The DGT warns about the most unknown and confusing traffic signs

The Spanish Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT) has drawn up a ranking of the 10 pictograms that cause the most doubt among users when they encounter them: the most unknown traffic signs

The results obtained in the driving test questions, in addition to certifying whether candidates pass or fail to obtain their licence, also help the DGT assess where the most critical points lie in driver training and in road safety.

Regarding the usual questions on pictograms, those that obtain the highest percentage of incorrect answers are considered by the DGT to be the least known and, therefore, the ones that may cause the most problems for drivers or future drivers. Based on the data obtained, it has drawn up a Top 10 of the most unknown traffic signs.

1. Level crossing or movable bridge

These signs, which warn of the approach of a level crossing or movable bridge, are, at 64 percent, the most unknown traffic plates.

2. No passing without stopping

Despite being present on roads with tolls, customs posts or the checkpoints that the security forces set up temporarily, with 54 percent incorrect answers, this sign requires drivers to stop before passing a barrier or an officer who allows them to continue.

3. Lane for motorcycles

The mandatory use of a specific area for motorcycles draws 53 percent of wrong answers.

4. Mandatory direction

The obligation to follow the direction and sense indicated by this plate, however surprising it may seem, gets half of the incorrect answers.

5. Cycle path

Also, with 50 percent of errors, the path for pedestrians and cyclists, which runs separately from the rest of the road traffic, is unknown to candidates.

6. Road reserved for mopeds

The same error rate applies to the obligation for the rider of a moped to travel on the road indicated by this sign.

7. Carriageway for cars

But no less surprising is that, with up to 46 percent of invalid answers, it concerns the plate indicating the obligation for motor cars, except motorcycles without sidecars, to travel on the carriageway where this sign appears.

8. End of recommended maximum speed

That traffic signs, at times and for some people, seem more like driving advice than driving obligations may have something to do with the fact that up to 45 percent of answers are wrong when identifying the end of the recommended maximum speed.

9. No entry for motor vehicles

One place lower, with 44 percent failures, ninth place goes to the plate prohibiting entry to any motor vehicle onto the road.

10. No entry for mopeds

It is clear that the signs relating to the movement of mopeds and motorcycles are the great unknowns for those aspiring to obtain their driving licence. With 43 percent of incorrect answers, this sign prohibiting access to two- or three-wheeled mopeds, light quadricycles and vehicles for people with reduced mobility is the last of the most unknown traffic signs.