Watch the video: These signs are unknown to many – ADAC expert reveals how you can derive meaning.
Almost no other country has as many traffic signs as Germany. According to ADAC estimates, there are 20 to 25 million traffic signs. Some signs are only known to very few people and new ones are constantly being added.
For example, do you know what this sign means?
It doesn’t mean that only one car that can fit four people can park here.
The traffic sign points to a parking space reserved for car sharing vehicles. It is mainly found in large cities.
Or do you know this sign (with a black dot in a black circle)?
It indicates the center of cities. Although it was introduced in 2007, according to an ADAC survey, only a quarter of drivers know what it means.
Many road users are also not familiar with the red dot with a directional arrow. It marks a pre-established, large-scale demand diversion. For example, drivers can take the ideal route from a motorway exit to the next exit towards their destination.
The General German Automobile Club has been complaining about the sign forest in Germany for years. According to an ADAC pilot project, a third of all signs could be easily dismantled – and are therefore unnecessary.
But it’s not just signs that cause problems for German drivers. In a 2022 test, the ADAC found massive knowledge gaps among drivers.
Katharina Luca from ADAC explains where the biggest deficits exist.
Katharina Lucà:
In our knowledge test from last year, we asked ADAC members and drivers about 20 questions that also appear in the theory test and the driving license test. And the result was actually rather mixed. So not much actually stuck with some of the questions. For example, such basic things as the zipper process. Only a quarter of those surveyed were able to answer it correctly.
There were further gaps in knowledge when it came to questions about fine dust stickers, using the phone in the car and driving physics. As expected, new drivers had a knowledge advantage. But what can drivers do if their own theory test was years ago and they want to refresh their knowledge?
Katharina Luca: So if you are unsure about the traffic signs, there are of course websites like adac.de where you can read the signs. If you come across something in traffic that you don’t know, then if you know what it looks like you can usually look it up again at home and get more information. There are also these theory questions from driving license tests on many sites where you can test yourself a bit. Of course, there are also driving safety training courses where these things are practiced again with the signs if you as a driver have the feeling that you don’t know exactly what to do anymore.
If you know the basic rules of signs, drivers can often deduce a meaning.
Katharina Luca: So there are a few features by which you can recognize some signs.
For example, danger signs, which are triangles with the tip pointing upwards, white with a border, so you already know that.
Then there are so-called prohibition signs, which are round, white with a red border, which also makes it relatively clear that it is a ban.
And then there are mandatory signs that are round and blue.
And then there are directional signs that can actually look very different, be it detours or pointing out tourist highlights. There are things like that, for example.
And then there are two signs in German road traffic that are actually unique and that you always have to recognize as a driver, even if they are covered in snow, for example.
This is the stop sign, it’s octagonal, you can easily recognize it because of its shape. And then the give way sign, which is triangular and upside down.