Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I failed

Today was the test for my SHAPE drivers license.  After a two hour class, there was a two part test.  One part tested us on speed limits, distances and overtaking (passing) regulations.  I passed that one.  
I failed the test related to the 156 road signs.  The test was to correctly identify 50 particular signs.  We could miss 5 and I missed 8.  Some of the signs are easy.  Like this one. 

And others require a bit more interpretation.   This means priority road.  Now you know, right? No? In Belgium the default driving convention is that the car approaching on the right has the priority.  So if you are zipping down the road at 50 miles per hour and you see a car coming from a residential side street on your right, you slow down and let the side street car turn or pull out in front of you.  Unless you are on a priority road in which case, the side street has a yield and they have to wait for you.  I get this concept, I tested fine on that.

Lest you are afraid to drive with me, I will confess that the signs I missed all had to do with parking and mopeds.  So I suppose at this time I am likely to get a parking ticket and should not operate a moped.  Though, I'd probably be fine on a moped, I just can't distinguish the signs related to mopeds from the signs related to motorcycles.  I'd insert a graphic here to show you if I could find one on line.  Just imagine a graphic of a bicycle - put it in bold and that is a moped, bold it a bit more and it is a motorcycle.  

I am scheduled to take my sign test again tomorrow morning, so I'll spend some time tonight reviewing parking signs and distinguishing bike, moped and motorcycle graphics.  

Here are some road signs for you to study:


      


Any guesses as to what they mean?



4 comments:

  1. Okay, here are my guesses:

    bridge out
    trailers allowed
    campfire?
    headlights on

    ReplyDelete
  2. Upper left: autobahn or limited access highway (Interstate in U.S.)
    Lower left: railroad crossing
    Lower right: hmmm . . . fuzzy on this one . . . cars allowed/permitted?
    Upper right: no clue; I'll go with God's Weaver. :-)

    And if it's any consolation, I think I failed my first test for the same reason--signage.

    ReplyDelete
  3. blue with two lines and a bridge = highway or autoroute
    red circle = no trailers; red circles always mean no
    red triangle = gated railroad crossing
    blue square with car = roadway for cars only (no trucks, bikes, etc)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Upper left: bench installed across road

    Would you believe sign comprehension is a specialized field of study?

    ReplyDelete