Signs indicate that:

Explanation

150 metres ahead there is a pedestrian crossing without traffic lights.

The triangular sign with a red border and the image of a pedestrian on a crossing is the "pedestrian crossing" warning sign, and the supplementary plate beneath it shows the figure 150 m. This plate is the "distance to the object" plate: the distance from where the sign is installed to the start of the hazardous section. That is, the hazard begins 150 metres further on, not that it is spread over the 150 metres ahead of you. If the length of the hazardous section were meant, the "zone of effect" plate with double-headed arrows would have to be used.

The second point is in the triangular sign itself: a warning sign is posted only before crossings that have no traffic lights. Where a pedestrian signal exists, the signal itself performs the job of alerting and this warning is not used. So the triangle in the picture means: there is no signal there and the responsibility for noticing and reducing speed rests entirely on you.

See the safety reason in this very photograph: wet asphalt, a narrow street with a building wall and an iron railing hard against the edge of the carriageway, and limited visibility. A pedestrian stepping onto the crossing from behind the railing is seen late, and the braking distance on a wet surface is longer. The severity of injury to a pedestrian rises sharply with impact speed, so these 150 metres are given precisely so that you lift off the accelerator before you arrive.

The short rule: warning sign + a figure in metres = "how far to the hazard", not "hazard along this distance".

• Reading the figure as the length of the hazardous section is tempting, but that meaning belongs to the "zone of effect" plate; the plate in this picture gives the distance to the start of the hazard.

Sources and content coverage · Report a content error