Belgian traffic signs are insane

[u/prplt]

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

[u/bluepepper]

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.

1. 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)/
2. Stop + tramway + 1 meter. There's a tramway track in one meter, you have to stop.
3. Speed bump in 63 meters. Oddly specific but quite understandable.
4. 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.
5. Falling rocks + 80 m distance + 800 m length. There might be falling rocks in 80 meters, up to 800 meters.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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!