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Yield sign

Traffic sign

Yield sign

Traffic sign

A modern yield sign

In road transport, a yield or give way 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.

Areas where ''give way'' is used

  • Anguilla
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Australia
  • The Bahamas
  • Bahrain
  • Bangladesh
  • Barbados
  • Bermuda
  • Bhutan
  • Brunei
  • Cayman Islands
  • Cyprus
  • Dominica
  • Egypt
  • Falkland Islands
  • Fiji
  • The Gambia
  • Ghana
  • Gibraltar
  • Grenada
  • Guernsey
  • Guyana
  • Hong Kong SAR
  • India
  • Iran
  • Isle of Man
  • Israel
  • Jamaica
  • Jersey
  • Jordan
  • Kenya
  • Kiribati
  • Kuwait
  • Malawi
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Malta
  • Mauritius
  • Montserrat
  • Nauru
  • Nepal
  • New Zealand
  • Nigeria
  • Pakistan
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Philippines
  • Qatar
  • Rwanda
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • Saint Lucia
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Samoa
  • Seychelles
  • Singapore
  • Solomon Islands
  • Sri Lanka
  • Tanzania
  • Thailand
  • Tonga
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Turks and Caicos
  • Tuvalu
  • Uganda
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • Vanuatu
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Areas where ''yield'' is used

  • Belize
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Canada
  • Guam
  • Ireland
  • Liberia
  • Marshall Islands
  • Myanmar
  • Namibia
  • Northern Mariana Islands
  • Palau
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Sierra Leone
  • Somaliland
  • South Africa
  • South Korea
  • Taiwan
  • United States
  • United States Virgin Islands

History

Blue give-way sign as used in Czechoslovakia, 1938

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), in 1938 when it was codified in Czechoslovakia in a blue-white variant without words, and in 1939 in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia which adopted the current red-white variant. In the United States, the first yield sign was erected in 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, designed by Tulsa police officer Clinton Riggs; Riggs invented only the sign, not the rule, which was already in place.{{cite web |access-date=26 June 2012}} 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

Yield sign Leipzig, East Germany 1951

Australia

In Australia, the give way sign evolved similarly to its counterpart in the United States. During the 1940s and 1950s, the sign was a yellow circle. In 1960, the sign changed to a red triangle. In the 1980s, the sign adopted its modern design and gained a counterpart for use at roundabouts. On the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, give way signs are bilingual in English and Cocos Malay.

Image:Early Australian road sign - Give Way.svg|Original design (1940's–1960) Image:Australia R1-2 (old).svg|Second version (1960–1974) Image:Australia road sign R1-2.svg|Modern design since 1974 Image:Cocos (Keeling) Islands give way sign.svg|Cocos (Keeling) Islands design

Ireland

In Ireland, the yield sign reads in most areas, although in Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas the text is {{smallcaps|géill slí}} ("yield right of way") instead. Signs erected from 1962 until 1997 read , which remains legally permitted. Signs 1956–1962 had a blank white interior.

Image:IE road sign 201 (1956–1962).svg|1956–1962 Image:IE road sign 201 (1962–1997).svg|1962–1997 Image:IE road sign RUS-026.svg|English-language version (1997 – present) Image:IE road sign RUS-026G.svg|Irish-language version (1962 – present)

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the original design also used the keystone shape as in the US but used a black background with a red border. In 1987, the modern design was taken. 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.

Image:New Zealand road sign R2-2 (–1987).svg|Original design (1966–1987) Image:New Zealand road sign R2-2.svg|Modern design since 1987

South Africa

In South Africa, the original version of the sign in red-bordered triangle pointed down in a red circular border. In 1974, the second version using a blue triangle pointed down with a red border. In 1993, the current version using a white triangle pointed down with a red border.

Image:Pre 1970's SACU Road sign R015.svg|Original design (1951–1974) Image:SACU road sign R2.svg|Second version (1974–1993) Image:SADC road sign R2.svg|Modern design since 1993

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom's give way sign
The United Kingdom's give way sign
Accompanying road markings for a give way sign as found in the UK

The United Kingdom's Road Traffic Act calls for **** 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.

In Wales, some signs bear a bilingual legend: the Welsh appears above .

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 .

United States

In the Federal Highway Administration's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, a yield sign may be warranted

  1. 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.
  2. If controlling move type movement on the entering roadway where acceleration geometry and/or sight distance is not adequate for merging traffic operation.
  3. 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.
  4. 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 1950 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.

Image:United States sign - Yield (v1).svg|Early design (1950–1954) Image:United States sign - Yield (v2).svg|Second version (1954–1961) Image:United States sign - Yield (v3).svg|Third version (1961–1971) Image:MUTCD R1-2.svg|Modern design as agreed to in 1971

Zimbabwe

In 2016, a white triangle pointed down with a red border of this sign replacing a circular version in red with the word "GIVE WAY" in a yellow triangle.

Image:Give Way sign in Zimbabwe.svg|Original design (1965–2016) Image:SADC road sign R2.svg|Modern design since 2016

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 ****.
  • 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 ****.
  • Puerto Rico uses a version of the American sign translated into Spanish which reads ****.

Notes

References

References

  1. Bekendtgørelse om Hovedfærdselsaarer, 27. marts 1937, [[Denmark]]
  2. Government ordinance No. 100/1938 Sb. n. a z., [[Czechoslovakia]]
  3. Government ordinance No. č. 242/1939 Sb. ([[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]])
  4. (25 May 1997). "Inventor of 'Yield' Sign Dies At 86". The Spokesman-Review.
  5. (13 February 2019). "Yield Sign Invented by Tulsa Police Captain in 1950s". KJRH – 2 News Oklahoma.
  6. Ó Dónaill, Niall. "géill". Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla.
  7. Road Safety Authority. "Rules of the Road". [[Road Safety Authority]].
  8. "S.I. No. 181/1997 – Road Traffic (Signs) Regulations, 1997.". [[Irish Statute Book]].
  9. Department of Local Government. "S.I. No. 171/1962 – Road Traffic (Signs) Regulations, 1962.". Stationery Office.
  10. Department of Local Government. "S.I. No. 284/1956 – Traffic Signs Regulations, 1956.". Stationery Office.
  11. "What Colour Line Marks Sealed Road at a Give Way Sign?".
  12. "The Highway Code – Road Markings".
  13. "The Highway Code – Traffic Signs".
  14. [https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part2/part2b1.htm#section2B09 FHWA – MUTCD – 2025 Edition Revision 1 Chapter 2B]
  15. (2016-09-21). "Vocabulaire du Code de la route".
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