Place-name sign (Germany)

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Sign 310
place-name sign (front),
example of the road traffic regulations; "Entrance" Wilster
Sign 311
place-name sign (back),
example sign of the road traffic regulations "exit" Wilster, direction Schotten (distance: 6 km)

The place-name sign (colloquially also place-name sign ) in Germany denotes the beginning or the end of a place and is usually set up on incoming and outgoing streets in the local area . On the one hand, place-name signs provide information about the place name, and as traffic signs they are an essential part of road traffic law , for example for the start of speed restrictions within a built-up area. Accordingly, the back of the place-name sign is an indication that the restrictions should be lifted again. The maintenance burden for a street often begins and ends at the exit sign.

Character types

Place-name signs

The signs, which were uniformly regulated throughout Germany for the first time with the Reich Road Traffic Regulations of May 28, 1934, are now traffic signs 310 and 311 according to Appendix 3 to Section 42 Paragraph 2 StVO undeveloped land the closed development begins or ends on one of the two sides of the street.

In addition to the name of the village, place-name signs also indicate administrative affiliations such as the municipality name and the district . They mark the beginning of the built -up area . Often city names on place-name signs are given an additional designation for the city such as district town , large district town , university town , state capital or, in the case of Bonn, federal city .

The exit signs in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) have been divided into two fields since 1976 . The lower field on a yellow background indicates the place that is just ending. This is crossed out with a red, diagonal line. Above it is also highlighted in yellow, the next place with a distance in kilometers. Since 1992 there has been an additional variant of the exit sign. The next place is announced in a white box. These boards are set up if the place you have just passed through belongs to the same municipality as the next.

The typographic design is based on the font family defined by DIN 1451 , the current version of which was announced in 1980 in the Verkehrsblatt and published in 1981.

The dimensions of the place-name signs are standardized. Basically two sizes are allowed: 900 × 600 millimeters and 1200 × 850 millimeters. As a rule, the smaller versions are used for reasons of cost and because they are less susceptible to wind, the larger ones are installed at motorway exits, for example. Place signs are not necessarily at the town limits; they should be set up at the beginning or end of the built-up area. Despite their local character, some places are not marked as urban areas.

The modern type of German place-name signs have changed their typographical specifications, their size, design and color several times in the course of their history. However, since the basic principle of their appearance has been retained throughout, the recognition value has grown steadily over generations. Until the 1960s, the boards were still often made by sign painters and, despite clear legal requirements, often showed various deviations. This only changed with the ever faster modern production processes. With the beginning of the use of computer technology for the production of traffic signs in the 1970s, a standardization that had never been achieved before was achieved.

  • Development of place-name signs in the German Empire

  • In 1912 automobile clubs like the ADAC started putting up place-name signs on their own initiative

  • Place name sign in the 1920s and early 1930s

  • Image d 1
    place-name sign (front) - the example place-name sign from 1934 standardized to 1000 x 650 millimeters

  • Image d 2
    Place-name sign (back) - example sign from 1934, direction Herford (distance: 11 km), including the long-distance road numbers

In the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the appearance of the place-name signs with slightly different colors and lettering developed optically almost parallel to the West German style, even if these innovations were only introduced a few years after the relevant ordinances in the Federal Republic of Germany. Even after the introduction of the West German Road Traffic Regulations in 1971 , which for the first time made further changes to the previous appearance, the East German signs retained their appearance, which was prescribed in 1964, until 1977. The same can be observed after the introduction of the FRG amendment of 1956 , when a modernized form of the place name sign with rounded corners was arranged for the first time in West Germany.

In the German Democratic Republic, those responsible only took the same step with the Road Traffic Regulations of 1964 . The TGL standards ( technical standards, quality regulations and delivery conditions ) established in the GDR , which became effective in the traffic signs sector especially from the 1960s and were intended to replace the DIN standards, were subject to much more frequent changes than the corresponding DIN standards in the West . In particular, the sometimes relatively rapid change in the visual appearance of some important traffic signs and the rapid change in the TGL standard fonts often caused a wide gap between demands and reality in the street scene. Only with the GDR-StVO introduced in 1978 in which the standard font was changed again, a far-reaching standardization could be achieved, especially with the place-name signs, by 1990.

  • Development of place-name signs in the FRG

  • 37
    StVO 1953 (front side)

  • 38
    StVO 1953 (back)

  • 37
    StVO 1956 (front side)

  • 38
    StVO 1956 (back)

  • Sign 310
    StVO 1970 (from 1971), front side

  • Sign 311
    StVO 1970 (from 1971), back

  • Sign 311
    StVO 1976 (back)

  • Sign 311A
    StVO 1976 (back)

  • Sign 311-51
    StVO 1982 (back); since 2017 no longer part of the traffic sign catalog

  • Development of place-name signs in the GDR

  • 53
    StVO 1956 (front)

  • Fig. 53 a
    StVO 1956 (back)

  • 53
    StVO 1964 (front side)

  • Fig. 53 a
    StVO 1964 (back)

  • 53
    StVO 1971 (front)

  • Fig. 53 a
    StVO 1971 (back)

  • Fig. 314
    StVO 1977 (from 1978), (front)

  • 315
    StVO 1977 (from 1978), (back)

  • Current place-name signs with unusual content

  • Heiligenstedtenerkamp, the place-name sign with the longest connected name in Germany

  • Ilmenau , entrance from the direction of Neustadt

  • Federal city of Bonn , district of Bad Godesberg

  • Content-rich place-name sign in Boltenhagen

  • Gera (as a strong contrast to Boltenhagen)

  • Gescher town sign with the addition Glockenstadt

  • Illuminated place-name sign of Ehingen (Danube)

  • Special place-name sign with political message, Marl

  • Reference to the art exhibition in Kassel

  • Temporary plaque in Großenhain after a theft

  • The Mönchhof belongs to two cities: Raunheim and Kelsterbach

  • Place-name sign with reference to the institute with secondary location reference

  • End of town with street as the immediate destination

  • Place-name sign without text

  • Improper use in a parking lot

Bilingual signposted place-name signs

In some parts of the country the signs are bilingual, in German and

With the TGL 10629, which became binding on January 1, 1968 , bilingual place-name signs for the regions inhabited by minorities were anchored in the road traffic regulations of the GDR.

In Schleswig-Holstein the use of bilingual boards was decreed on June 12, 2007. Multilingualism was favored by the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages of 1992. The place name in the minority language is usually set smaller in Germany. In Brandenburg , both names have to be given in the same font size since 2014, in Saxony since 2019.

Location information boards and district boards

Sign 385
signpost
Sign 313-50
one-line town district sign , no longer part of the traffic sign catalog since 2017

Location signs (sign 385 according to Annex 3 to Section 42 Paragraph 2 StVO) have been green traffic signs with yellow letters and a yellow border since the road traffic regulations that were announced in 1970 came into force . They serve as a guideline for information about the names of localities that do not represent closed localities in the area of ​​a thoroughfare in the sense of the road traffic regulations. Signposts are also bilingual in the corresponding regions.

In addition to these place information boards, separate boards were provided for the identification of individual districts until 2017, which provided information in black letters and with a black frame.

Traffic rules

Special traffic rules apply within a built-up area. Some examples are not exhaustive:

  • Speed ​​limit to 50 km / h for all vehicles (see § 3 Paragraph 3 No. 1 StVO). In addition to sign 274 Sign 274-56 - permissible maximum speed, StVO 1992.svg, higher maximum speeds are permitted ( Section 41 Annex 2 StVO ).
  • Free choice of lanes for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of up to 3.5 t on lanes with more than one marked lane in the relevant direction, except on motorways. The right driving is so far removed, can be driven faster than the left to the right lane (see § 7 para. 3 StVO).
  • No parking 5 m in front of a St. Andrew's cross (sign 201 Sign 201 - St. Andrew's Cross - Give priority to rail traffic! StVO 1970.svg) (see § 41 Annex 2 StVO); in contrast outside built-up areas 50 m.
  • Prohibition of regular parking with trucks over 7.5 t gross vehicle weight in pure and general residential areas as well as spa and clinic areas (see parking ban regulation , § 12 para. 3a StVO).
  • When parking in the dark, parking lights are sufficient (see Section 17 (4) of the StVO).
  • The intention to overtake must not be announced by horn or headlight flasher (see Section 16 (1) StVO).
  • No parking is prohibited on priority roads (sign 306 Sign 306 - priority road, StVO 1970.svg) ( Section 42 Annex 3 StVO ).

See also

Web links

Commons : place-name signs  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Place name sign  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Font for road traffic according to DIN 1451 . In: Verkehrsblatt 1980, No. 124, p. 400.
  2. ↑ Font for road traffic according to DIN 1451 . In: Verkehrsblatt 1981, No. 238, p. 448.
  3. ↑ TGL 10 629, sheet 3, group 717: Control systems for road traffic - traffic signs - symbols, color, font from April 1967