Traffic Signs, Signals & Directions

Round blue with arrows: mandatory direction of travel

Square signs are friendly, triangular signs say "watch out", and round signs are the strict signs. If you see a round blue sign with white arrows, that means: mandatory direction of travel. You must follow the direction of the arrows and you may not go any other way.

This sign means something different from the square one-way sign. With the round sign, you can expect oncoming traffic. A mandatory direction of travel is simply a road with traffic in two directions.

Memory aid: a round sign looks like the letter "O" — Oncoming traffic can come from everywhere. So you must expect vehicles from all directions.

On the left the round sign D4: mandatory direction of travel straight ahead, oncoming traffic possible. On the right the square sign C3: one-way street, no oncoming traffic.

Arrows pointing diagonally to the bottom right

There are also signs with an arrow pointing diagonally to the bottom right. They are not accidentally tilted: they indicate something different from the arrows that tell you which way you must go.

If you follow such a road, you may drive in both directions, but there is a lane in the middle that separates the two directions. You must stay to the right of that lane.

CBR trap

• ❌ Wrong: reading a round blue sign with an arrow as "one-way street, so no oncoming traffic".
  
  ✅ Correct: round blue = mandatory direction of travel. Oncoming traffic is actually possible. Square blue = one-way street.
• ❌ Wrong: thinking that every round blue sign is a mandatory sign and every round sign with red is a prohibition sign, without looking at the symbol.
  
  ✅ Correct: the shape says "round, so strict", the colour says whether it is a mandatory sign (blue) or a prohibition sign (red).
• ❌ Wrong: regarding a blue sign with a slanted line as a prohibition.
  
  ✅ Correct: a slanted line through a blue mandatory sign means end of the obligation, not that it is forbidden now.

Round sign: colour determines mandatory or prohibition

It gets just a little more complicated here. A round sign can have two functions — a mandatory sign or a prohibition sign. The difference is in the colour:

• Blue = mandatory. For example, following a specific direction. A blue sign with a red slanted line indicates the end of that obligation.
• Red = prohibited. Round signs with a red border indicate a prohibition: entry prohibition, parking prohibition, overtaking prohibition. Red means something is not allowed, just like a red traffic light.

Blue = mandatory · Red = prohibited

The same subject, three signs

Prohibition	Mandatory	End
Forbidden for pedestrians. Pedestrians are not allowed here.	Footpath. Pedestrians must follow this path.	End of the obligation. The slanted line cancels the mandatory rule.

End of the rules: the "adios" sign

You now know what the signs mean — but how do you know when those rules no longer apply? The end of the validity of earlier traffic signs is indicated with a white sign with three black diagonal stripes.

It looks like the Adidas logo. This is how you remember it: with this sign you say "adios" to those traffic sign rules.

Pay attention to what this sign does not mean. If you come across it, it does not suddenly mean that there are no rules at all. The standard rules for the road remain in force; only the rules from earlier traffic signs expire.

If the black stripes run through a speed indication, then it is not the end of all signs, but only the end of the maximum speed.

The yellow diamond-shaped sign: priority road

A yellow diamond-shaped sign with a white border indicates that you are driving on a priority road. You then have priority over the side roads.

Remember: this sign looks a bit like an egg. You can drive through it calmly, even if there is traffic coming from the right.

If stripes run through the sign, the priority road is ended. From that point, priority depends again on the normal priority rules and on the traffic situation at that location.

CBR trap

• ❌ Wrong: at the "adios" sign, thinking that no rules apply at all anymore.
  
  ✅ Correct: only the previously indicated sign rules expire. The standard road rules remain in force.
• ❌ Wrong: reading stripes through a speed sign as "end of all prohibitions".
  
  ✅ Correct: if there is a speed on it, only that maximum speed ends.
• ❌ Wrong: letting a prohibition apply until the next sign.
  
  ✅ Correct: a prohibition applies from the sign up to the next junction, or up to a sign 'End of prohibition'.