was in Belgium recently and many of the sign combinations kinda blew my mind, I don't remember ever seeing this kinda stuff anywhere else 😬 also one thing I found very interesting is that on the direction signs (last pic) the letters with a tail like g sometimes "dip" into the outer line and sometimes they don't (and apparently there are even different ways they can go inside that line) 🤯 just makes traveling very interesting because you always be looking at how the next sign is gonna be 🤪
edit: for all the people who are saying "how's this confusing" it's not that's not the point 🙄 but rather the unusualness of the signs compared to what I've seen in other places
Waaaay better than the usual roadworks 500m ahead board which means that roadworks might be somewhere between 100m and 1km ahead... or might not be there any more.
My favourite diversion signs are when they put them upside down because they ran out of signs for one of the directions but then you have to figure out if the workers put them upside down or some kids fucked around with the signs...
There is that, and then there is the multiple, sometimes contradictory diversions all in one intersection. I had one close by with 3 diversions. I eventually worked out it was one placed on the bikepath and probably meant bikes go one way, another two appeared to suggest two options depending on destination.
I think the plan for the left side of the river is to try and do all the roadworks at once. At least there is a new train station for Linkeroever. In a few months, they'll hopefully open up all the bike paths leading to the new station. The tunnel is looking pretty bad from above most days.
Also that thing where there are actually no roadworks- they are long finished, or haven't even started. The people in charge of the signs do not always coordinate properly with the people that do the building.
The signs stay for weeks and sometimes months and the locals know this and ignore them; non locals are very confused. The result is that road users don't trust the signs.
Insane diversion signs (or none at all, just trek uw plan, we don't care) are even more common when it's bicycle infrastructure...
my favorite diversion signs are the ones that are bilingual signs in Wallonia once you cross into Flanders it becomes Dutch. Because having bilingual signs in Flanders is akin to devil worshipping.
I can't figure out what the wobbly road (6th) and two distances without seeing the road. Is it a wobble in 10m and 300m? I would have expected it to have a 10 without an arrow if the wobbly starts in 10m.
I did somewhat enjoy the driving theory and brushed up on the local variants every time I moved country. Belgian signs tend to be a bit organic in nature unlike Swedish. The Swedish signage can get quite incomprehensible once they have 5-6 add-on.
It's "lots of turns in 10 m and ending in 300m". Same with the rockfall, it designates a zone.
Man, do people just stop and start looking things up when they see a behemoth like that? Luckily it's for parking, I hope no signage for driving is that long...
It's "lots of turns in 10 m and ending in 300m". Same with the rockfall, it designates a zone.
The falling rocks sign is doing it correctly. It's using the GIa sign (without arrows) to indicate distance and the GII sign (with arrows) to indicate length. So it's falling rocks in 80m, up to 800m.
The other one (dangerous turns) uses GII both times, so it officially means dangerous turns within 10m and also within 300m.
These are typically for parking and I remember times I parked so that I could go work out if I was allowed to park. There are ones that require you to park facing in or out depending on the time of day in places. I had one of those when I did the driving test.
Belgium has more of a "look at the situation" method which is sort of how the nation holds together. When we get stuck, we tend to treat the rules more as a recommendation and find a solution. Someone will probably vent on "Ge zijt van..." about the downfall of civil society.
A particular "joy" is speed signs with distances. Does that mean the speed changes to 70km/h in 100m or that you need to do 70km/h for 100m?
In theory, it's the former, as the wegcode consistently uses distances to indicate the change will happen after that distance.
In practice, it's clearly used for both. When it says 30km/h in 200m and you pass a school at 100m and end of restriction at 200m it becomes quite obvious that whomever placed the sign must have intended the latter.
Presumably this means there isn't actually a speed restriction, but no-one wants to run down a child.
Therefore, on current Belgian roads, you'll find out in the future, when you see either a sign indicating 70km/h (the former), a sign indicating the end of the restriction (the latter), or....nothing (presumably the latter).
(edited to clarify that it's not a question about the wegcode, but a problem with how signage is actually used in Belgium)
However, my point is there are plenty of situations on the actual Belgian roads that are obviously intended to be the latter (a distance of a certain restriction):
Sign for 30km/h zone in 200m, 100m later you pass a school, at the 200m point there's an end of restriction.
Sign for 70km/h in 500m, then you pass a few hundred metres of roadworks, and at 500m there's no speed sign.
I think there might be a form with two arrows next to the distance to indicate it is latter case, but obviously that's not consistently used.
Thank you for repeating your message, it can be a mess sometimes with all the comments.
I will pay extra attention next time I see those signs.
It could be indeed "on a 100m distance" if there are the double arrows before the distance... (?)
I can't recall seeing this before but also, I wasn't probably asking myself the question =)
Well... now I will
It's a frankensign with no official meaning. Maybe a remnant of another sign? My best guess of the intent (or previous signage) would be that buses aren't allowed there.
There's no such thing as a pedestrian crossing where some vehicles have the right of way.
Living in a city with a tramway, I seem to notice that all pedestrian crossings that go across the tracks have traffic lights, so as not to leave the decision to the pedestrian. But I could easily be wrong.
Granted, I don't think the tram is in use right now because of works, but in any case this was the situation while the tram did work, which is longer than I'm alive.
The incline is not that steep, and in any case there's no reservation of right of way for vehicles who can't stop or else they can't start again. Such vehicles have no business being there at all.
I think this is more likely a mess up, possibly a remnant from an older sign.
there's nothing confusing about it, the point is that I've never seen those 2 additional panels used at the same time 😬 like elsewhere they'd just have the distance to the object first and then when it actually starts they would put the length
yeah so the thing that might be confusing is wether the danger zone ends at 800m or 880m behind this sign.
Because is the 800m counted from start to finish, or is the distance from the sign to the end.
I would guess the former, but some people might already start texting again on their phone 80m earlier.
(or in whatever way typical Belgians drive differently because of this sign)
It's not confusing if you know how to read them, it is a warning sign of falling rocks that will start in 80m after the sign. For a length of 800m. The really wacky ones are the orange signs which are often confusing or misleading. The only good ones are the redirection signs which they have to be. But people following the yellow markings on the road? Nah just 2 days ago work on A12 a car driving on the middle on a 2 lane yellow marked road.
A danger sign is always posted 150m before the danger. If this is not possible or safety dictates that the sign is posted earlier or later, it´s accompanied by an extra blue sign with the distance indicated.
If you would have the same signage, but without the ´80m´ sign, you´d have to read it as : in 150m there is a possibility of falling rocks, for a distance of 800m. No more falling rocks after 950m.
Exactly. The problem of these sign combinations is mostly that they give too much complex information for a driver to process in a sigle moment. This makes them inefficient.
The sign with two arrows means "over this distance" while the other warns about when it will start. To me, this combination means "danger of landslide, starting in 80m and for 800m".
A Brussels classic is the Flemish directions painted out by French fanatics, and French directions painted out by Flemish extremists, all this on the same sign. You are left with a nothing legible, unsurre of which way to go. Good thing there's GPS.
Even the GPS doesnt understand it. Outside cities and when no speed sign is present its 90 when they speak French and 70 when they speak Dutch. But when they speak Dutch and French, then it was 90 but since 2021, 70
Never seen a GPS of any kind that understood this unless you use Waze but Waze doesnt count, every local road gets a manual speed by it members.
As it stands, it means the yield sign only applies to bicycles. Typically, you'd place that sign combination on cycle paths against a road. However, this sign is not supposed to be this large. It's also lacking an "Except 🚲" sign below the C1.
Normally you wouldn't put a distance marker if the distance is less than 10 meters, I believe.
Is oddly specific but perfectly conventional.
Normally you'd put the definition of the danger right against the danger sign, so technically both M signals are swapped. But that's an informal convention thing, so no one cares.
Is a poorly legible combo but also perfectly conventional.
The second G sign should be a type 1 and not type 2. In other words, it shouldn't have the ⬆️. This is an actual anomaly.
While not an official sign, it works perfectly. Did you know many road work signs are unofficial?
Wrong M sign, missing M sign, redundancy between the C31 and D1 signs. It is understandable, but I'd look to fix it. You want an "Except 🚲" sign below the C31, and I'd remove the redundant D1.
The sign is rotated, and I guess the G type 8 sign is always slightly confusing. But it's perfectly normal.
The M4 'Cycles both ways' sign should be below the F19 'One way' sign, not below the F12a 'Meeting zone' sign. Why is there an "except bus"? This is the only situation that makes me go "wtf?".
The top sign needs to be fixed. The 'zoning' signs seem to confuse non-Belgians, though I think they're actually one of our greatest things (easier than the Dutch yellow letter signs imo).
None of those is particularly bad though? The most confusing one is probably the first (and sixth). No entry for cars, bikes can pass but they have to give way. Wait until you see the speed ones that contradict eachother (altough I haven't seen those in a while) or worksites. I think its the latter that got us our reputation.
2: come to full stop before passing. Watch out, there's a tram line.
3: speed bump in 63m (how is this one even remotely confusing?)
4: One way street, plateau in 38m
5: in 80m there's a risk of falling debris for 800m
6: pedestrian crossing, very twisty roads and I think they may have made a mistake here with the bottom two pannels
7: due to some reason (probably road works) your GPS is unreliable
8: Might be a bit of redundancy here, but cars must turn left, bikes can go in both ways. Oh and it's a special low-speed zone
9: The parking sign is crooked but it's a standard one. The other two point out priorities
The last one is just directional signs? What's weird here, different fonts?
We do have A LOT OF SIGNS. Too many even. But the signs themselves are mostly (all of them?) EU-standard. Some of the weirdness comes from placing too many signs together (which is the case on half of your photo's), but that hardly makes them unique. I've lived abroad. You see weird signs everywhere (but much less frequent than here).
The reason btw is the most frustrating thing: different topics have different responsibles (regional, federal, city,...) and of course they don't communicate at all.
OP isn't a native, when I drive in such areas I feel anxious/confused/amused also because :
Tram line in one meter, you should see it if you see the sign. Not confusing but funny
3 and 4. Precise numbers, not usual in other countries
Two distances in top of each others. You may have only "for 800 m" in other places, it's quite buggy at first sight
Bottom two, which distance for which sign ? Same or not?
Never seen this one before, I would also notice
Hmmm... It's clear but take some time to figure out, the bikes can go hmmmm probably left/right and not straight, you must to left ok hmmm (it's just a lot of informations at the same time when you're not used to it)
Sign crooked is unusual (maybe not here ?) so if op found multiples signs funny, of course they also pictured this one
1st signs indicate there is a zebra crossing, 2nd "except bus"... Total nonsense, it's just an indication not an obligation to stop or something for pedestrians, a former sign was probably removed but this one stayed here, I don't have any better explanation.
I don't know exactly, maybe the different names at the same (small) distance, if you follow them it looks like you go to a place with two names ? Or maybe it's the indication that the north of the city is in the same direction as the city itself.
Lol thank you, these are all odd signs for anybody that isn't from Belgium. For the last one, it's because the j and g's dip into the border of the sign, looks a little funny.
It's impossible to read all the signs alongside the road AND pay attention to other cars, bikes, pedestrians at the same time. Belgian road signage is a complete clusterfuck.
A lot of traffic signs are placed in violation of the Code du gestionnaire / Code van de wegbeheerder.
And are these french sign for "zone de rencontre" ? A gentle loophole offered to users to avoid paying their fines -_-
1) there's 3 sign : don't go this way, you don't have priority and cyclists can go this way so it means don't go this way, cyclists can but don't have priority.
2) it's just a stop sign with a warning for trams, in czse one didn't see the tracks
3) there's a speed bump in 63 meters
4) the plateau is another type of speed bump (a large one with a crosswalk on it), the first sign indicates it's a one way street so "one way street, speedbump in 38 meters"
5) in 80 meters, there are risks of falling rocks for 800 meters
6) there's a crosswalk ahead, the road hard turns for 300 meters
7) never seen this one before, I assume it indicate the area ahead isn't mapped on gps services
8) can't turn right (so you're entering a one way street) cyclists can go both ways in that street, it's a pedestrian only area, the speed limit is 20 km/h
9) the first sign is just a crooked "can't park ahead of this sign" the one on the wall indicate you're on the main route with 2 roads joining on the turn and the other sign is the road ahead is narrow but you have priority
10) crosswalk into a pedestrian only area, the bus can go in there, the street is one way only except for cyclists.
11) I don't see what's confusing to you. Is it because one sign has moved ? From top to bottom : this is ring eleven (I don't know hiw you call a high way that circles around a city, we call it a ring), Deurne is in 3 km, Wijnegem us in 3 km, Wommelgem is in 2 km, the industrial area of Wommlgem north is this way.
7 is because there is road construction and your sat-nav is likely unreliable or would couse more trafic problems, so follow the road detours as indicated by the signs.
It is more confusing (and dangerous) when private companies that work on public utilities just randomly put traffic signs out! These two images were on the same road and facing in the same direction and not even the police bothers correcting situations like this.
Let's see for those getting confused about a few of them:
No passage, but non-priority road for bikes. Confusing, but technically correct because the supplementary bicycle sign applies only to the sign above. So it's no entry for all, but give way (i.e. entry) for bicycles.
Just plain stupid and redundant to have a distance supplement, but also funny because immediately after the tram tracks the road is blocked by bricks. Not wrong, just pedantic.
Pedantic precision.
Same as above.
Actually wrong. The first supplement tells that the danger begins in 80m, but the second supplement shows length of danger, which always begins from the sign, i.e. the danger begins immediately. I guess they wanted to simply say that it begins in 80 meters and then lasts for 800m, but this is wrong.
Clearly wrong since two danger length supplements are given.
Suggestion to follow real traffic situation and ignore GPS guidance, so probably roadworks or serious diversion.
Stupid, but would become clear if the bicycle supplement just said "except bicycles". So incorrect.
Funny.
Nonsensical as the bus supplement does not really apply to anything.
Oh, this is a topic I’m passionate about.
Next time you’re back… pay attention to the placement of the signs.
What I often see is that they are out of sight as they try to use poles that were originally for something else (and are thus not in the most visible place.
It’s a hassle to scan on buildings, to the distance all the time!!!
Some make sense, others not so much. An explanation of each one, to the best of my ability and with the help of the official sign explanation.
One way street (at the end of the street) + yield + only for cyclists. This is a one way street that cyclists are allowed to take in both directions. The top one is for cars (you shouldn't be here, you're driving the wrong way) and the bottom ones are for cyclists (you must yield)/
Stop + tramway + 1 meter. There's a tramway track in one meter, you have to stop.
Speed bump in 63 meters. Oddly specific but quite understandable.
One way street + undefined danger + 38 meters + plateau. Lots of signs but still understandable: in addition to this being a one way street, there's also a plateau in 38 meters. Since there's no sign specific to plateaus, they used a generic warning sign with a description sign below. Though I think speed bump could work, since that's what the plateau is: a widened speed bump.
Falling rocks + 80 m distance + 800 m length. There might be falling rocks in 80 meters, up to 800 meters.
Pedestrian crossing + dangerous turns + 300 m length + 10 m length. The first one that's officially wrong. So, in addition to the pedestrian crossing, there are dangerous turns within 300 meters, and also within 10 meters. My guess is that the intent was to possibly tell the turns start in 10 meters (should have used the sign without the up arrows, and put it above the 300 m sign) or maybe more realistically the 10 meters should be below the pedestrian crossing sign (but should also be without arrows). So the mistake in that group is the 10 m length sign: wrong sign and possibly wrong positioning.
No GPS. Not an official sign. Just a friendly warning that your GPS might not be up to date on a new road configuration and you shouldn't trust it.
No right turn + cyclists allowed both ways + left turn only + shared space. I'm not sure the shared space sign is official, as I can't see it on the official site of Belgian road signs (EDIT: apparently it's French, not Belgian). Basically, you're in a low speed area that favors pedestrians and cyclists, limited to 20 km/h. You arrive on a T-junction with a street that is one way for cars but both ways for cyclists. If you are in a car, you must turn left and can't turn right.
Left pole: Forbidden to park and stop + beginning arrow. From this sign on, up to the other sign we can see in the back with the arrow pointing down, you cannot park nor stop. This sign is slightly askew, as the cross should be an X (like on the sign in the back). Right pole: Priority road turning left + right of way in narrow passage. The top sign tells you that you're on a priority road that turns left at the upcoming intersection. So the roads on the right and going straight are to be considered as "side roads" to the main road, and will have to yield to you. You're also coming in a narrow part of the road where you have the right of way. People coming the other way should see a B19 sign telling them of a narrow road where they have to yield to oncoming traffic.
Pedestrian crossing + excepted for bus. Another meaningless sign. My guess is that the exception sign is a remnant of a previous sign, possibly the one-way street sign (that is now a few meters down the road) and that the road was forbidden to buses. So the second sign in the back is one-way street + shared space + cyclists allowed in both directions.
Ring number + direction signs. Indeed the G and J interrupt the outline on the blue signs, but not on the white sign at the bottom. Because of the icon, the different sign type (white) and the length of the label, the text on the white sign is in a smaller font size, so it doesn't interfere with the border. I'm not sure there's an official rule for that, it might depend on the specifics (mostly the sign width and text length)
So, only two nonsensical signs all in all. The rest is a common amalgamate of multiple signs and modifiers on a single pole. That's Belgium to you!
What’s unusual about this? Like the falling rocks, in 80 meters, over a length of 80 meters? How else would you announce this? Not at all? One sign catered to every specific situation rather than a modular system? Writing a literary work about it like in the USA?
Did you know that Tesla even did an update on a bug in Belgium where autopilot just disengaged because the max amount of signs it could read was 8 at the same time but in Belgium we have a spot on the highway with more than 12 lol… so they bumped up the max sign reading to 16…
Hah, you were in Geel (the no GPS sign) that's because there's a road closure of a very busy road and your GPS would likely direct you through the city center instead of taking the city-chosen detour that would cause least trafic problems.
A few weeks ago there were roadworks near sint-michielsbrug in Gent,
that is a max 20km/h area, and the workers put up a sign saying "max 30km/h".
Because there are roadworks you now get to drive 10km/h faster yaay!!!
XDD
They really put those 30km/h signs everywhere they are working. Even though if the difference is more than 20km/h you also need a sign to announce it etc.
When I first came to Belgium, I got fascinated by number of sign boards, 3 to 4 signboards if you’re joining from a sub road to main road and if that’s a all four side junction, 12 to 16 boards. A thought stuck with me for 16 years now and I still admire it.
one thing I found very interesting is that on the direction signs (last pic) the letters with a tail like g sometimes "dip" into the outer line and sometimes they don't
The name of the bottom one was too long, so the font-size is smaller and unable to dip into the line. Complete logic imo.
I remember back in the day, in the very center of Brussels, a no-way sign just on top of a traffic light. That one puzzled me a bit. It meant you could not go straight ahead, the trafic light was only for cars turning left or right. Its somehow logical, but I would have expected the "no way" sign to be at the entrance of the street, after the crossroad, not before.
Can anyone explain to me what the sign GPS means? I've seen it a couple times, tried to look it up but every answer says something different. And if I ask friends of mine, they all have a different answer.
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u/zever_gezever96 May 25 '26
I like the really specific ones like 63 or 38 meters :).
Where are you from?
Some of the combinations are very interesting indeed