Understand ROAD SIGNS in the UK & North America

Welcome back to www.engvid.com . Now, as a graduate of English Literature, I know full

well that this is not the most prosaic, not the most interesting in terms of language

that I will teach, but having been on the receiving end of parking, fines, etc., I know

that understanding signs is very important.

So hopefully, I can save you money by you understanding these signs if you come to the

United Kingdom or America or Australia, so that we get these basic things right.

Let's crack on.

Street signs.

This is not a complete list of things you may see on streets or on walls, but there

are a couple of things that I have noted down.

No through road.

Through - to go through, it means you come down this road, that's fine, but you can't

go anywhere else.

This is a road to nowhere.

Cue music.

No trespassing.

To trespass means to wander, but it goes a little bit further than that.

It means being on someone else's property, okay?

I'll jot that down for you.

Being - and by the way, whilst I jot this down, maybe you should be doing the same.

I've found that when I was building my vocabulary, I had a little booklet arranged from A-Z,

and any new words I came across, I would jot down.

I'd put the new word and then what the meaning was.

So, it's a great idea if you don't already have something like that.

Okay?

No soliciting.

These next two you're more likely to find in North America than you are in the United

Kingdom.

Soliciting is where you're kind of approaching for business.

You're trying to get someone to give you some money to do something.

It's not something we have a huge problem with.

People tend to have asked for permission before they do things like that in the UK, but no

soliciting means going around asking for money for some sort of business venture.

No loitering.

This is not a street sign, but it's in here anyway, okay?

This is a sign I saw when I was in America in various different restaurants saying "No

Loitering", which seems strange, because you sort of go into a restaurant to have a nice

time and relax and talk to people, but apparently you can't do that.

Quite why anyone would want to loiter in a fast food restaurant, I'm not sure, but anyway.

Loiter - to hang around for more time than you are expected to.

Parking.

These are the really important ones.

Parking fine in some cities in the UK could cost you 65 pounds, okay, if you don't pay

it within two weeks, it doubles, 130 pounds, that's quite a lot of money.

No return within.

So, it might say something like, you can park here for 20 minutes for free, but then don't

come back for another four hours, okay?

So, you can't just keep going there and coming back.

You have to leave time in between.

No loading.

What that means is you may want to watch my - quick digression - you may want to watch

my phrasal verbs video on driving, because this kind of - there's a link.

Anyway, no loading means I pull in and I stop and I may be going quickly get something from

the shop, or I pull in and I have some bags to give to a charity shop, to a thrift store,

I quickly take my bags out.

But that sign says "No, no, no, no, you can't do that here, sorry, Jim".

Okay, moving on?

Right.

Permit holders only.

If you live in certain areas, you will be eligible, that means you can have, you are

entitled to a permit.

That means you put it in your car and it says hello, I can park here for free because I

live here.

So, a sign that says "Permit holders only" means you can only park here for free if you

have one of these signs.

Otherwise, you're going to get a dirty great big fine.

Road signs.

This is for UK road signs.

It will be different in other countries.

A blue circle means something you must do.

For example, if there were some arrows going around and we drive this way round the roundabouts,

by the way, we go this way, it means you need to round the roundabout, don't go straight

across it or there will be some death.

Next one, a red circle with something in the middle, this is something you mustn't do.

Prize for guessing what's in my circle there.

What is it, fish?

Bits?

It's actually, you've got a car there and you've got a motorbike there, would you believe

it?

Yep.

Well, that would mean no cars, no motorbikes, no motorized vehicles at all, just bicycles

here, thanks.

Next one, we've got a red circle and a slightly sort of small, feeble, lame arrow on the left

and a bigger, chunkier, more sort of purposeful arrow on the right.

If you see this, it means, okay, you're going this way, you're going straight ahead.

The car coming the other way has right of way, that means you let it go before you.

You go okay, your right of way, I'll just stay here.

Okay great, it's passed, now I can go.

If it was the other way, then you've got right of way and you don't need to stop for the

other car.

Hopefully, the other car knows the rules too.

A red triangle.

This shows you that there's a hazard ahead.

We're not talking about Eden Hazard, the Chelsea football player, fantastic as he is.

No, we're talking about danger, danger zone.

This is a tunnel, watch out, there's a tunnel coming.

What other hazards could you be alerted about with a red triangle?

Well, it might say that there's a narrow road, so you're going to have to pay attention to

the oncoming traffic.

Let's jot that one down.

Oncoming means it's coming, you know, towards you.

It might show you that there's a school, it might show a low bridge, so if you're driving

an articulated lorry, be careful.

Low bridge, could show you there's a sharp turn, slow down.

As soon as you see a red triangle, slow down.

Road signs, continued.

A big blue sign like this, you're likely to see on a motorway.

It will give you directions.

It will probably tell you what junction - okay, so, this comes from the Latin meaning "to

join".

You've got two roads joining, so Junction 29, if you know you have to get out at Junction

26, then keep an eye on what number Junction you're on.

Gives directions.

This kind of sign you will see actually written on the road.

If it says "Keep Clear" it means don't stop on top of this, don't park on this, okay?

That road doesn't want a car on it.

This is actually meant to say "Stop", but my artistic skills let me down.

If it says "Stop", stop.

Okay?

Come to a stop, check, safe to go.

Okay, I'm going to go onto some safety signage, so let's head over to the safety signs.

These are all actual signs that I've found from various places.

First one: Do not talk to or distract the operator while this machine is in operation.

Okay.

So, an operator is someone who is doing something.

Someone who is in charge of something.

Don't talk to them, okay?

They don't want to - a conversational English class with you at that point, nor do they

want you to distract them.

So, don't tap on their shoulder and go, "Hello, Mister", okay.

Don't talk, don't try to communicate with them at all while the machine is going.

"To be used by trained and authorized personnel only".

Okay, so we have a rocket and there's a sign saying this.

You can only touch the rocket if you have been told how it works.

If you have been given permission, this means if you're authorized to do something, it means

you've got a little certificate saying "I can use the rocket".

Permission.

Personnel is someone who works somewhere.

It's like an employee.

"No unauthorized access".

So, okay, permission.

If you don't have permission, you can't come inside.

You're not coming in!

Okay?

No unauthorized access.

Access meaning be able to get somewhere.

This is a dangerous site.

So, site - different to sight, which is - this is a sort of workplace.

Okay?

Let's move on.

High visibility vests must be worn at all times.

High vis - okay, visible, is something you can see it, it's very bright, you've got that

yellow, it's got the stripes on, hard hats, that kind of place.

Don't come in unless you've got the yellow bib on.

This is a fire sign.

So, what it's saying is what to do - action, what to do if there is a fire.

Sound the alarm.

That doesn't mean go "There's an alarm, this is an alarm!"

Yeah, it means make the alarm make the noise.

So, press a button.

Hit the thing, do whatever it takes to get the alarm go to "Dodododo!"

Next, report to assembly point.

Report means "go" in this context.

Assembly point - assemble, okay, put together.

An assembly point is where you get - is kind of like a meeting point.

These aren't all the signs you will find in the English language.

If you've got a sign that you're not quite sure about, why not write it down in the thread

below, okay, and our online community can help you work out what it means.

Let's get a really good discussion now, people sharing the signs they have seen.

Until next time, be safe!