Together with the installation of stones and special pillars reflecting the distance to a specific locality or direction of movement, the history of road signs began. With the development of the automotive industry, their number had to significantly increase. Modern traffic rules contain more than a hundred signs that allow motorists to determine the sequence of travel, notice the danger at the right time, and so on.
About the appointment of road symbols
With heavy vehicle traffic, precise flow control is necessary, so the main emphasis is on this. Although the history of road signs totals just over a hundred years, over a thousand elements have been invented over this period of time. Production materials, presentation options and external characteristics changed, but the essence was always the same.
The following characters are distinguished:
- warning;
- prohibitory;
- informational;
- service;
- determining the priority of travel;
- providing additional information;
- establishing special requirements.
When designating in each case, certain colors and geometric shapes are used. This is done to simplify the perception of signs, as well as their timely detection during movement. In addition, elements of the same type are always easier to remember.
The first international unification
With the official history of the appearance of road signs, one can associate the world's first unification, which took place in 1909 in the capital of France. As a result of the work done, a special convention of automobile movement on an international scale was created. The agreement was signed by 16 European countries. These included Russia.
For a modern driver, the first set of signs may seem unexpected, since the number of cars at that time did not exceed 6 thousand units. Mostly horse-drawn and rail vehicles moved around the streets. Cars began to influence the formation of paragraphs of traffic rules much later.
At the turn of the century, activists of automobile communities and tourist organizations were preoccupied with the installation of signs. However, private initiative was a temporary phenomenon. At first, the problems of unification began to be solved at the international level, then state authorities began to deal with them.
The emergence of the standard in the Soviet Union
The delegation of the USSR in 1926 attended an international conference in Paris, where a new convention was put on the agenda. Soviet history of road signs has been intertwined with many states. The convention also signed:
- Germany.
- Belgium.
- Cuba.
- Ireland.
- Denmark.
- Bulgaria.
- Greece.
- Finland.
- Italy.
- Czechoslovakia and other countries of the world.
The following document was established in 1931, according to which the number of characters reached 26 units. However, after 6 years, their number was reduced, as state authorities were able to prove that many of them scatter the attention of people driving.
Disruption of unification in the middle of the 20th century
In the history of road signs there was also an unsuccessful attempt to bring them to a single form, which happened in 1949. Some time after the Second World War, in Geneva, another convention on traffic standards was adopted, and a protocol on signals and symbols was drawn up. The documentation was approved internationally with the participation of 80 states.
However, only 34 countries supported the protocol on existing road signs. The developed system was not approved by world powers - Great Britain, the USSR and the USA. At that time, the following types of sign systems were used on roads.
View | Countries |
Character | It was used in the USSR and many European countries. |
Text | Used in New Zealand, USA and Australia. |
Mixed | It was involved in the UK, as well as in selected countries of Latin America and Asia. |
Refuse signs that are valid in the country, the British and Americans did not agree. Therefore, at this time, one can observe their diversity.
The signing of the Geneva Protocol of the USSR after 1959
Studying the history of road signs, it is impossible not to note an important period for the Soviet Union. After the signing of the Geneva Protocol in 1959, their number increased to 78 pieces. They become more familiar to modern motorists.
A sign prohibiting movement without stopping appeared already then, but the inscription on it was made in Russian. She was enclosed in a triangle, which was embedded in a circle. At that time, a sign appeared that annulled all existing restrictions. Before that, it was not used on the roads. As the main symbol prohibiting overtaking, the machine began to be used.
Vienna Convention: Great Unity
It was in Vienna in 1968 that a compromise was reached between two systems - the American and the European. In the formation of the modern history of the emergence of road signs, this moment became a turning point. 68 states took part in the signing of the convention.
To reach a compromise with the Americans, the Europeans introduced the STOP octagonal sign into the established system. In the international system, it has become the only text element. Initially, it was understood that white letters directly on a red background would necessarily attract the attention of passing drivers.
In the Soviet Union, a similar sign appeared on the roads in 1973 after the formal entry into force of GOST 10807-71. The road symbol in the documentation is quite recognizable for current drivers. The Vienna Convention played an important role in harmonizing the system of road signs. The new order began to be recognized in the USSR, China, USA, Japan and Great Britain.
This is the story of the road signs. Since 1968, modern motorists can travel the world without any difficulties. Reading signs on the roads has ceased to cause difficulties for drivers. All countries began to equal the samples of the Vienna Convention. However, in reality, no one is forbidden to use their own analogues, so sometimes incomprehensible road signs still come across.
On the publication of traffic rules in Russia and the USSR
About two years before the formation of the Soviet Union, the first rules of the road were issued. The title of the document implied movement around Moscow and its environs. Within those rules, the most important issues were described. Modern documents are very different from those that were presented for the first time in 1920, but then it was possible to begin the journey.
Soon, driver's licenses began to be issued, and the speed limits for traveling along the country's roads were also determined. In 1940, published general rules that were edited for a specific city. The unified documentation of the SDA was approved only in 1951.
In conclusion
In general, the history of the creation of traffic rules and road signs is very interesting and instructive. It resembles a system of formation of states and various entities. On them you can study the history of various countries of the world. New points in the rules will always be introduced, as technologies are constantly evolving. Over time, new signs will appear. In Russia, one of them began to be used recently. It involves the maintenance of photographic fixation on the roads. Together with him, temporary signs were introduced with special symbols on a yellow background.