Crossbuck

Two crossed boards marking a level crossing.

Also known as: Railway crossing X, Grade crossing sign

Road & transportStandard profile

Meanings

The crossbuck is two long boards crossed in an X at a railway crossing, and in the United States it has the legal force of a yield sign. Its shape is unique in the sign system, which is deliberate: it must be recognisable in fog and at night.

Officially standardisedVerified fact
Marks a railway level crossing, drawn as two long boards crossed diagonally.
Contexts: Road signage
Officially standardisedVerified fact
Carries the legal force of a yield sign in United States practice, requiring a driver to give way to a train rather than merely warning of the crossing.
Contexts: Road signage
Officially standardisedVerified fact
Uses a shape found nowhere else in the sign system so that it is identifiable in poor visibility.
Contexts: Road signage

Visual description

Two long narrow boards crossed near their centres to form a diagonal cross, with letters along each board.

Symmetry: point
Orientation: upright
Colours: white, black

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Historical originModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree, but early or supporting evidence is limited, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.

Sources

Convention on Road Signs and Signals (Vienna, 8 November 1968), consolidated text
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe · retrieved 2026-07-31
A treaty binding only on its contracting parties. It prescribes sign categories, shapes and colours and permits national variants within them; it does not describe the signage of non-signatory states, notably the United States. Cited for category and design prescription, never for the traffic law of a particular country.
Comparison of European road signs
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-23
Tertiary reference, cited for the conventional description of a mark, its usual name and where it is encountered. Where an issuing body defines the mark, that body is cited alongside and governs.
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what a sign depicts, which countries use which variant, and the broad regulatory lineage — not for an article number of the treaty or for the law of any single jurisdiction.
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways
Federal Highway Administration · retrieved 2026-08-23
The United States traffic sign standard, published openly. The MUTCD's word-led signs are a deliberate departure from the pictogram-led Vienna Convention used across Europe, and the records say which system they describe.

Last reviewed 2026-08-23

Part of

Road signs across national systems

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Meanings

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Marks a railway level crossing, drawn as two long boards crossed diagonally.

Contexts: Road signage

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Carries the legal force of a yield sign in United States practice, requiring a driver to give way to a train rather than merely warning of the crossing.

Contexts: Road signage

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Uses a shape found nowhere else in the sign system so that it is identifiable in poor visibility.

Contexts: Road signage

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Historical originModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree, but early or supporting evidence is limited, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.

Sources

Convention on Road Signs and Signals (Vienna, 8 November 1968), consolidated text
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe · retrieved 2026-07-31
A treaty binding only on its contracting parties. It prescribes sign categories, shapes and colours and permits national variants within them; it does not describe the signage of non-signatory states, notably the United States. Cited for category and design prescription, never for the traffic law of a particular country.
Comparison of European road signs
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-23
Tertiary reference, cited for the conventional description of a mark, its usual name and where it is encountered. Where an issuing body defines the mark, that body is cited alongside and governs.
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what a sign depicts, which countries use which variant, and the broad regulatory lineage — not for an article number of the treaty or for the law of any single jurisdiction.
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways
Federal Highway Administration · retrieved 2026-08-23
The United States traffic sign standard, published openly. The MUTCD's word-led signs are a deliberate departure from the pictogram-led Vienna Convention used across Europe, and the records say which system they describe.

Last reviewed 2026-08-23