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Traffic warning sign
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== History == [[File:Redundant sign - geograph.org.uk - 467503.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Pre-standardization British ''School Zone'' with metal-cutout generic ''Warning'' symbol embellished with red glass [[Cat's eye (road)|reflector-spheres]]]] Some of the first roadside signs—ancient [[milestone]]s—merely gave distance measures. Hazard warnings were rare though occasional specimens appeared, such as the specific warning about [[horse-drawn vehicle]]s backing up which was carved in stone in Lisbon's Alfama neighborhood in 1686. The early signs did not have high-contrast lettering and their messages might have been easily overlooked. Signs were written in the local language ([[commons:File: Spenge-Werburg-Torhaus-Schild-20050114 1519 1970-800px.jpg|example]]); symbolic signs, though long used on certain tradesmen's signs (like the [[History of pawnbroking#Symbol|pawnbrokers' tri-ball symbol]]) were to be used for traffic only much later in history. Complex signage systems emerged with the appearance of motorcars. In 1908 the automobile association in West London erected some warning signs. In 1909, nine European governments agreed on the use of four pictorial symbols, indicating ''bump'', ''curve'', ''intersection'', and ''railroad crossing''. The intensive work on international road signs that took place between 1926 and 1949 eventually led to the development of the European road sign system. As the 20th century progressed, and traffic volume and vehicle speeds increased, so did the importance of road sign visibility. Earlier flat-painted signs gave way to [[commons:File: Steep Hill and Level Crossing Pre-Worboys road signs Coventry Transport Museum.jpg|signs with embossed letters]], which in turn gave way to [[button copy]] signs— round [[retroreflective]] "buttons" helped to achieve greater night visibility. Flat metal signs reappeared in the 1980s with the widespread use of surfaces covered with [[retroflective sheeting]] materials like [[Scotchlite]]. In Europe, 1968 [[Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals]] (which became effective in 1978) tried, among other things, to standardize important signs. After the [[revolutions of 1989|fall of the Iron Curtain]] and greater ease of country-to-country driving in the [[EU]], European countries moved toward lessening the [[Comparison of European road signs#Table of traffic signs comparison|regional differences in warning signs]]. In modern regulations, [[Road signs in the United States#Warning signs|U.S. warning signs]] are classified as ''Series W'' signs, starting with the W1 Series (curves and turns) and ending with the W25 Series (concerning extended green [[traffic light]]s). Some [[Road signs in the United States#Miscellaneous|U.S. warning signs are without category]] while others like the warning stripes at tunnel portals or plain red ''End of Roadway'' signs are classified as Object Markers (OM Series). In the U.S., ''Stop'' and speed limit signs fall under the R Series (Regulatory). Modern [[Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices|U.S. signs are widely standardized]]; unless they are antique holdovers from an earlier era, oddities like a yellow ''Stop'' sign or a red ''Slippery When Wet'' sign would typically appear only on private property—perhaps at a hospital campus or in a [[shopping mall]] parking lot. [[Street sign theft]] by pranksters, souvenir hunters, and [[Metal theft|scrappers]] has become problematic: removal of warning signs costs municipalities money to replace lost signs, and can contribute to traffic collisions. Some authorities affix [[:File:Streetsign theft warning.jpg|theft-deterrence stickers]] to the back sides of signs. Some jurisdictions have criminalized unauthorized possession of road signs or have outlawed their resale to scrap metal dealers. In some cases, thieves whose sign-removal lead to road fatalities have been charged with [[manslaughter]].<ref>{{Cite web |date= June 20, 1997 |title=Defendants Get 15-Year Prison Sentences for Stop-Sign Killings |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/20/stop.sign/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108123606/http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/20/stop.sign/index.html |archive-date=November 8, 2012 |access-date=October 6, 2012 |website=CNN Interactive}}</ref><!-- Baillie, Cole, and Miller were sentenced to between 27 and 46 years in prison, but would go free after only five years after a judge ordered a retrial because the prosecutor had overemphasized certain evidence in her closing arguments. The prosecution declined to bring the case a second time. --><ref>{{Cite web |title=Florida Defendants Get Retrial on Manslaughter Convictions Resulting from Deaths at Intersection Where Stop Sign Downed; Dissenting Judge Argues for Acquittal |url=http://www.usroads.com/journals/rilj/0110/ri011001.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305211030/http://www.usroads.com/journals/rilj/0110/ri011001.htm |archive-date=2012-03-05 |access-date=2012-10-06 |website=Road Injury Prevention & Litigation Journal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Karp |first=David |date=May 22, 2001 |title=Suddenly, Stop Sign Case is Over |work=St. Petersburg Times Online |url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/052201/TampaBay/Suddenly__stop_sign_c.shtml |url-status=dead |access-date=2012-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017190929/http://www.sptimes.com/News/052201/TampaBay/Suddenly__stop_sign_c.shtml |archive-date=2012-10-17}}</ref> Artistically inclined vandals sometimes paint additional details onto warning signs: a beer bottle, a handgun, or a [[boom box]] added to the outstretched hand of the ''Pedestrian Crossing'' person, for example. {{-}}
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