Vehicles on Road Signs
First published: Monday November 28th, 2022
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Introduction
Although this is a sequel blog to my Animals on Road Signs blog I made in August (2022), it isn't the beginning of a series, unless you call two blogs a series, obviously. I was just thinking about what to write about next and decided to scroll through previous writings for inspiration. I also drove passed a sign with a helicopter on it the other day and it occurred to me that perhaps there were more modes of transport on signs as well as the obvious ones.
Since "Modes of Transport on Road Signs" was a little long for a title, in my opinion, I decided to use the word "vehicles" instead. I know that when someone mentions a vehicle we almost always think of a road vehicle, indeed Google's definition is "a thing used for transporting people or goods, especially on land", however, it also described a helicopter as a "flying vehicle". So, Vehicle it is then!
Cars
The humble car features on many signs around the world. Some prohibit, some allow, some warn. The designs vary from continent to continent, but like the animal signs there are two distinct types, the Triangular European style, and the diamond shape US style. There are also circular signs that prohibit.
There are various design differences in the pictures on the signs as well, and the reasons are sometimes not just on a whim of the guy (or gal) with the crayons in the design department.
Take these two examples of the same warning sign. The portrayal of the cars is different, but the stones are on a different side of the car. This reflects the fact that in the UK, we drive on the left. The image is of a car coming towards us as we would see it from the driver's seat.
Some other signs featuring cars, are more of a warning, most are very specific warnings or prohibitions.
As we can see, cars feature on many different road signs. The designs of the vehicles are all slightly different, maybe this reflects the countries car industry, although they don't appear to be specific models, rather just a designers view of what a car looks like. The UK image, in my opinion, looks like a 1950's Ford Anglia 100E, but maybe that's just me. What do you think? Here's a comparison...
Very similar I think, I wonder if the designer of the road sign drove one of these, And I wonder if any other countries designs reflect one of their most popular cars.
Anyway, we shall move on to other vehicles....
Commercial Vehicles
The main two signs, see above, prohibit larger vehicles from entering, however, there are exceptions. In the UK, this sign is sometimes shown beneath the prohibition sign. This is often found around residential areas near to main carriageways to deter large vehicles from driving through housing estates. Other countries have similar signs in local languages.
A few examples of other commercial road vehicles are as follows...
Other Road Vehicles
Non-Road Vehicles
Strangely vehicles that do not use the roads are also featured on road signs. These are almost exclusively warning signs and are used near to places where there may be an incidence of encountering these modes of transport. Once again, the designs vary according to country so please don't think these are the only signs, they are just an example.
Summary
I have tried to show examples of different forms of transport on different signs from around the world. No doubt I have missed many local variations. Below this summary I will have an "Updates" section where I can add pictures of signs I happen upon, similar to the section at the end of the "Animals" blog.
Once again, if you have found an interesting sign in your country and there is a photo of it online please leave a comment and include a link if you can and I will add it to the blog. Obviously, I need to consider copyright, but I should be able to add it with an attribution.
Hopefully, you have enjoyed reading this short blog and I look forward to your comments.
Anyway, like last time I found some other signs that you might want to include.
In the Indian subcontinent, we have bullock cart signs. Here's one from Bangladesh prohibiting those:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Bangladesh_road_sign_A7.svg/800px-Bangladesh_road_sign_A7.svg.png
Oh and this is how "our" rickshaws look like: (it's also from Bangladesh but common across all of South Asia)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Bangladesh_road_sign_B40.svg/800px-Bangladesh_road_sign_B40.svg.png
And since you've included flying vehicles, here's a sign of a water vehicle:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Japan_ferry_sign.png
Ferry sign from Japan
I have one more idea for a road sign blog, but it may not come to fruition. It is just a figment of my imagination at the moment, I will need to do a bit more research to see if it is worthwhile.
I know you're a trucker; have you ever seen any of these odd road signs?