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Three sign systems in worldwide use that are not variants of one another. The Vienna Convention encodes class in shape and colour and speaks in pictograms; the MUTCD uses shape and colour differently and leans on words; the Australian and Japanese systems each borrow selectively from both. Members name the system they describe and say where a driver crossing a border will misread a sign — the shape that means warning, the colour that means motorway, whether a stop sign is an octagon. Road surface markings are here too, and they carry rules the upright signs do not: the border of a hatched area rather than its stripes, the side of a double white line nearer the driver.
A red-bordered upward triangle carrying a hazard pictogram.
A red-ringed circle forbidding what its pictogram shows.
A solid blue circle instructing rather than forbidding.
A yellow diamond standing on a point, warning of a hazard.
A five-sided sign whose shape is reserved for schools.
Two crossed boards marking a level crossing.
A worded sign facing a driver who has entered against the flow.
A white horizontal bar on a red disc.
A struck-through U-shaped arrow forbidding a reversal.
A triangle with a sloping road and a gradient figure.
A triangle showing rocks tumbling down a slope.
A triangle showing the animal a driver is most likely to hit.
A triangle showing a car with skid marks behind it.
A triangle showing a windsock straining sideways.
A circle stating the maximum height that may pass.
A circle stating the maximum weight allowed.
A blue disc with a red cross, forbidding stopping.
A zigzag white line either side of a crossing.
A yellow cross-hatched square a driver may not stop in.
Diagonal stripes separating streams of traffic.
Paired centre lines whose rule depends on which side is solid.
A solid transverse bar a vehicle must not cross.
One or two yellow lines at the kerb restricting waiting.
An inverted red triangle bearing the word for stop.
A red disc with a white bar, matching international practice.
A yellow sign giving a recommended rather than legal speed.
A circle struck by diagonal bars, cancelling what went before.
The background colour that says which class of road you are on.
A shaped outline whose form identifies the road network.
An electronic panel displaying changeable text and pictograms.
A background colour reserved for roadworks and diversions.
Rows of raised domes warning of a crossing point.
A surface treatment removing the kerb between traffic and pedestrians.
A pictogram of a plate camera warning of enforcement.
A bicycle pictogram and a line defining a cycle lane.
A wide line and the word BUS reserving a lane.
Alternating red lamps and an amber preceding them.
Two opposed arrows saying who gives way in a narrow section.
A stop sign that swings out from a stopped school bus.
Markings and signs setting who gives way at a roundabout.
Repeated arrowheads guiding a driver round a curve.