Three quarters of drivers have forgotten road sign meanings

Three-quarters of drivers have forgotten the meaning of all the road signs in the Highway Code, new research has found.

A study of 2,000 motorists by personal injury claims firm Accident Advice Helpline also discovered only 27 per cent are confident they remember all of the information they learnt before passing their test.

Men felt more confident than women, with 31 per cent of males claiming they still remembered everything compared with 21 per cent of females.

As for young drivers, 86 per cent of motorists aged 17 to 24 said they were not fully confident in knowing road signs — despite having recently taken their tests. Compared with that, three out of five aged 55 and over felt they still knew the meaning behind each sign.

Some drivers would even go so far as to ignore road signs if they did not know them with 25 per cent saying they would rather dismiss them than guess their meaning.

David Carter, a spokesman for Accident Advice Helpline, said: “Road signs are segregated into three shapes: circles to give orders, triangles warn and rectangles inform people. It was surprising to see how many drivers were unaware of the significance of the shape of a sign, let alone its meaning.

“It’s worrying how many people don’t know basic road signs when driving their vehicle. Understanding road signs are vital to road safety, and not knowing their meaning can result in accidents due to ignorance.”