These road signs inform

Explanation

They announce that you are approaching a level crossing with a barrier.

Read the two elements together. First the red triangle on the right, showing the symbol of a fence or closed barrier; this sign means the level crossing ahead has a barrier. If the crossing had no barrier, the symbol inside the triangle would be a locomotive; that one visual difference is the answer to the whole question. Second, the white posts with diagonal red bars planted on both sides of the road at three successive distances: the number of bars decreases as you approach the crossing and works like a countdown; the three-bar post stands with the first warning sign and the single-bar post is the nearest.

The safety reason for all these layered warnings is simple: a train can neither swerve nor stop in a short distance; its braking distance runs to hundreds of metres. So the entire burden of prevention rests on the driver, and he must reduce speed and be ready to stop before the crossing far earlier than he sees the rails.

In the picture, dense forest and mist have shortened your view and the asphalt is wet; that is, exactly the conditions these signs were designed for. The exam trap is that the candidate takes the presence of a barrier to mean "less danger, no need for caution", whereas the duty to reduce speed and be ready to stop remains.

• The symbol inside the triangle is a crossing barrier, not a construction site marker; roadworks are shown by a sign with a worker and a shovel. • A crossing without a barrier has its own sign, whose symbol is a locomotive, not a barrier fence.

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