# Road Markings



## PSIONMAN

I was reminded on TV last night that different countries have different conventions for road markings

e.g. on the 'fire' lane' in Manhatten it is marked

Lane
Fire

This really looks strange to British eyes who would expect

Fire 
Lane

I.e. we read from top to bottom, not like the USA's who read bottom to top

What conventions are used in other countries?


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## fenixpollo

PSIONMAN said:
			
		

> Lane
> Fire


 Trust me, this looks strange to American eyes, too!  I suppose that the logic is that you read the first word (fire) when you come to it, and then you read the second word when you come to _it_... although in reality if you're close enough to read one word, you're close enough to read them both.  It's an example of a practice that only exists because it's "a convention."


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## Aupick

This reminds me of certain signs that perplexed me for an embarrassingly long time when I was living in the US.

First of all I had no idea what an automatic caution door was--a door that warned you if it was cold outside? Eventually I figured out I wasn't reading it right, because I was reading the words in the order they were written. Here's the sign, which was pretty ubiquitous.

Then there was 'Ped Xing', which sounded Chinese but was really Greek to me. The context in this example gives it away, though. Its sister 'No Ped Xing' was just as elusive. It turned out to have no relation to the local 'No Owasso Boulevard' (which I took to mean that there was no access to Owasso Boulevard). I decided that 'So Owasso Boulevard' must be its partner, which really, really, _really_ had access to Owasso Boulevard. It turned out they were partners, but not in the way I'd imagined.

Still, none of these quite measures up to the ERIF written on the front of fire engines in the UK, similar to the less common ECNALUBMA.


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## *Cowgirl*

fenixpollo said:
			
		

> Trust me, this looks strange to American eyes, too!


 
I agree!!!


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## cuchuflete

When I moved to this isolated corner of the galaxy a few years ago, I had to learn to take this 

  very seriously


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## clipper

The only convention in Spain which I notice having moved here from the UK, is that they paint all markings with the slipperiest paint in the world. Apparently just so that motorcyclists have little or no chance of making it accross a zebra crossings alive, and even less chance if its raining !


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## *Cowgirl*

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> When I moved to this isolated corner of the galaxy a few years ago, I had to learn to take this
> 
> very seriously


 
Yeah, we had to learn to take the deer X-ing ones *very* seriously.


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## Yang

Aupick said:
			
		

> This reminds me of certain signs that perplexed me for an embarrassingly long time when I was living in the US.
> 
> First of all I had no idea what an automatic caution door was--a door that warned you if it was cold outside? Eventually I figured out I wasn't reading it right, because I was reading the words in the order they were written. Here's the sign, which was pretty ubiquitous.
> 
> Then there was 'Ped Xing', which sounded Chinese but was really Greek to me. The context in this example gives it away, though. Its sister 'No Ped Xing' was just as elusive. It turned out to have no relation to the local 'No Owasso Boulevard' (which I took to mean that there was no access to Owasso Boulevard). I decided that 'So Owasso Boulevard' must be its partner, which really, really, _really_ had access to Owasso Boulevard. It turned out they were partners, but not in the way I'd imagined.
> 
> Still, none of these quite measures up to the ERIF written on the front of fire engines in the UK, similar to the less common ECNALUBMA.


 
This would be perfectly to be put in the joke thread.  

And thanks to this strange dictionary website,         http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ped+Xing, 
I was able to know what 'Ped Xing' is.
But its relative, 'Owasso Boulevard', was not found.


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## geve

In France, ecnalubma are just * or + if it's the Croix-Rouge... but we do have umas though. And also ecilop

And markings are much criticized for their "slipperiness" by motorcyclists too...

As for animals crossing, this is part of the local folkore, such as the classic australian one, or this one seen in Scotland... but there are indeed to be taken very seriously


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## fenixpollo

Aupick said:
			
		

> I decided that 'So Owasso Boulevard' must be its partner, which really, really, _really_ had access to Owasso Boulevard. It turned out they were partners, but not in the way I'd imagined.


 To clarify, No stands for North and So stands for South.

I like the signs that say "Watch for Elk", which is the cousin of Chuchu's moose sign.  My sarcastic response is, "I saw one.  Now what?"  (they really mean, "Be careful because an elk could cross the road in front of you").


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## Vanda

> Still, none of these quite measures up to the ERIF written on the front of fire engines in the UK, similar to the less common ECNALUBMA.


 
Actually I've been told that the use of writing as above on those kind of
vehicles has to do with drivers coming ahead of them, when looking
at the rearview they can read the word clearly and yield. Here we have this "rule" too, and as I have seen it in other countries too, so I've thought it was a universal symbol.


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## Outsider

The one thing I've noticed in American films is that light signs (is this the word in English?) for pedestrians at zebra crossings are marked 'WALK' and 'DON'T WALK', instead of green and red.


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## GenJen54

> The one thing I've noticed in American films is that light signs (is this the word in English?) for pedestrians at zebra crossings are marked 'WALK' and 'DON'T WALK', instead of green and red.


 
A few AE translations:

light signs = stop lights (even for pedestrians)
zebra crossings = crosswalks

We do have a variety of these signs, and they tend to be different from city to city.  Outside of the words "Walk," "Don't Walk," one usually sees this.

One thing I really like in Europe is the "coutdown" lights they have in certain cities, where there is a transition from red (stop) to yellow (warning) to green (go.)  This warns drivers that the light is about to change to green.  In the US, one only sees the yellow light as a warning that they need to be prepared to stop as the light is transitioning from green to red. 

I've been hesitating posting this, but my all-time favorite sign is from Germany, and is this.  While I understand it to mean "Good Driving," when reading it, the juvenile part of my mind takes over and I get a good chuckle reading it aloud in English.


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## panjandrum

GenJen54 said:
			
		

> One thing I really like in Europe is the "coutdown" lights they have in certain cities, where there is a transition from red (stop) to yellow (warning) to green (go.) This warns drivers that the light is about to change to green.


In the UK, the light sequence is:
Red
Red and Amber
Green
Amber
Red.

The Amber (orange or yellow for the less sophisticated) by itself means Red comes next.
Amber and Red means Green comes next.


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## PSIONMAN

GenJen54 said:
			
		

> One thing I really like in Europe is the "coutdown" lights they have in certain cities, where there is a transition from red (stop) to yellow (warning) to green (go.)



Yes I like this too. I saw them for the first time this summer in  Barcelona (I think). I don't remember them being there a couple of years ago. One reason I Like them is the looooooooooooooooooong phasing that they have on traffic lights in Spain. For those us used to British phasing you seem to have to wait an eternity at a red light


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## geve

Is there a pips for the blinds at crosswalks in your countries ? 
I have the impression that in Paris there are more now : just a beep, or a female voice saying again and again "rouge piéton, rue d'Amsterdam"


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## Outsider

There is a high-pitch beep when the green light is on, yes.


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## GenJen54

> Originally posted by *geve*
> Is there a pips for the blinds at crosswalks in your countries ?


 
Interesting. I've not noticed this at all in my city.  Perhaps it has made it larger American cities, but I've not heard of this at all.


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## nycphotography

geve said:
			
		

> Is there a pips for the blinds at crosswalks in your countries ?


 
In Hong Kong they were everwhere.  

In NYC only a scant few (I think I've seen 2 or 3) out of thousands.


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## geve

Well, they aren't that common in France either, that's why I notice them... 
But I have the feeling their number is increasing - good thing


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## nycphotography

geve said:
			
		

> Well, they aren't that common in France either, that's why I notice them...
> But I have the feeling their number is increasing - good thing


 
I dunno, they are annoying as *bleep*.

Why wouldn't the designer/engineer have spent an extra $2.50 to add a braille button that says "make noise" to the button that requests the crossing signal??  Then they dont have to be beeping all the time.  Can you imagine having one of those stupid things outside your bedroom window?


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## jess oh seven

GenJen54 said:
			
		

> One thing I really like in Europe is the "coutdown" lights they have in certain cities, where there is a transition from red (stop) to yellow (warning) to green (go.) This warns drivers that the light is about to change to green. In the US, one only sees the yellow light as a warning that they need to be prepared to stop as the light is transitioning from green to red.
> 
> .


they have one of these in glasgow, even though it-s on a one-way street and you can see all the traffic that's coming, it's funny.

most pedestrian crossings beep here when the "green man" is on. in Holland they make a clicking noise, it's neat.


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## nanel

geve said:
			
		

> Is there a pips for the blinds at crosswalks in your countries ?
> I have the impression that in Paris there are more now : just a beep, or a female voice saying again and again "rouge piéton, rue d'Amsterdam"


 
Yes, we do have some in Spain, but they just beep.


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## JazzByChas

Yes, I have seen such things too, but very infrequently, and only when I lived in (Washington) D.C....



			
				geve said:
			
		

> Well, they aren't that common in France either, that's why I notice them...
> But I have the feeling their number is increasing - good thing


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## zebedee

Another good one:

http://uk.photo-calendar.co.uk/calendar_2005-06-20#2005-10

Are the ducks or the cars limited to 40 mph?

Here in Valencia they've added a 1 minute countdown screen next to the little green man on the wider pedestrian crossings. There's nothing worse than stepping confidently off the kerb to find yourself stranded in the middle of the road as the little green man suddenly turns red. This way, if you see there's only 20 seconds to go until the lights change you can weigh up your chances before stepping off the kerb.


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