Prohibitory signs: reading limits, scope and duration

How to recognise and read a prohibition

Prohibitory signs are normally circular and may forbid traffic, entry from a direction, a manoeuvre or exceeding a stated threshold. A white face with a red rim commonly carries the restriction. The central pictogram identifies an action or class of road user, while a figure supplies the value that must not be exceeded.

Read the main sign with every panel beneath it. Times, days, advance distance, length, exceptions and arrows can narrow or locate its effect. An except panel removes the depicted class from the prohibition; it creates no broader entitlement than the displayed wording and symbols.

• Identify the circular rule
• Read the symbols, numbers and supplementary panels together
• Confirm its active road section

No traffic and no entry

The white disc with a red rim means no traffic: vehicles may not use the signed road in either direction. It covers motor vehicles and non-motor vehicles, but not pedestrians, because pedestrians are not vehicles. If walking is also prohibited, a separate sign bearing the pedestrian symbol is needed.

The red disc with a horizontal white bar means no entry from its side. It often stands at the closed end of a one-way street that remains accessible from the opposite end. The distinction is between a road closed to vehicles and one approach that vehicles must not enter.

Overtaking, spacing, speed and the horn

The general no-overtaking sign bars overtaking motor vehicles other than mopeds and motorcycles, even without crossing into the opposite side of the carriageway. It therefore depends on the vehicle being overtaken. The heavy-vehicle sign instead concerns the overtaking vehicle: vehicles not intended for passenger transport may not overtake motor vehicles when their registered maximum authorised mass exceeds the displayed value. The figure in the registration document applies, not the vehicle's actual weight at the time. A non-motorised vehicle may be overtaken only without crossing into the opposite side.

A minimum-spacing sign forbids following at less than the displayed number of metres. A maximum-speed sign forbids exceeding its figure in kilometres per hour, although conditions may demand a much lower speed. The crossed-out horn prohibits audible warnings except in immediate danger. Similar circular layouts therefore communicate three quite different controls.

• Seventy metres is distance, not speed
• Eighty kilometres per hour is a ceiling
• The end of an overtaking ban does not make every overtake lawful

Restrictions for particular users and vehicles

On a specific prohibition, the pictogram defines the affected class: pedestrians, cycles and other pedal cycles, motorcycles, handcarts, animal-drawn vehicles, agricultural machines or buses. Do not expand a symbol merely because another vehicle looks similar. A motorcycle symbol does not mean every two-wheeler, and an agricultural machine is not the same class as every works vehicle.

A car pictogram can prohibit motor vehicles with three or more wheels, including cars and other motor vehicles as well as powered tricycles and quadricycles. Non-motor vehicles and, unless another restriction applies, two-wheeled powered vehicles remain outside that sign. The decision follows the legal class of the actual vehicle, not simply its size or everyday purpose.

Goods vehicles, trailers and hazardous loads

The disc showing a lorry bars vehicles not intended for passenger transport when the maximum authorised mass recorded on their registration document exceeds the figure in the symbol: 3.5 tonnes on the standard sign, or another displayed value. It therefore includes lorries, road trains, articulated vehicles and special-purpose vehicles above the threshold; heavy buses and motor caravans are not barred merely because of their weight. A different disc, showing a towing vehicle, bars motor vehicles with a trailer, including a caravan; a panel may admit trailers up to the stated mass.

There are three separate signs for hazardous loads: one prohibits vehicles carrying dangerous goods in general, one applies to explosives or readily flammable products, and one to substances that may pollute water. The cargo being carried is what matters; fuel in the vehicle's normal tank is not treated as a flammable load. Any supplementary panel may further qualify the prohibition and must be read with the symbol.

Dimensions and mass limits

Width, height and length limits refer to the vehicle's or combination's actual dimensions at the time of passage, including its load. Arrows in the symbol show which dimension must be checked. A 3.50-metre height is measured from the road surface, while a length limit applies to the complete combination rather than only the towing vehicle.

A disc showing tonnes limits total actual mass; a sign depicting an axle limits the load on the most heavily loaded axle. These are different tests and are often placed before a bridge or a road section unable to accept certain loads. Because the ban applies above the figure, a vehicle exactly at the value may pass unless another restriction prevents it.

• Check the vehicle's overall size, including its load and equipment
• Distinguish total and axle mass
• Choose another route before turning around becomes difficult

Where a prohibition begins, continues and ends

A prohibition normally operates from the sign unless advance information or a panel says otherwise. Repetition after a junction, sometimes with a continuation panel, confirms that it remains in force. The arrows on these panels are not driving directions: they mark the beginning, continuation or end of the regulated stretch.

A white disc crossed by several thin black diagonal bands marks the end of all local restrictions imposed earlier. A specific end sign, by contrast, ends only the depicted minimum or maximum speed limit or overtaking prohibition. The general rule, or any newly posted restriction, then applies. Solid lines, general limits, restricted visibility and every independent safety requirement remain in force.

No parking, no stopping and reserved spaces

A no-parking sign still permits a very brief stop while the driver remains present and ready to move, provided no obstruction is caused. A no-stopping sign also excludes that voluntary pause and, without a panel, applies continuously. On urban roads an unqualified no-parking sign normally applies from 08:00 to 20:00; on non-urban roads it applies continuously, unless other information is displayed.

Times, working or public holidays, street cleaning, tow-away status, exemptions and arrows must be combined with the main sign. An authorised driveway keeps its access clear through a permanent parking ban and must show the issuing authority, number and year. A parking bay reserved for disabled permit holders may be used only by a vehicle displaying the required permit; by contrast, a P sign with an arrow and 300 metres simply announces parking in that direction and at that distance.

• Double arrows mark extent, not permanent validity
• Tow-away hours match the parking ban
• The exception for buses benefits only buses