Map of European Road Curve Chevron Signsby u/isaacSWNot sure if... - April 7, 2023 at 05:23AM

Map of European Road Curve Chevron Signs

Not sure if something like this has been done before but I’ve put together a map showing the colour schemes used on the chevron signs used on road curves throughout Europe (this is the sort of thing I’m talking about). I think it could be quite powerful in some areas, like the Balkans and central Europe, where they are quite common and the colours vary a lot from country to country.

This won’t be 100% accurate, and I’m sure you will be able to find counterexamples, but I have checked multiple signs in each country and it appears to be a fairly reliable clue. If you do find anything I’ve missed, let me know and I will update the map and post the link below. Here is a list of observations I’ve made while making this map, with example locations.

Notes:

The white colour is often substituted for luminous green/yellow in high altitude/latitude areas (example). Austria and Montenegro have their yellow variants shown on the map as they appear to greatly outnumber the corresponding white variants. The yellow colour on south-facing signs will often fade to near-white.
Some countries will add a luminous yellow outline to the signs rather than replacing the white (generally in high altitude/latitude areas). Some countries that do this are: Italy, Romania, Hungary, Russia, the UK, Belgium and Turkey.
Most countries will also have a long variant of the curve chevron sign (example). This should be the same colour scheme as the single-chevron signs, however it may be less obvious which is the ‘background’ and which is the ‘chevron’ colour.

Notable Countries:

Spain uses both the white-on-blue and white-on-black interchangeably. It is always the long variant (as far as I can tell), and the colour distribution does not seem to vary by geographic location. (blue example, black example)
Montenegro uses the red-on-yellow (example) and black-on-white (example) signs in roughly equal amounts (no real correlation with geography), with some lower areas near the coast using the red-on-white variant (example), however this is much less common than the red-on-yellow.
Slovenia uses mainly the black-on-white variant (example), however areas around Ljubljana and Koper (and maybe other areas) use the red-on-white variant (example).
Austria uses the red-on-yellow and white-on-red frequently in the upland areas. They are also often found with a pattern of a few reds then a yellow (example), which appears to be unique to the country. The lowland areas may also use the red-on-white variant.
The Netherlands often uses a miniature variant (example)
Russia and Ukraine use the long variant quite frequently, which also sometimes appears in the Baltics (possibly other ex-soviet regions too). The single variant also has more background colour visible compared to other countries (example). It also often has a white outline.
North Macedonia has red-on-white and black-on-white variants, though the black ones appear to be less common.

Frequency:

Countries that use a lot of roadside bollards tend to use fewer curve chevron signs.
Rare in Andorra, Finland and Denmark.
Fairly uncommon in: Baltics, Sweden, Iceland, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg.
Fairly common in: Norway, UK/Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, and flatter areas of the Balkans.
Very common in: the Austrian Alps, mountainous areas of the Balkans, and Turkey.