Traffic sign (Germany)

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Traffic signs influence and regulate traffic on roads.
Historic traffic sign for deer crossing on the Reichsautobahn Berlin-Stettin (today's A 11)

Traffic signs ( VZ for short ) are part of the road equipment and serve to regulate traffic . They are ordered by the authorities - by means of a general order as a special case of an administrative act  - and the road user is responsible for observing them. In the case of work that affects public road traffic, the signage is based on a traffic law order .

All official traffic signs are listed in the traffic sign catalog ( VzKat for short ). They can be assigned to different groups based on their function. The German road traffic regulations define three groups of traffic signs in section 39 (2) sentence 2 StVO:

In addition, there is a regulating effect through traffic facilities according to § 43 StVO (e.g. barriers and parking meters ), which are not traffic signs.

The numerous additional signs that are also traffic signs in accordance with Section 39 Paragraph 3 Sentence 1 StVO and are listed in Section 39 Paragraph 7 StVO do not have their own group in the regulation . These are used in conjunction with the characters mentioned above. They serve to restrict regulations (“in case of snowfall”, “except towing vehicles”), to specify unusual distances (“in 40 m”) or to justify an order (“attention ruts ”).

history

Warning sign "curve" with advertising of an automobile club

The first traffic signs in Germany were warning signs at level crossings, which were prescribed by the Reich law in 1877. At the beginning of the 20th century, automobile and bicycle associations put up warning signs. The first signs were purely text panels, but they were soon supplemented by signs and different colors of signs. In 1906, a cartel under the leadership of the Imperial Automobile Club decided to introduce seven warning signs: curve (right and left), double curve, depression, hump, level crossing and road intersection. The 47 cm by 57 cm panels had white symbols on a black background. It still took some time before the warning signs were actually put up. Only with the order of July 16, 1908, regarding automobile traffic on roads , for example, did the Prussian Ministerial Gazette issue a statutory order that officially approved the list. An international conference of automobile clubs in Paris in 1909 discussed an internationally valid regulation at which the first traffic signs and traffic rules were put down in writing. The recommendations were ratified by the states in October 1909 and published in the German Reich Law Gazette in April 1910 . These first official traffic signs , introduced in 1910, were known as "warning signs", and their use was primarily intended for danger spots outside of built-up areas. There are four circular traffic signs with a blue background color and white text or symbol color. With the help of these traffic signs, motorized road users could be made aware of sharp bends, uneven ground, intersections and level crossings. It was not until 1927 that these warning signs were replaced by new traffic signs. The automobile clubs, whose names also appeared on the signs, initially continued to set up the signs. Since the first cast-iron signs were melted down during the World War, enamel signs were erected as replacements , which were made possible with donations from the automobile and oil industries. In return, they were allowed to advertise on the signs. It was only with the amendment of the law on traffic with motor vehicles in 1923 that the erection of signs became a public task.

Legal nature

General

While danger signs according to § 40 StVO and directional signs according to § 42 StVO only contain information, but do not directly prescribe or prohibit a certain behavior, regulation signs to be arranged according to § 45 StVO, i.e. traffic signs according to § 41 StVO, are generally used as administrative acts in the form of general decrees ( Section 35 sentence 2 alternative 2 VwVfG ) is viewed as having permanent effect. These are administrative acts that are aimed at a group of people who are determined or determinable according to general characteristics or which concern the public law property of a thing or its use by the general public. They are seen as a substitute for appropriate traffic regulations by law enforcement officers. This is supported by the systematic status of § 36 StVO (signs and instructions from police officers) in Section II of the StVO (= signs and traffic facilities §§ 36–43 StVO). Therefore, arranged traffic signs are immediately executable for the respective road user when they are announced, i.e. H. an objection or an action for rescission against the arrangement of a traffic sign would have no suspensive effect (arg. from the wording of the law in Section 80 (2) No. 2 VwGO ). It makes sense to accept the arrangement of traffic signs as a general decree in relation to the use of an object under road traffic law, namely the use of the public road by the general public.

Announcement

Complete closure of the Deutz swing bridge , also for pedestrians and cyclists, during bridge work (2020)

The traffic sign is announced through the installation according to the rules of the StVO, which are regarded as special provisions compared to § 41 VwVfG and take precedence over this ( §§ 36 ff. StVO, in particular § 39 and § 45 StVO).

When the traffic sign is set up, it is considered announced to all road users. With the announcement, the traffic sign becomes equally effective for all road users ( § 43 VwVfG). According to court rulings from the 1990s, this applies even to those who had no actual opportunity to actually take notice.

In fact, it only depends on whether a road user had the purely theoretical possibility of knowing; In this respect, the Federal Administrative Court has modified its earlier position on the so-called visibility principle. This is particularly important for owners of motor vehicles who are responsible for the condition (liability for the condition of a thing, in this case for the fact that a car is prohibited from stopping and is therefore parked improperly) for moving or towing the vehicle Cash asked ". This can now “blossom” for you even if the vehicle was already there before the traffic sign was set up, or if you did not drive the vehicle at all and the car was parked illegally by a third party.

A distinction must be made between the time of the announcement and the beginning of the contestation period. Since traffic signs are not provided with instructions on legal remedies , the one-year period of contestation begins as soon as the road user is first affected by the order expressed by the traffic sign (so-called addressee theory). This beginning of the period was controversial for a long time, but has been clarified with the rulings of the Federal Administrative Court of September 23, 2010.

An accumulation of traffic signs can be confusing. ⊙

effectiveness

Since the arrangement of regulation signs are administrative acts, § 43 VwVfG apply to their legal effectiveness.

Accordingly, they can be limited in time or subject to conditions. Before the start of the period or after it has expired and before the condition occurs or no longer applies, traffic signs are not arranged and they cannot be violated, even if the traffic signs are already / still present.

The fiction of announcing traffic signs to all road users on the basis of the theoretical possibility of being aware of them would be exaggerated if one saw road users obliged to orient themselves to traffic signs that can no longer be perceived by reasonable means. In practice, in these cases (while maintaining the dogmatics that the validity of the traffic sign continues even if it can no longer be recognized or if it has been illegally removed), an administrative review of the admissibility of the cost notice issued in connection with the violation for towing or moving the vehicle. Such a decision may only be issued if the official act (i.e. towing, moving, etc.) was lawful. This in turn presupposes the actual perceptibility of traffic signs.

Criticism of the "forest of signs"

Forest of signs: signs twice on the same mast, unclear assignment ⊙

In Germany, critics complain that there are unnecessary traffic signs that only reflect the rules that apply anyway, and that traffic can flow better and more safely without traffic signs. This accumulation of traffic signs , generally referred to as a forest of signs, is overwhelming for road users.

The ADAC estimates that at least a third of the traffic signs are superfluous. For this reason there was already 1997 the campaign "(K) ein Schild in Selm" of the ADAC in the city of Selm , during which 600 of 1,100 signs were covered for a week. After the action, 43% of the traffic signs in Selm were removed.

In order to curb the forest of signs, the 1997 amendment to Section 45 (9) of the StVO was created. It only allows restrictions on flowing traffic to be imposed in the event of a hazard situation that is considerably higher than the general risk. There is no exact formula for this. Legal comments speak of an accident rate that must be 30% above that of a comparable route in order for a traffic restriction to be ordered. The decisions of the administrative courts do not show a clear line.

Distraction from information signs

Numerous municipalities in several European countries provide an example of how a traffic flow can work without traffic signs . A large part of the traffic signs were removed there in accordance with the principle of shared space . The results are consistently satisfactory; a particular accumulation of accidents could not be determined.

Commons : Schilderwald  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

See also

Web links

Commons : Traffic signs in Germany  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: traffic signs  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Schnippering: From the warning sign to the road traffic sign. In: Die Museums-Eisenbahn, issue 2/2013, p. 30.
  2. ^ Order of July 16, 1908, regarding automobile traffic on roads . In: Ministerial-Blatt for the entire internal administration in the royal Prussian states , 69, 1908, pp. 167–168.
  3. ^ University of Freiburg on history ( Memento from May 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ History of traffic signs
  5. ↑ License plate museum on traffic signs ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zahlenschildmuseum.de
  6. ↑ Michael Schnippering: From the warning sign to the road traffic sign. In: Die Museums-Eisenbahn, issue 2/2013, p. 31.
  7. ↑ BVerwGE 102, 316 [318]; 92, 32
  8. ↑ See StBS 241 ff.
  9. ↑ BVerwG in JZ 1997, 780; VGH Kassel in NJW 1999, 2057; OVG Hamburg in NordÖR 2004, 399
  10. ↑ BVerwGE 97, 214; 59, 221 [227]; 27, 181 [184], also VGH Mannheim NJW 1991, 1698
  11. ↑ cf. VGH Kassel NJW 1997, 1023; OVG Münster NVwZ-RR 1996, 59; OVG Hamburg NordÖR 2004, 399
  12. ↑ Press release of the Federal Administrative Court of September 23, 2010
  13. ↑ BVerwGE 102, 316 ff.
  14. ↑ Ute Eberle: Danger is good . In: ZeitWissen . No. 05/2005, ZDB -ID 2182663-8 ( full text online ( memento from March 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive )).
  15. ↑ ADAC contribution on the subject of sign forest ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.adac.de
  16. ↑ Dietmar Kettler: § 45 IX StVO ─ an overlooked paragraph? , New Journal for Traffic Law (NZV), 2002, pages 57-65