3 ms·
It's probably more that the U.S. is mostly monolingual, but in Europe you can drive a few hours and the main language can change multiple times.
by cameldrv 4y ago
It's probably more that the U.S. is mostly monolingual, but in Europe you can drive a few hours and the main language can change multiple times.
- bombcar 4y agoThis is entirely it - and the reason that EU stop signs say STOP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_sign#Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_sign#Europe
- inciampati 4y agoIt's also dramatically more efficient and safe to have a quickly readable visual symbol. Maybe that's just my opinion but it seems reasonable to assume it factored into the design.
- vladvasiliu 4y agoThere's also the fact that it's understandable when you're looking at it the wrong way. It's useful to gauge who should stop and who has right of way. For example, in France (and most of Europe, I think), the default is for traffic coming from the right to have right of way. So if you're coming from the left and see the back of the sign, you know you don't have to yield.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- _benedict 4y agoThe U.K. is even more monolingual and still uses icons for the obvious UX benefit of faster recognition with less distraction from the road.