Wrong way sign

A worded sign facing a driver who has entered against the flow.

Also known as: Wrong direction sign

Road & transportStandard profile

Meanings

A wrong-way sign faces only the driver travelling against the traffic, so a correctly travelling driver never sees it. That one-directional visibility is the whole design, and it is paired with a do-not-enter sign at the entrance.

Officially standardisedVerified fact
Is invisible to correctly travelling traffic by design, which is why seeing one is itself the alarm.
Contexts: Road signage
Officially standardisedVerified fact
Warns a driver who has entered a carriageway against the direction of travel, faced only towards the wrong-way approach.
Contexts: Road signage

Visual description

A rectangle standing taller than it is wide, filled red with two words in white capital letters.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright
Colours: red, white

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

Is invisible to correctly travelling traffic by design, which is why seeing one is itself the alarm.

Contexts: Road signage

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Warns a driver who has entered a carriageway against the direction of travel, faced only towards the wrong-way approach.

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