In road transport, a give way or yield sign indicates that merging drivers must prepare to stop if necessary to let a driver on another approach proceed. A driver who stops or slows down to let another vehicle through has yielded the right of way to that vehicle. In contrast, a stop sign requires each driver to stop completely before proceeding, whether or not other traffic is present. Under the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, the international standard for the modern sign is an inverted equilateral triangle with a red border and either a white or yellow background. Particular regulations regarding appearance, installation, and compliance with the signs vary by some jurisdiction.
Terminology
While give way and yield essentially have the same meaning in this context, many countries have a clear preference of one term over the other. The following table lists which countries and territories use which term. This chart is based on official government usage in the English language and excludes indirect translations from other languages.
History
A black triangle (within the standard down-arrow-shape of stop signs) was a symbol of "stop for all vehicles" from about 1925 in Germany. The triangular yield sign was used as early as 1937, when it was introduced in Denmark in red and white (matching the Danish flag),[1] in 1938 when it was codified in Czechoslovakia in a blue-white variant without words,[2] and in 1939 in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia which adopted the current red-white variant.[3] In the United States, the first yield sign was erected in 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, designed by Tulsa police officer Clinton Riggs;[4][5] Riggs invented only the sign, not the rule, which was already in place.[6] Riggs' original design was shaped like a keystone; later versions bore the shape of an inverted equilateral triangle in common use today. The inverted equilateral triangle was then adopted by the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals as the international standard.
Country specifics
Australia
In Australia, the Give Way sign evolved similarly to its counterpart in the United States. During the 1940s and 1950s, the sign was circular and yellow. In 1964, the sign changed to a red triangle. In the 1980s, the sign adopted its modern design and gained a counterpart for use at roundabouts.
Original design (1940–1964)
Second version (1964–1974)
Modern design since 1974
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Ireland
In Ireland, the yield sign reads yield in most areas, although in Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas the text is géill slí ("yield right of way"[7]) instead.[8][9] Signs erected between 1962 and 1997 read yield right of way,[10] which remains legally permitted.[9] Signs 1956–1962 had a blank white interior.[11]
1956–1962
1962–1997
English-language version (1997 – present)
Irish-language version (1962 – present)
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New Zealand
In New Zealand, the original design also used the keystone shape as in the United States but used a black background with a red border. In the 1980s, the modern design was adopted. On sealed roads, the give way sign is always accompanied by a white line painted on the road to clarify the rule to road users even if the sign is obscured or missing.[12]
Original design (1964–1987)
Modern design since 1987
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom's Road Traffic Act calls for give way signs and road markings at junctions (crossroads) where the give-way rule is to apply. The road marking accompanying the sign consists of a large inverted triangle painted just before the place to give way, which is marked by broken white lines across the road.[13]
In Wales, some signs bear a bilingual legend: the Welsh ildiwch appears above give way.
In the United Kingdom, a stop or give-way sign may be preceded by an inverted, blank, triangular sign with an advisory placard such as give way 100 yards.[14]
United States
In the Federal Highway Administration's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, a yield sign may be warranted[15]
"if engineering judgment indicates that one or more of the following conditions exist:
- When the ability to see all potentially conflicting traffic is sufficient to allow a road user traveling at the posted speed, the 85th-percentile speed, or the statutory speed to pass through the intersection or to stop in a reasonably safe manner.
- If controlling a merge-type movement on the entering roadway where acceleration geometry and/or sight distance is not adequate for merging traffic operation.
- The second crossroad of a divided highway, where the median width at the intersection is 30 ft or greater. In this case, a STOP sign may be installed at the entrance to the first roadway of a divided highway, and a YIELD sign may be installed at the entrance to the second roadway.
- An intersection where a special problem exists and where engineering judgment indicates the problem to be susceptible to correction by the use of the YIELD sign."
The sign went through several changes from its original design to the sign used today. Originally invented in 1952 and added to the MUTCD in 1954, the sign used the "keystone" shape before adopting the more readily recognized triangular shape. In 1971, the sign evolved into its modern version and changed from yellow to red, paralleling the same change that had earlier been made by Stop signs.
Early design (1950–1954)
Second version (1954–1961)
Third version (1961–1971)
Modern design as agreed to in 1971
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Other countries
- Most countries around the world use a red and white inverted triangle with no text.
- Cuba, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Kuwait, Nigeria, Poland, Sweden and Vietnam use a red and yellow version of the sign.
- United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, Bhutan and most Commonwealth nations use a version of the sign that reads give way.
- Dominica, Fiji, Liberia, New Zealand, and Samoa display text in red.
- Singapore places the sign inside a white round square.
- Belize, Brazil, Canada and Romania use a much thicker red border.
- Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela use ceda el paso
- Puerto Rico uses a version of the American sign translated into Spanish which reads ceda.
Gallery
International standard with white background (most countries around the world use this version)
International standard with yellow background (Finland, Greece, Iceland, Kuwait, Poland, Sweden, Vietnam)
Belize, Brazil, Canada, Romania
SACU standard (Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa) (no longer used, the blue background has since been phased out in favour of white)
Signs with text in English
Anglophone Africa, Anglophone Caribbean (Lesser Antilles), India, United Kingdom- Australia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu
Dominica- Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa
- Ireland
Jamaica
Liberia
Nigeria
Singapore
Tonga- United States
Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia (no longer used)
Signs with text in Spanish
Argentina
Central America
Colombia
Cuba
Ecuador
Mexico
Mexico (Jalisco)
Mexico (no longer used)
Panama
Peru
Puerto Rico
Signs with text in French
Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia
Canada (Ontario)
France, Francophone Africa, Monaco
France (Brittany)[16]
Haiti
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.svg)
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Signs with text in other languages
Brunei
China
Taiwan
Hong Kong- Ireland (Gaeltacht)
Malaysia
Maldives
Philippines
Qatar
South Korea
Thailand
United Arab Emirates
Wales
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See also
References
External links
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