Vienna Convention on Road Signs

The 1968 completed Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals , only officially Convention on Road Signs (Swiss Convention on Road Signs and Signals written English Convention on Road Signs and Signals , French Convention sur la signalisation routière ), an international is agreement with the objective of the traffic signs for the road internationally unify.

history

With the steadily growing number of vehicles and the increase in international trade and travel on European roads, transnational regulations to secure road traffic had to be made very early on. Therefore, that was in 1909 Paris Convention on motor vehicle traffic , 1926, the Paris Convention on Road Traffic and 1931 on the harmonization of road signs Geneva Conventions / way characters were written, and then 1949, the Geneva Protocol on Road Signs / road signalization .

With a few resolutions from 1963 onwards, it was decided to revise the convention for the purpose of further standardization. The Vienna negotiations were therefore based on previous conferences. Some of the early Conventions remained in force after the 1968 decision.

The current convention was rewritten by the UN conference in Vienna from October 7th to November 8th, 1968 , and adopted with resolution 1129 (XLI).

The conference also adopted the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic .

Acceding countries

Convention signed

Convention acceded, implemented or ratified

SADC Convention

SIECA Convention

The convention has so far been ratified by 67 countries (as of December 2019) .

The United States, Australia and the People's Republic of China, among others, have not signed the agreement.

National

The Federal Republic of Germany adopted the Convention in 1977 ( Law on the Conventions on Road Traffic and Road Traffic Signs , of September 21, 1977). A complete revision of the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO) was worked on as early as 1969 and this was passed in 1970. The traffic signs contained in these regulations were already based on the resolutions of the Vienna Convention. On March 1, 1971, the first completely new federal road traffic regulations since 1937 came into force.

Austria adopted the Convention in 1982 (instrument of ratification deposited in 1981, in force on August 11, 1982), Switzerland in 1992 (approved by the Federal Assembly in 1978, instrument of ratification deposited in 1991, in force on December 11, 1992).

Changes and additional protocols

The further development of the convention takes place under the umbrella of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations (UNECE) by the WP.1 working group of the Inland Transport Committee and led to two revisions by 2006 - 1995 and 2006. Current versions of these conventions are available on the UNECE website .

As early as 1968, the European Community drew up the European Supplementary Convention to the Convention on Traffic Signs , which was opened for signature in Vienna on November 8, 1968.

content

This facilitates cross-border traffic and improves road safety . The standardized pictograms made it easier to understand and understand road signs internationally. In addition to traffic signs were also traffic signals and road markings standardized.

Traffic signs

In Article 2 of the Convention, all traffic signs are divided into 8 categories:

• A: Danger signs
• B: Right of way sign
• C: Prohibition sign
• D: mandatory sign
• E: special characters
• Q: Information, facility, or service marks
• G: Signpost
• H: additional character

category	shape	Base color	Frame color	size	Pictogram color	Examples
Danger sign	Equilateral triangle	white or yellow	red	0.9 m / 0.6 m	black or dark blue
	diamond	yellow	black	0.6 m / 0.4 m	black or dark blue
Right of way sign
Give way	Inverted equilateral triangle	white or yellow	red	0.9 m / 0.6 m	-
Stop sign	octagon	red	White	0.9 m / 0.6 m	"Stop" † in white
	Round with triangle inside	white or yellow	red	0.9 m / 0.6 m	"Stop" † in black or dark blue
Right of way	diamond	White	black	0.5 m / 0.35 m	yellow or orange
End of the priority road	diamond	White	black	0.5 m / 0.35 m	yellow or orange with black or gray transverse lines
Give oncoming traffic right of way	Round	white or yellow	red	-	black and red arrow
Right of way over oncoming traffic	rectangle	blue	-	-	white and red arrow
Prohibition sign
default	Round	white or yellow	red	0.6 m / 0.4 m	black or dark blue
No parking	Round	blue	red	0.6 m / 0.2 m	-
	Round	white or yellow	red	0.6 m / 0.2 m
No stopping	Round	blue	red	0.6 m / 0.4 m	-
End of prohibition	Round	white or yellow	-	0.6 m / 0.4 m	black or gray cross lines
Mandatory sign
default	Round	blue	-, White	0.6 m / 0.4 m / 0.3 m	White
	Round	white or yellow	red	0.6 m / 0.4 m / 0.3 m	black or dark blue
special character
All	rectangle	blue	-	-	White
		Bright	-	-	black
Information, facility or service marks
All	-	blue or green	-	-	white or yellow
signpost
Information sign	Rectangle, partly with arrowhead	bright	-	-	dark
		dark	-	-	bright
Highways	rectangle	blue or green	-	-	White
Temporary characters	rectangle	yellow or orange	-	-	black
Additional characters
All	-	white, blue or yellow	black, blue or red	-	black or dark blue
		black, red or dark blue	white, blue or yellow	-	white, blue or yellow
category	shape	Base color	Frame color	size	Pictogram color	Examples

^† In English or national language

All signs must be retroreflective .

Road marking

All road markings must be less than 6mm high and reflective. They have to be white or yellow.

Traffic lights

Type	shape	colour		position	meaning
Steady light			green	At an intersection	Drive
			yellow	At an intersection	Hold if possible
			red	At an intersection	Hold
			Red and yellow	At an intersection	Hold, distant signal for green
	arrow		green	At an intersection	Only traffic in the indicated direction is allowed to drive
	Down arrow		green	Above the lane	Track free
	cross		red	Above the lane	Track locked
	Arrow to the side		yellow or white	Above the lane	Change lane
Blinking			Alternating red	At an intersection, a railroad crossing, etc.	stop
			White	At an intersection	Drive
			yellow	At a dangerous spot	Attention
			yellow	At an intersection	Right of way is regulated by signs

At a traffic light , red lights must be placed either on top (if vertical) or on the side facing oncoming traffic (if horizontal).

See also

• Comparison of European traffic signs
• International driving licence
• Vienna Convention on Road Traffic

Legal sources

• United Nations Conference on Road Traffic. Final Act. Five-language version: English, French, Chinese, Russian, Spanish (in theUN Treaty collection→ Chapter XI: Transport and Communications →B. Road Traffic→ 20; pdf; with final declaration; text of the convention there p. 4 ff, the first 3 pages [Art. 1] are missing).
• Road Traffic and Road Signs and Signals Agreements and Conventions. unece.org, point 10 - various consolidated versions from 2006 and 1993 in several languages ​​(there also other legal sources).

National versions:

• Germany: BGBl. 1977 II p. 893 (text in three languages; pdf, there p. 85).
• Austria: Federal Law Gazette 291/1982 (StF; idgF online, ris.bka ; various images only in pdf) - with an overview of the reservations and explanations (also Germany, beginning and end of the document).
• Switzerland SR 0.741.20 (as amended online, admin.ch ).

European Additional Convention:

• Road Traffic and Road Signs and Signals Agreements and Conventions. unece.org, point 12 - English / French, Russian
• Germany: BGBl. 1977 II p. 1006 (pdf, there p. 198).
• Austria: BGBl. 292/1982 (StF; idgF online, ris.bka).
• Switzerland SR 0.741.201 (as amended online, admin.ch).

UN Protocol 1949:

• Text in English / French / Spanish (unece.org, pdf; via the website given above; there also the European Additional Convention of 1950 and the 1957 Convention; points 14 and 15).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Herwig Hauenschild: Road traffic and distribution of competencies. (= Dissertations from the University of Vienna 89); WUV Universitätsverlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85114-741-3 . Pp. 235-236.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Source Final Act , p. 1, text of Resolution 1129 (XLI) - quote: “ need to be amended and amplified in order to facilitate road traffic. ”
3. ↑ ^{a b} Status (current list of participating states with signature and ratification date) of the 20th Convention on Convention on Road Signs and Signals; in the UN Treaty collection, UNTC (last accessed on December 9, 2019).
4. ↑ Bundesgesetzblatt 108, 1, Bonn, December 5, 1970, pp. 1565-1612.