road, for instance to pick passengers up or park. Clearway signs ("no stopping") are more restrictive - vehicles must keep moving while on the affected stretch of road, as long as it's safe to do so. Minimum speed signs are sometimes used outside high-security facilities in an attempt to prevent clear pictures being taken. In general, though, they're basically clearway signs but more restrictive again. Crossroad warning signs are generally only used for uncontrolled crossroads - crossroads which don't have road markings or traffic lights directing the flow of traffic. The "t-junction with priority" sign is a less-commonly seen sign. There's one particular junction in a town not too far from where I live which could stand to use similar signs with a fourth road added - it's basically a crossroads, except that the priority road is a 90-degree bend. The double-bend sign is a warning of sharp curves that go in opposite directions. Steep hills which have zigzagging roads going up them might warrant that sign. "Pedestrians in road ahead" is far more common in rural areas than in built-up areas, but it might be used in pedestrianised parts of towns and cities too. Overhead electric cable warnings could well be used in conjunction with tram warning signs - not that I've ever seen either in the UK. Ice on the road can be a big problem for British drivers - we don't routinely get major snow- or icestorms in most of the UK, so the warning is mostly for non-locals, who wouldn't routinely carry gear to handle icy roads. We would always have the triangular sign, but we might not have the rectagular informational sign underneath it. Soft verges! The verge is the ground to the side of the roadway. Soft verges are verges which are generally unsuitable for driving on for most vehicles, such as boggy ground or sand. The warning is basically "if any of your wheels go off the road, you're probably stuck". Other people have explained hump or hump-backed bridges, I'll just add that they're a particular problem for articulated lorries and other long vehicles - it's often possible to ground a long vehicle on the top of a hump-backed bridge. The quayside/riverbank warning is that there's no barrier between the roadway and the water's edge. If you lose control and go off the road, you're probably going into the water. Loose chippings is basically warning either of road resurfacing in progress or of unfinished road. Either way, it's warning about the potential for high-velocity gravel being propelled into your windshield. School crossing patrols are basically manned crossings on commonly-walked routes to a school or schools that don't have designated crossings or underpasses. They're usually only manned during certain times of the day, and they provide a safe way for children to cross high-traffic roads to get to school. There are technically four different national speed limits in the UK. In built-up areas (the definition usually given is "areas with street lights and roadside paths"), the limit is 30 mph. Outside of those areas, except on motorways, the limit is 60 mph. On motorways, the limit is 70 mph, unless you're driving a lorry or other large vehicles, when it's 60. Your guess was pretty much spot on, though! Side note: You'll sometimes see speed limit signs that specify a limit that is the speed limit for that particular type of road - usually in built-up areas. The major reasons are to remind drivers that they are still in a built-up area and that even though this might seem like a bit of fast road, it really isn't and going too fast may lead to mowing down a pedestrian by accident, to slow drivers down from roads that have higher limits or to allow them to speed up after being on roads with lower limits. The faster ones also have reasoning behind their use, but I can't actually remember what it is. A ring road is a large, topologically-circular road that surrounds a city or part of a city. It's supposed to facilitate travel around portions of the city, kind of like a by-pass for large chunks of city. With-flow bus and cycle lanes go the same way as the rest of the traffic, contra-flow lanes go the opposite way. It's a somewhat disconcerting sight to see traffic going the opposite direction on your left in the UK, but it does happen in a few places. Emergency diversion routes are almost never used. I'm not 100% on what they're for myself, but my belief is that if say, a stretch of motorway is blocked because of a major accident, following the relevant symbols will get you around the blockage. The symbols on those signs don't carry any informational content, they're just there to be high-contrast and easy to discern. What we call a mtorway, you'd generally call a freeway. There are portions of the A1 which are treated as motorway, designated A1(M). There are also bits of motorway in a couple of cities, such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne - the A167(M) is a major barrier to pedestrians, which is why they stuck a couple of pedestrian bridges in between the high-student-population areas on the one side and the two university campuses on the other. We have (approximately) four "classes" of road, although there are arguably as many as six. Motorways (e.g. the M5) are major traffic arteries, which a lot of people use when travelling long distances - equivalent to the US freeway or interstate. A-roads are large roads that (are expected to) see a lot of traffic use - equivalent to the US highway, and often dual-carriageway, but many A-roads are just large roads. B-roads are typical single-carriageway roads, and many "travel roads" in towns and cities are B-roads. There's also a large network of A- and B-roads that extend between most (if not all) towns and cities in the UK. C-roads are smaller than B-roads, and are not numbered, unlike motorways, A-roads and B-roads. Most residential roads in towns and cities are C-roads, and they're also a part of the network of roads outside towns and cities, connecting to villages, hamlets and other locations which aren't on an A- or B-road already. Some people might include unpaved roads in C-roads, others would class them as their own thing. Cycle routes are arguably roads, too, but I doubt that most people would generally think of a cycle route when they think of a road.

[@saxon-mt5by]

'Sign not in use'. The craziest sign I have ever seen was an old sign from the Great Northern Railway on the East Coast mainline, which said 'Do not deface this notice'.

[@astrecks]

It is usually attached to the road sign it is referring to.

[@reactingtomyroots]

hahah yeah, seems kinda unnecessary. although, if as someone pointed out it's attached to a different road sign I guess that makes more sense

[@SceGno1]

Well done, because you worked out so many signs that even a lot of drivers in the UK don't know!! :D

[@waightkl]

Hi Steve. A Quayside ( pronounced key-side) is a dock, usually beside the sea. These are often unfenced so the sign literally shows you what could happen if you don't take care. There's a lot of country roads in the UK without any sort of kerbing. A soft verge means that is a spot where the roadside dirt ( verge ) is particularly soft so you might sink in if you pull off the road. A hump back bridge is usually an older bridge which is short and with a sharp "up and down" so the road literally feels like a speed hump. Its a bit like a short roller coaster. Its also a very good way to make your passengers feel sick if you take at speed. These often have a weight limit or a risk of grounding a long vehicle sign. Loose chippings. These are usually temporary signs after a company has resurfaced the road. One method is to put down a layer of hot tar and then spread sharp gravel chippings. This gives a good braking surface but a lot of the chippings dont actually stick to the tar and when you drive over them it sounds as if the bottom of your car is being sand-blasted. Can also lead to smashed wind-screens so drive slowly over that patch. National speed limit ( the white circle with the diagonal black bar ) If you ask most UK drivers what that sign means they will probably answer ( incorrectly ) "End of speed limit" These are usually when you leave a built up area where there is a 30 or 40 MPH limit and out on an "open" road. The national speed limit on all roads except dual-carriage ways or Motorways is 60 MPH ( although on many such roads it would be suicidal to drive at that speed ). Motorways ( like your interstates ) and dual carriage ways are 70 MPH limit. You just have to know these limits, there's isn't usually a sign. Hope this helps

[@cadman9768]

So the best way to look at a lot of these warning signs that seem overkill, is that outside the cities, most of the uk has narrower, unlit, sometimes overgrown rural roads where the national speed limit (varies) on those roads is 60mph, so these warning signs are a lifesaver at those speeds. Also "Quayside" is pronounced "Key Side" and is typically a built up side to a river/canal😀

[@101steel4]

The motorbike theory test is different to the car one too. Plus most of the world, especially Europe, use the same or similar signs.

[@derekdelboytrotter8881]

It's not that much different, well when I did mine it wasn't but that was 20 years ago now. 90% of it was the same as the car theory test

[@101steel4]

@@derekdelboytrotter8881 it's a separate test. Diffrent from the car one. Did mine about 3 years ago.

[@derekdelboytrotter8881]

@@101steel4 they must have changed it since I did mine, they have changed a lot of things. Even they way you do your test has changed, when I did mine I did the A2 test which restricts you to 250cc for 2 years then you can ride whatever you wanted but I think now you can only do the full direct access version of the test, correct me if I'm wrong by all means

[@danewood2309]

​@derekdelboytrotter8881 You can only do "direct access" if you are over 25, otherwise it's A2

[@derekdelboytrotter8881]

@@danewood2309 oh really? I was 19 when I did the A2, but I had the choice to do direct access but it would have cost me like £500

[@petermostyneccleston2884]

I have lived in Great Britain all of my life, and learned from looking outside the car windows, what most of the signs mean. There are a number of them that I have not seen, for example a Minimum Speed limit sign. That is the blue circle with the number in white. Or the No Explosives sign. The signs that show military bases, are white rectangular signs, with a red border round the edges. Then directing you to wherever the entrance is. I normally keep away from those places. The pictures on the signs will explain what is happening. So for warnings, you can see the picture, and know how to react.

[@xolotlnephthys]

You get minimum speed limits in tunnels usually.

[@tombalfour9945]

Minimum speed limits and the no explosives signs are both normally posted at the entrance to tunnels

[@philipjosefarmer5740]

Sometimes, on a highway with 2 or more lanes you will find the minimum speed limit sign. This indicates that some of those lanes are fast lanes, so if you want to drive on those lanes you must obey the minimum speed limit indicated, avoiding this way, slowing down the traffic behind you. If you want to drive slower, then move to a slow lane. In most of Europe, the right lane is the slowest one. Suppose you are driving across some moutains, climbing a steep hill and ahead of you there are a few trucks with heavy loads moving slowly, on the right lane. So, to overtake those trucks you move to the fast lane. Now, if you drive slowly on that fast lane, you are blocking all the traffic behind you. So, this traffic signs just tells you that you are not allowed to use that lane unless you drive faster than the minimum speed limit (and below the maximum allowed by law, of course). If there are like 3 lanes, one of them might have a minimum speed of 100Km/h (left lane), the center lane with a minimum speed of 70Km/h, and the right lane has no speed information. HOWEVER, you MUST drive on that lane if you don't want to overtake anybody and the maximum speed limit for all lanes is what the law allows for that road. Those signs make sense if you are driving on a busy road with 2 or more lanes and with lots of slow moving traffic.

[@maunsell24]

Here's an example of the Minimum Speed Limit sign - maps.app.goo.gl/NzN4ix9bSNdda6F1A

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

If you ever get to drive through Lincoln you will ge able to see the No Explosives sign when head up to or down from the Cathedral Quarter on the main road on the eastern side of the Cathedral Quarter. It's the only place I know where this sign has been put up due to the steepness of the road.

[@101steel4]

I remember when i did my motorcycle theory a few years back, some of the questions were about trams and first aid to drivers in accidents. So it's not all about just signs.

[@texbankuk]

Not well known rule on a UK motorway is your vehicle must be able to move @ 20 mph as the minimum and recently there is more changes when encountering "smart Motorway's which a uprated 4 NOT 3 lane motorway . And I'm predicting that the many Rules boards side at the entrance to motorway slip entry road may be amended to explain the Smart motorways rules Have to keep on top of the rule and any changes for instance Just today I have seen a rumour circulating about Motorcycle license Group changes I have a Full class A motorcycle license which is the Very top rank Its at the at the other end that the DVLA are proposing changes

[@jaycee330]

13:53 Exactly what it says on the tin. There is a sharp left, followed by a sharp right. US equivalent would be a yellow diamond sign with an arrow that cuts to the left, then back up again, at 90 degree angles.

[@g8xft]

Direction signs are on a blue background for motorways, green for A roads, red for military bases and so on and brown for tourist destinations or places of interest.

[@ghostofsosaria7534]

As 99% of the world uses these or almost identical signs (some countries have a few extras specific to them) we all see many of them every day as we grow up & learn their meaning just as Americans learn theirs. They were all created as a universal standard with almost every country in the world having a say in the designs (even America was involved) so they are understood easily anywhere in the world. So now wherever we travel to around the world (except to the US) we all understand the local road signs when we get there.

[@KDRCG]

“Hump Bridge” is a warning put around older stone bridges with a significant arch that causes the roadway to bow upwards. The warning is mostly for lorries and low vehicles which might become grounded on the arch.

[@davedixon2068]

or Audi drivers booting it who might become airborne!

[@michaelgoodwin6565]

It is also a warming that oncoming traffic may be hidden by the raised middle of the bridge.

[@MrNikolidas]

You have to understand, our roads are sometimes older than the US itself. Often the warning signs you struggled with are on winding country roads with hedgerows, trees, mountains or cliffs on either side. Personally, when I see the red triangle, my first instinct is simply to slow down a bit. That usually solves the immediate problem that becomes apparent when you round the (sometimes very tight) corner or crest the (sometimes very steep) hill. Edits: A quayside (pronounced key-side) is like a dock for boats, but there's no jetty or pier, just a strip of concrete along the bank. Usually they're found in canals (of which in the UK, there are quite a few) for narrowboats. Loose chippings usually denotes gravel or a loose surface of somekind, you are correct. The national speed limit in the UK is 60mph. The roads with these signs on them can be tricky - more often than not, speed limits with a number in a red circle are the speed limit for that piece of road for a reason. Motorways are designed to be used at 70mph, for example. Urban or heavily built-up areas can go as high as 40 or as low as 10 or 5, but all with a number in a red circle. It is recommended to keep close to the speed limit to avoid rear-end accidents by going too slow. National speed limit roads, on the other hand, are 60mph limit but often not designed to go as fast as that. They can vary depending on the corners, road conditions, daylight, etc etc. Sometimes they are used on public roads that pass through private land as well. These are the country roads, the old roads. You have to keep your wits about you (trust me, from experience!) Ring roads are roads that form a ring around a town. You'll sometimes come across the word "bypass" for this instead, but those are more major roads akin to motorways and they're common around larger cities. With-flow = going in the same direction as you are on the same side of the road. Contra-flow = going in the opposite direction as you are on the same side of the road (usually phrase used in context of roadworks where one side of the road is closed, so the opposite direction uses one of your lanes instead to keep traffic moving) 24:30 Sometimes a major route will be closed and multiple symbols will be stickered to place names on permanent road signs for multiple diversion routes. Simply find the direction you want to head in and remember its corresponding symbol, then follow that symbol on the temporary road signs placed along the diversion route to get back on your intended route. I have never in 20 years of driving seen a "Home Zone Entry" sign. Don't worry about it, I guess! Final note: Once you get used to the logic behind the signs, you'll be able to figure out what they mean even if you've never seen them before. It just takes practice and patience. A common "trick" the theory might throw at you is the old "snow-covered octagonal sign" - it's a Stop sign. It's the only sign that has eight-sides. Good luck on the test!

[@darkiee69]

The filled circle on yellow (orange here in Sweden) usually mean diversion road for heavy vehicles, I.e heavy haulers you don't want to go through the city center should follow those signs around town.

At least in Finland the home zone sign means a road where people and cars share the street with speed limit of 20km/h abs priority is for pedestrians. Those are usually found on small residential roads away from the main arteries.

[@ShuskiCross]

15:50 - Double bend. My first thought after your reaction was "How does that not make sense to you?" Then I realised 90% of American roads are straight and gridded.... It means the road bends to the left, then will bend to the right quickly after. Basically a ziz-zag in the road. Usually these signs appear in country roads when the bends are sharp enough to warrant slowing down from the national speed limit. (Usually 60mph for single lane country roads), you aren't taking a tight corner at 60mph on any UK country road :D

[@seraphina985]

Those diversion symbols mark the routes between intersections of the motorway or other major routes. They will be a sign telling you which one to follow if a section of the major route needs to close in an emergency. This makes it very quick to establish a diversion in an emergency set out some cones and a single yellow rectangular "Road closed for diversion follow [symbol]" and traffic is in it's way again. All you need to do is take the routes marked with the same symbol on route indicator signs as the diversion route is already pre planned and marked ready to go right away.

[@Peterraymond67]

Hello Steve. Most of our signs are obvious to any driver. If it’s a real hazard then a written notice is often posted. Some of the rare signs like minimum speed limit I’ve never seen in 55 years of driving. Our older road signs were quite different. They were changed to the modern pictograms before I started to drive. The only place an American will usually drive is either Mexico or Canada. Here in the UK we are just a 20 mile ferry crossing, or a train ride from France, Belgium, Netherlands. You can also get longer ferries to Spain, Ireland, ortugal, Iceland, Faroe Islands. For this reason it was agreed to have universal road signs. In 1998 I took the theory test and driving test in New York (Staten Island) while I was on 6 months work in the USA. It was not difficult, I used to teach road safety to School children in the National Cycling Proficiency scheme by RoSPA (Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents).

[@dasy2k1]

I actually saw a minimum speed sign recently... There is one on the Blackwell tunnel

[@Peterraymond67]

@@dasy2k1 Never been through the Blackwell Tunnel which is why I’ve never seen one. We have a tunnel on the M4 near Newport and the Brynglas Tunnel is two lane but has 3 lanes both sides but the left hand lanes up to the tunnels marked with line lanes directing traffic. I don’t think a minimum limit would work here, It's hard enough to get drivers to slow down! P.S. we have a 20 mph limit in force in Wales in built-up areas, rather than 30.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Yeah that definitely makes sense when you put it like that!

[@reinhard8053]

I see minimum speed sometimes at inclines where the faster lanes have a minimum speed.

[@gallowglass2630]

@@reactingtomyroots Steve if you want to look at driving in ireland ,i recommend Dane Tighe he does driving test instruction videos.

[@nessbolton]

😂 we have bendy roads and country lanes, the ‘bend first to left’ sign is there is a double bend ahead it runs to the left first then switches to a right bend!

[@finian2]

Ring roads are one long continuous road that usually surrounds the centre of a town or city.

[@vaudevillian7]

Stop signs are incredibly rare in the UK as are 4 way crossings as they exist in the US, usually one road will have priority and the other will have junctions onto it so they just yield (or give way as we say) to the main road.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Hmm that's interesting to me

[@vaudevillian7]

@@reactingtomyroots and in a lot of situations we would have a roundabout, of course the UK isn't built on a grid system so there's fewer points where two roads will directly cross

[@MGX93dot]

wouldnt say incredibly. i live by 7 alone. but theyre rarer, sure

[@vaudevillian7]

@@MGX93dot that is an unusual amount in one place not the norm, I don’t think I’ve seen that many in one place travelling around the UK and where I live I think I’d have to travel 10 miles to see more than 1 or 2. Consider that pretty much every suburban intersection and beyond has them in the US they are comparatively incredibly rare - to make the point for an American.

[@quantisedspace7047]

Also, we don't call them 'four way stop's because that's not how they are used. You come to a complete stop and then check what's coming on the conflicting roads. Stop signs are uncommon and AFAICT, most people treat them like Give Way.

[@katebatt7538]

Yellow is usually information about roadworks or road closures. If there is a diversion put in place to get you round a closure, you look for the symbol along that diversion route to tell you which way to go. It will appear, for example, on a roundabout sign to tell you which exit to take to follow the diversion. Brown signs are just helpful information signs, so they might tell you which junction to take to go to see a castle, museum, beach, zoo etc

[@Panticle]

"loose chippings" warns of a surface where the grit isn't fixed down into the tarmac properly. It's usually a temporary road sign, when the road has been resurfaced and the chippings haven't yet been bedded in by traffic.

[@laptopes1]

22:45 ring rounds, basically a main road round a city/town/village. In order to prevent the bluff up of traffic with built up areas from traffic wanting to pass on through

[@Dishidrop]

I highly recommend checking out a video of a British military convoy

[@ESAPOWER]

National Speed Limit is a really really important one here in the UK. It basically means that you should drive as is APPROPRIATE for the road conditions as you find them, but NO FASTER than the National limit. Many treat this as a 60mph sign, but it really just means "Don't be stupid, drive appropriately." It's also why you shouldn't get mad if someone is doing 20mph after the sign. On some roads, that's appropriate.

[@chrisbrace2204]

Also the national speed limit depends on what kind of vehicle you are driving, cars it's 60 , cars towing trailers or caravans it's 50 so it's much easier than complicated signs showing all the options.

[@The_Wallu]

In Czechia (probably most of eu) this sign is used to tell you about "end of speed restriction". For example we drive 50 km/h in towns (it's marked by "town name" sign). So u are in town, there is 30 km/h sign and then this let you know where the 30 km/h "zone" ends. Btw. Speed limit sign is always "canceled" by junction, so this sign is used mostly in places without junction nearby. It works same on coutryside roads, highways, etc.

[@GracieHallett-b8u]

You have to be very smart and you have to have a good memory here in the UK as a lot of things are more complicated over here than in the US. Even learning how to drive in the UK can be a challenge right at the start as we mostly drive manual cars not automatic.

[@jaycee330]

23:35 Exactly. And a contra-flow lane would go the opposite direction.

[@robbpatterson6796]

Quay is pronounced "Key". Like buoy is pronounced "boy"

[@101steel4]

Boooooeeee😂😂

[@michaelgoodwin6565]

Believe Americans pronounce 'buoy' as 'boo-ee', which is close to the French name for navigation buoy.

[@Nut_Job.]

Loose chippings refers to older road surfaces which aren’t surfaced with Tarmac. These surfaces are basically hot bitumen with coarse chippings dropped on top. When these roads have been resurfaced there are LOTS of loose chippings which didn’t “glue” to the road surface, and are a hazard if you drive too quickly over them (risk of skidding, or chips flying around).

[@killakanzgaming]

About the National Speed Limit sign, yes we have national speed limits depending on the type of road you're on and the type of vehicle you're driving. For example if you're driving a car on an A road, the nat limit is 60mph (however if you're driving a HGV over 7.5 tonnes on the same road, the limit is 50mph). The national speed limit sign doesn't show a number because it depends on circumstances... These signs are usually placed where a previous stated speed limit ends. For example you're driving on an A road at 60mph. The A road passes through a town, so before you enter the town you see a red circle sign saying 30. The speed limit is 30mph through the town, then just as you leave the other side of the town you see the nat speed limit sign. The previous red circle speed limit sign no longer applies and you can drive at upto 60mph again.

[@rjb29uk]

I've been driving for 21 years and never seen some of these, and wasn't that sure what some of them they were telling me. Regarding the white circle with a black stripe, the National Speed Limit varies by what type of vehicle you're driving, and the type of road you're driving on. For cars that would be 60mph on a standard two-way road (where you're in the lane going your direction, and the opposite lane has oncoming traffic). But if you're a car on a road where there is more than one lane going the same direction as you, your national speed limit is 70mph. However, if you were in a lorry (large goods vehicle), or a car towing something, the limit is about 10 or 20 less than those examples. So that's why it doesn't say 60 or 70, because it depends on your vehicle.

[@jaycee330]

24:03 Meaning there is a pay box you need to pay and put the ticket on your window, or a pay disk, or metered parking or similar.

[@laptopes1]

20:30 risk of grounding can be usually found with humped bridge sign. You tend to have a blind crest over Humped bridges.

[@jameslewis2635]

The sign for 'double bend in the road' is a warning that you have a sharp left and a sharp right turn ahead. Usually you would need to slow down considerably to pass this part of the road safely. If you want to see what a zebra crossing is just look up the album cover of 'Abbey Road' by The Beatles. It literally shows the band crossing one of these despite Ringo somehow losing his shoes (drummers - go figure). A ring road is a road system that goes around something like a town or city like a bypass but you could literally use it to drive in a loop if you wanted. This allows motorists to either go past a built up area without being caught in 'town traffic' or enter a town/city from any direction despite whatever direction they happened to be traveling from. The national speed limit changes depending on the road and what vehicle you are driving (lorrys and vehicles that are towing have a lower maximum speed limit than other vehicles). If you have two or more lanes in each direction the national speed limit is 70 mph. If you only have one lane in each direction it is 60 mph. Also, whenever you can't see a speed limit sign every so often the speed limit is 30 mph. You can only go at the 'national speed limit' when indicated by the signs featuring a white circle with the black diagonal stripe across it as that is the national maximum speed you can ever go, not the speed you can go by default. The driving theory test is extensive in the UK but it gets even more involved in some other European countries. Apart from remembering signs and performing well while driving the car there are both a sit down theory test which includes things like first aid knowledge as well as a 'hazard perception' test (taken on computer) which tests your ability to spot possible developing hazards either on the road or approaching your route. The good news is that once you have the hang of UK signs you will be okay understanding the road signs in any country which signed up to the 'Vienna convention on road signs and signals' which includes a good majority of the worlds landmass.

[@zeltech-alpha]

I guess it's more of a "know most signs" situation. Since I think I only saw like 5 on my theory test I'd assume they expect us UK drivers to figure it out over time. Also the road names work like this. M - motorway, usually 3-4 lanes in both directions. Run at national speed limit. A - Main Road/Trunk Road. Usually about 2 lanes per side. Can run at 70mph but can be slower in more populated regions and if reduced to 1 lane. B - this is your branch roads. Usually run slower and break away from A roads. J - Junction Then with road types Dual carriageway is any road with two lanes either side. Single carriageway is a road with one lane either side.

[@CW1971]

I sort of picked them up over time, I did my test before the theory test came out so didn't need to study as such although I did skim through the highway code book. I don't think I was asked anything about signs on my test, I just got a few questions at the end. I think most of them are self explanatory once you've been driving for a while

[@mxlexrd]

That's not the correct definition of dual carriageway. A dual carriageway is when the two directions of traffic are physically separated. A single carriageway is when the two directions of traffic have only a line between them.

[@stephenlee5929]

@@mxlexrd Agreed, note the national speed limit differs dependant on the carriageway type, this is part of the reason for the 'Dual Carriageway Ends' sign.

[@michaelgoodwin6565]

There are also 'unclassified roads' which don't even earn a B. The local county council or other highway authority will number these in a C series for administrative purposes, but there are no signs to tell motorist those numbers. If you look at a road atlas, you can can see that the road numbers start with a number related to the original 'Primary' or 'Trunk' roads, which existed before Motorways. The main road up the Eastern side of the country was the A1, so any road to the East of that starts with a 1. The road from London to Dover is the A2, so roads South of the Thames and round as far as the A3, start with a 2. And so on, A3 London to Portsmouth, then A4, A5, A6. I think Scotland has A7 & A8. The Motorway network was superimposed on the original system, so some Motorway numbers go outside the equivalent A roads. A roads are divided into 'Primary' and other. Primary have the green signs, others have the same white background as the B roads. The direction signs are also quite clever, a sign on a main route will tell you the next Primary destination, and the next town. So if you don't know whether you're on the right road, you get a confirmation of the general direction of the road, as well as the next town.

[@contessa.adella]

13:18 Crossroad. The thicker arrow is the priority direction…So the side roads will be give way or stop junctions. 17:50 Risk of Ice…obviously only in cold weather, but it warns of areas readily prone to icing, such as a high up section of exposed road.

[@pokegamer1216]

Zebra crossings are parts of a road where drivers legally have to give pedestrians the right of way to cross. Usually zebra crossings are paired with a flashing amber light, you'll know what one looks like because the crossings are marked with white painted stripes which would essentially look like zebra stripes because of the road being black

Kwayside??? FFS

[@countertony]

My guess as to why some 'order' (circular) signs have a slash through them is that they were in common use before the signs were standardized (no left/right/U turns), so they were kept the same to distinguish them as much as possible from the equivalent blue "you MUST do this" sign. The others have no slash because the red circle gives the same "don't do this" information, and - I think - because a slash would make it harder to see what it is you're not supposed to do (especially if you're looking from a distance or at night).

[@CinobiteReacts]

It's pretty easy if you read the shape first then say what's in it "No, cars", "Warning, bicycles", "No, anything" etc I think our roads give you A LOT more information, even down to the texture of the road is used as a sign/signal for something (typically turn bends on main road will have a beige grainy texture for grip) etc

[@seraphina985]

That sign saying try your brakes is often used after a ford for example. It is a reminder to drivers and riders to check their brakes as they may be wet and perform less well than expected. Finding this out ahead of time allows you to adjust accordingly.

[@lloydcollins6337]

"loose chippings" - these are generally found during road works (construction) when the surface of the road has been removed, leaving lots of loose bits of gravel everywhere. These can cause cars to lose grip, especially in wet or icy weather, as well as the fact that they get "pinged" up by driving over them, which could cause chips to other people's paintwork or windows if they hit their car. Usually this sign is accompanied by advice "maximum speed 10 MPH" to avoid the chippings from "pinging" up.

[@tobeytransport2802]

24:35 these are just used to divert traffic. For example if you’re driving along a main road and ahead it is closed so the sign will flash up above the road or will be placed on a metal sign... “Road Closed Ahead, Leave at Next Junction and follow Square to rejoin route” you then just follow signs with this square (or whatever the diversion sign said) until you find yourself back on your original road. It saves them setting diversion signs up along a whole diversion route and saves you having to stop to re plan your route.

[@marktreavis5030]

The yellow signs are for diversions of roads. When they close a road for repair they mark the alternative route by these small yellow signs and you follow the “square” or “triangle” to get past the diversion.

[@elliottsw]

A verge is a shoulder, so a soft verge means that there's mud or boggy ground immediately next to the road rather than gravel or another hard surface, so if you pull over you will sink or get stuck.

[@jaycee330]

19:14 A verge is basically another term for an unpaved surface, so this warns of a soft shoulder that could crumble and cause your car to veer off.

[@michellegillam6632]

You did amazing! Well done, I'm going to have to go and check those yellow square, diamond etc. I've been ill and off the road for a while, so i will check those xXx

[@killernat1234]

The national speed limit sign can’t be a number because the national speed limit depends on the type of road, if it’s a road which doesn’t have a physical barrier separating both lanes of traffic then it is 60mph but if there is a barrier separating the traffic it is 70 mph

[@gtv_archangel]

The National Limit sign has a few uses: 1. It’s the speed limit (different depending on the type of road but essentially it’s 60mph, or 70 on a motorway) 2. Speed limit signs have to be placed at certain intervals, so a 50 road will have a 50 sign every so often, however a national limit sign means that there will be no more road signs until it ends. Saves the council money too, so most country roads will be national limit and if it’s tight it’s just assumed that you have enough common sense not to do 60 round a hairpin into a field of cows or a tree

[@aaronhall5796]

The cables warning sign would be in use where the cables are lower and there is a risk of lorries or buses etc clipping the cables. Used mostly where road works are being carried. The ice sign warns that the stretch of road is likely to have ice in cold weather. In some places the sign folds in half so it can’t be seen then opened up during colder weather. You’ll also see them on the traffic information led screens along the side of dual carriageway ways or motorway which will be activated in cold weather.

[@shaugi]

Double bend first to left means there are 2 bends in the road in close proximity to each other, the first bend is to the left. It's purpose is to warn drivers that there is a second bend coming shortly after the first. Our road bends can be very tight turns so 2 in succession can be a hazard. Zebra crossing are a pedestrian crossing where the traffic is required to stop to when a pedestrian is waiting to cross the carriageway, but there are no traffic lights to stop the traffic. Generally a lot of drivers don't stop. Soft verges means the edge of the road surface is soft and the vehicle will most likely sink in...so stay the hell on the road. You're pretty spot on with your dirt/grass idea! Hump bridges are over small bodies of water but have a high apex so steep up and down over a very short distance. The school crossing patrol(affectionately known as lollipop ladies cos they carry a lollipop shape pole with that sign on) wait for traffic to be relatively clear then pput that sign out into the road on a pole. the traffic MUST stop for the sign then the person holding it walks out into the road and stands stopping the traffic while the kids corss safely. As a driver you MUST NOT move the vehicle until the crossing guard has left the carriageway. You're pretty much spot on for the national speed limit. In areas with street lights this is 30mph unless signed otherwise. Single carriage ways are 60mph, dual carriageways are 70 mph and motorways are 70 mph. The white sign with black line is to tell drivers those speed limits apply as there are no other speed limit signs posted. The national speed limits are lower for certain vehicles, so truck drivers have lower national speeds. Ring roads circle urban areas with various exits to access different parts of a city. Almost like a freeway but in a ring around a town or city. So rather than drive through the centre of a city you can get on the ring road (usually with a higher speed limit) circle the outside of the city and leave it nearer to the destination you want. With flow means travelling the same direction as the traffic, contra flow means going the opposite direction. Diversion symbols are for any road closures. There will be a diversion sign with a symbol placed at the start of the closure to show the alternative route. Then along that route there will be further signs using the same symbol to show drivers which road and junctions to take to get back to the road they were diverted from. So at the closure there may be the yellow sign with black solid triangle pointing left at a junction. You then follow the identical signs that mark out the diversion to rejoin beyond the closure.

[@lmorgzy]

The National Speed Limit relates to the different roads you spoke about earlier. We have 'M' roads (motorway/highway), which are generally long, fairly straight stretches of road. 'A' roads, which usually go on for many miles, but generally have more hazzards/junctions/bends. And then 'B' roads, which are generally found in more rural/local areas. The road signs on motorways are blue, A roads are green, and B roads are white. Then we have what's classed as a 'built up area', these roads are defined by having street lights placed every so many metres along the path). There is a National Speed Limit on motorway and A roads [actually think rule is for single and dual carriages, but more commonly A roads are lol). Motorway/dual carriageway NSL is 70mph, A roads/single carriageway is 60mph. Built up areas you don't see the sign, but are generally 30mph.

[@simonhawksley817]

Also the national speed limit is different for differing types of vehicle on the same road. So on the M way cars and other vehicles are limited to 70mph but lorries (trucks) are limited to 56mph, so one sign can mean two, or more, different speeds apply!

[@lmorgzy]

@@simonhawksley817 definitely! NSL can vary depending on what vehicle you're driving. These speed limits I mentioned are for the standard car :)

[@jaycee330]

21:29 This one is tricky to explain to non-Europeans. Each type of road often has a defined "default" maximum speed, depending on vehicle type. For a passenger car, the National Speed Limits are: 30 in urban areas, or where street lights are present (even if they are turned off) - basically when entering a village, 60 on single carriageway roads (without a median), 70 on dual carriageway roads (with a median). Unless otherwise signed with a different speed limit, these are the default speeds. If you see that sign, that means that whatever overriding speed sign was in effect is cancelled, and NSL applies.