# Yellow Hard Shoulders and 'New World' signage on Motorways in Europe?



## odlum833 (Sep 4, 2007)

Something ive been wondering about. Is Ireland the only country to use yellow hard shoulders and 'New World' (American yellow diamond style signage) in Europe?


Example - Yellow Hard Shoulder












Yellow Diamond










Only example I can find but they are the standard signage over here for pretty much everything - like the white and red UK signs.

Anyway ive never come across either on the Continent and I know the UK is white hard shoulder. Same where ive been on the continent. Never seen yellow h/s or yellow standard signage.


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## FM 2258 (Jan 24, 2004)

^^

Our yellow line is in the middle for traffic flow separation. I think it's an interesting idea. I'm not sure how roads work without the yellow center line if they do use lines.


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## TheCat (Apr 21, 2006)

^^ Israel and South Africa also use a yellow line on the hard shoulder (I know they're not in Europe, but still). Actually, in Israel it is used to indicate the outer edges of the road whether there is a hard shoulder or not. It is not used only when there is a curb. It works quite well, since you know that a yellow line is one you should never cross (you may end up in a ditch). It's quite useful on 2-lane roads at night, where the yellow lines clearly delineate the "safe zone".

However, I like our North American system much better, since sometimes it may be somewhat confusing to know whether a white line separates flow in the same direction or different directions (usually it is not a problem, but I have seen some situations where ambiguity exists, especially for drivers who are inexperienced with the system). Since most of the time a white line is broken in North America (you rarely have a solid white line separating traffic flowing in the same direction - usually in tunnels and bridges or some dangerous sections of highway), a solid white line usually unambiguously identifies the outer edges of the road and works just as well as the yellow one, without the ambiguity which exists at the centre. So while all systems generally work well, I do think that this is one thing North America got right.


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## keber (Nov 8, 2006)

FM 2258 said:


> I'm not sure how roads work without the yellow center line if they do use lines.


Roads work as they were painted with yellow, just they are in different color. Or did you mean something else? Actually, does it matter?


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## Alex Von Königsberg (Jan 28, 2007)

FM 2258 said:


> Our yellow line is in the middle for traffic flow separation. I think it's an interesting idea. I'm not sure how roads work without the yellow center line if they do use lines.


Since in Europe all marking is white, the centre line is usually of different width and has different broken line intervals. For instance, in Russia and Ukraine a solid white line is usually used on 2x1 roads to separate opposite traffic and to prohibit overtaking. A broken white line on 2x1 roads also separates opposite traffic but allows overtaking in both directions. A white solid line and a broken line next to it has exactly the same meaning as the yellow setting in New World. It's a bit ambiguous (especially for a New World visitor), but I have never heard of an accident due to white marking confusion. For the record, I also prefer yellow colour for centre lines. 

Have you actually driven in Italy or used public transport?


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## keber (Nov 8, 2006)

Actually I wonder, how you people drive if you make decisions on road depending on full line marking colors.hno:


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## invincible (Sep 13, 2002)

Australia only uses white lines, except in areas which see regular snowfalls, and there is sometimes a problem of dashed white lines which can look identical when they're separating opposing traffic or lanes in a dual carriageway.

The fact that there is often a huge distance or thick tree cover between carriageways doesn't help either.


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## The Knowledgeable (Nov 8, 2007)

TheCat said:


> ^^ Israel and South Africa also use a yellow line on the hard shoulder (I know they're not in Europe, but still). Actually, in Israel it is used to indicate the outer edges of the road whether there is a hard shoulder or not. It is not used only when there is a curb. It works quite well, since you know that a yellow line is one you should never cross (you may end up in a ditch). It's quite useful on 2-lane roads at night, where the yellow lines clearly delineate the "safe zone".


I was also surprised at why we have a unique road marking system. It stems from the Irish road marking, which Israel and South Africa adopted during colonial/mandate times. By the way, I have seen in Europe yellow outer edges but I think it has something to do with parking laws.


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## GENIUS LOCI (Nov 18, 2004)

Shoulders were delimited by yellow lines in Italy since the begginning of '90s, then they changed with white lines (I think because they now use yellow lines for bus lanes, what it's quite common in many countries in Europe...)


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Yellow markings are temporary markings in the Netherlands, in case of roadworks with changed roadway situations.


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## GENIUS LOCI (Nov 18, 2004)

Some pics from early '80s of Italian highways with yellow lines


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

In the UK there are single yellow lines and double yellow lines at the edge of roads to denote the ability to park. Double yellow lines mean absolutely no parking or stopping I believe (I can't remember my highway code hno


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## bgplayer19 (Nov 25, 2007)

In Bulgaria we also use the yellow hard shoulders but I haven't seen the diamond shaped signs


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## Super Tim (Jul 23, 2005)

Chriszwolle said:


> Yellow markings are temporary markings in the Netherlands, in case of roadworks with changed roadway situations.


The same in Italy, combined with vertical roadsigns with yellow background.


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

GENIUS LOCI said:


> Shoulders were delimited by yellow lines in Italy since the begginning of '90s, then they changed with white lines (I think because they now use yellow lines for bus lanes, what it's quite common in many countries in Europe...)


Interesting, I did not know that. BTW In Norway we use the American system with road markings, yellow line for separating traffic directions (Except on motorways wich are all white). Our road signs on the other hand is pure European with red and white triangels. Exception here is temporary signs wich are yellow.


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## X236K (Mar 3, 2007)

Chriszwolle said:


> Yellow markings are temporary markings in the Netherlands, in case of roadworks with changed roadway situations.


The same in Czech, sometimes the original white is repainted by black temporarily


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## Mateusz (Feb 14, 2007)

Czechoslovakia had them on D1 in 70s I think


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## X236K (Mar 3, 2007)

^^ Hard to say. I was born in 1983 

edit: there's a lot of old pictures in this book and I don't see any yellow lines.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Chriszwolle said:


> Yellow markings are temporary markings in the Netherlands, in case of roadworks with changed roadway situations.


In Israel, roadworks are marked with orange or red markings. The orange is more common, and I have no idea why there should be more than one option. This is a pic from the Israel highways thread, apparently it's Road 6 where the new Road 431 is being built:


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## Gareth (Apr 27, 2004)

RoadUser said:


> In Israel, roadworks are marked with orange or red markings. The orange is more common, and I have no idea why there should be more than one option. This is a pic from the Israel highways thread, apperarently it's Road 6 where the new Road 431 is being built:


That's interesting. I always thought it'd be cool in the UK to have a yellow line in the centre and a red line for the hard shoulder, leaving lane lanes white, just like the colour code of our cats eyes.


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## Gareth (Apr 27, 2004)

Would be a colourful experience, at least.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Gareth said:


> That's interesting. I always thought it'd be cool in the UK to have a yellow line in the centre and a red line for the hard shoulder, leaving lane lanes white, just like the colour code of our cats eyes.


That's a bit garish . . .

Do you have a different colour for roadworks marking in the UK? I'm pretty sure that they didn't the last time I drove there a few years ago.


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## Gareth (Apr 27, 2004)

No, but yellowish/green cats eyes are often put along the temporary markings.


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## Rebasepoiss (Jan 6, 2007)

Finland also uses yellow to separate traffic on simple 2-lane roads:


But not on motorways:


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## RawLee (Jul 9, 2007)

Yellow is temporary here,it overrides white as long as its present...though on some old roads,there are yellow markings.

EDIT:a pic,nearby Nyíregyháza:


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

Does this mean that both Italy and Hungary used yellow side markings in the past?


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## wyqtor (Jan 15, 2007)

Yugoslavia had them too - they can still be seen on the M-1 in Macedonia, although not consistently as they are mixed with white lines - quite messy actually.

As far as I understood from http://members.a1.net/wabweb/, Austria had yellow markings too, but in the middle of the road, I think - even on motorways apparently:


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## Kese (Nov 24, 2007)

No, I do not think we in Hungary ever used yellow markings as permanent signs. (Except for the exceptions.  )


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

Svartmetall said:


> In the UK there are single yellow lines and double yellow lines at the edge of roads to denote the ability to park. Double yellow lines mean absolutely no parking or stopping I believe (I can't remember my highway code hno


Single Yellow Line- Not parking when signs say you can't.

Double Yellow Line- No parking at any time.

Single Red Line- No stopping when signs say you can't. 

Double Red Line- No stopping at at any time.

--------------

Portugal: Yellow during construction and on the side of the road in mountains.


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

wyqtor said:


> Yugoslavia had them too


that's true - Yugoslavia had them. and nopt only at motorways, but on normal roads, too. also, ex-yugoslav countries had them untill the beginning of 2000's. here is a photo from Croatia, it's first section of A1 after 1970's built in 2000 and it still has yellow markings (thus it's the only part of A1 that had yellow markings (instead of 1970's section)). notice the new style of those reflection posts beside the road - they came together with white markings, that means that those yellow lines were soon replaced with white










this is A4 near Sveta Helena from yellow times


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## RawLee (Jul 9, 2007)

Norsko said:


> Does this mean that both Italy and Hungary used yellow side markings in the past?


I dont think so...maybe they run out of white when the road was built,and painted the sides with yellow...I've never seen yellow on really old roads. This was probably reconstructed when the railroad nearby was electrified(because there's an overpass on this road that doesnt look that old),and they used this...this is only a few kms long section,then it becomes white again.


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

btw, i have a photo taken a year ago in Italy with completely yellow markings, and there were not any works. unfortunately, that photo is at my broken HD  but it's taken somewhere between Milano and Genova


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## Gareth (Apr 27, 2004)

Rebasepoiss said:


> Finland also uses yellow to separate traffic on simple 2-lane roads:
> 
> 
> But not on motorways:


Actually, yellow is only used in Finland when the centre line is solid (for no passing rules). Other times, it's white.


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## sotavento (May 12, 2005)

In portugal yelow lines denote "temporary" markings (used indescriminatedly as center lines or shoulders) or are used on shouders to denote "parking prohibited". hno:


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## Comfortably Numb (Dec 19, 2007)

Ireland:


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

wyqtor said:


> Yugoslavia had them too - they can still be seen on the M-1 in Macedonia, although not consistently as they are mixed with white lines - quite messy actually.
> 
> As far as I understood from http://members.a1.net/wabweb/, Austria had yellow markings too, but in the middle of the road, I think - even on motorways apparently:


Actually that is quite interesting...
Anyone who knows the purpose of the yellow edge markings (for instance in F Yugoslavia or Italy)? We (Norway) use yellow for separating two way traffic, but for what I understand at least Yugoslavia used yellow on all types of roads.


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## keber (Nov 8, 2006)

Yellow line in former Yugoslavia (and I think in Italy too) was drawn as being a limit of drivable surface of road, white marked other traffic lines, including drive directions limitations. As I understand, in Austria (and I think in Switzerland too) it was opposite: white marked drivable surface limits and yellow color other traffic lines.

As I know, roads in 60ies and 70ies were much more colorful in Europe that they are today. Now more common markings are in use.


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## Norsko (Feb 22, 2007)

^^ Thanks, then it all makes sence


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## odlum833 (Sep 4, 2007)

Angry_Chair said:


> Ireland:
> 
> http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zOpM8SYHEP4/RqjaIj7WwvI/AAAAAAAAAQg/RHfLyhU1ank/IMG_0115.JPG



Pitty you did not get a sign on that road. Im trying to figure out what route that is but cant read the river sign!


It seems Isreal and Ireland's road markings are exactly the same. They also have the yellow dotted hard shoulder for dual carriageways. We also use a yellow border on the sides of normal country roads.

Italy seemed to have changed for some reason - maybe to bring some consistency to road markings on the continent?


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## Mateus_ (Feb 12, 2007)

In France, yellow is generally used for permanent marking or for prohibited parking or delivery area


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

The Knowledgeable said:


> Like the Cat said, Israel never uses dotted hard shoulders, dual carriageways or not.


They are not dotted now, but they were at one time. I remember dotted yellow lines in the seventies and eighties. I do not remember whether some roads had solid lines and some dotted ones, or whether there was a difference between them.


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