What does the additional information sign indicate?

Explanation

The distance to the junction before which a "no passage without stopping" (STOP) sign is posted.

The white inverted triangle with a red border is the "give way" sign, and the supplementary plate beneath it shows the word STOP and the figure 250 m. This combination has one specific, pre-defined meaning: the "distance to the object" plate, used only with the "give way" sign, announcing that 250 metres ahead, at the junction, a STOP sign is posted and a compulsory halt applies there — not that you must stop here.

Look at the photograph itself: an intercity road with a gradient and a curve, a metal barrier on the right and limited forward visibility. A driver arriving at road speed who first sees the STOP sign at 30 metres must either brake hard or overrun the stop line and enter the main road. Hard braking on a descent and on a curve, especially for a laden lorry, means a skid and leaving the road. Announcing it 250 metres ahead eliminates both that sudden braking and that blind entry into the junction.

Worth memorising: wherever you see the word STOP and a figure beneath the "give way" triangle, read it as "compulsory stop, so many metres ahead". The exam trap is that the candidate confuses the triangle with the STOP sign itself and thinks the figure gives the distance from the "give way" sign to the junction; whereas the word STOP on the plate expressly tells you what awaits you at the junction.

• It is tempting because the upper sign really is "give way"; but if that same sign were posted at the junction there would be no need to write STOP on the plate — it is that word which announces the compulsory stop. • A border checkpoint has its own dedicated sign and is never written beneath a "give way" triangle with a distance in metres.

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