2012 More imortant signs
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 11:18 am
This next one’s important, and it applies all over Europe. It can cause more trouble than you might think, especially for American drivers, who aren’t used to it.
You’ll usually see this sign along major highways. It means you are on a “priority” road, i.e., you don’t have to yield to traffic that is intersecting your road; instead, if the intersection is not controlled by a traffic light or a sign of some sort, you can drive through the intersection as if the other vehicles did have a stop sign.
And, after you’ve been driving in Europe and seen lots of black diagonal slashes on signs, you know that this one
means you are on a “non-priority” road. Usually, you’ll see it on a highway that formerly had had priority status but has had that status suspended in a built-up area.
So what’s the big deal about non-priority roads? It’s this: when you’re on a non-priority road you are required to yield the right-of-way to any traffic entering your road from your righthand side.
The point of this practice, I’m told, is to reduce the speed of all traffic in a built-up area by making all drivers, regardless of the nature of the road they’re on, come to a stop when a vehicle approaches from their right (again, intersections controlled by traffic lights or some other signage are an exception).
One problem with this practice is that the poor driver--usually American--busily trying to cope with city traffic, pedestrians at crosswalks, signage in a foreign language, traffic signals in unfamiliar locations at intersections, etc., now has yet another thing to notice and keep track of: “Now I’m non-priority . . . OK, now I’m priority again . . . [crash] . . . oops, I guess I missed that last non-priority notice. . . .”
Another problem is that the whole system depends on every driver at an intersection knowing the “priority” status of every other driver’s roadway. If I’m on a non-priority road when I approach an intersection, my success at avoiding a collision may depend on whether I know the “priority” status of the guy approaching the intersection from my left: if (I know) the other road has priority, I yield; if (I know) it does not, I don’t; but (here’s the kicker) if I think I know but I’m wrong, there’s a 50-50 chance I’ll be pulling into the intersection in front of a driver who wasn’t planning to stop.
Happy motoring.
- IMG_5707.jpg (246.19 KiB) Viewed 3159 times
And, after you’ve been driving in Europe and seen lots of black diagonal slashes on signs, you know that this one
means you are on a “non-priority” road. Usually, you’ll see it on a highway that formerly had had priority status but has had that status suspended in a built-up area.
- IMG_5708.JPG (145.32 KiB) Viewed 3159 times
The point of this practice, I’m told, is to reduce the speed of all traffic in a built-up area by making all drivers, regardless of the nature of the road they’re on, come to a stop when a vehicle approaches from their right (again, intersections controlled by traffic lights or some other signage are an exception).
One problem with this practice is that the poor driver--usually American--busily trying to cope with city traffic, pedestrians at crosswalks, signage in a foreign language, traffic signals in unfamiliar locations at intersections, etc., now has yet another thing to notice and keep track of: “Now I’m non-priority . . . OK, now I’m priority again . . . [crash] . . . oops, I guess I missed that last non-priority notice. . . .”
Another problem is that the whole system depends on every driver at an intersection knowing the “priority” status of every other driver’s roadway. If I’m on a non-priority road when I approach an intersection, my success at avoiding a collision may depend on whether I know the “priority” status of the guy approaching the intersection from my left: if (I know) the other road has priority, I yield; if (I know) it does not, I don’t; but (here’s the kicker) if I think I know but I’m wrong, there’s a 50-50 chance I’ll be pulling into the intersection in front of a driver who wasn’t planning to stop.
Happy motoring.