A red octagon bearing the word STOP, requiring a driver to come to a complete halt.
Also known as: Halt sign, Octagon sign
The stop sign is the only road sign given an octagonal shape, so that it can be recognised by outline alone — from behind, in snow, or when the face is obscured. The Vienna Convention prescribes it; the United States, not a party to that treaty, arrived at the same octagon independently.
Requires a driver to stop completely at the stop line or, where none is marked, at the point where the road being entered can first be seen, and to give way before proceeding.
Contracting parties to the 1968 Vienna Convention · Contexts: Road signage
Is the only sign the Convention gives an octagonal outline, a shape reserved to it so the instruction survives a face that is dirty, snow-covered or seen from behind.
Contracting parties to the 1968 Vienna Convention · Contexts: Road signage
Carries the English word STOP in most countries regardless of the local language, one of the few road signs where a single word has become internationally standard.
Contexts: Road signage
Is used in the United States under the MUTCD rather than the Vienna Convention, which the United States has not ratified — the octagon and the word are the same, but the governing instrument is not.
United States · Contexts: Road signage
A regular eight-sided figure with a red face and a narrow white border, carrying the word STOP in white capital letters across its centre.
The two signs that govern priority at a junction, one absolute and one conditional.