[rubylark]

Do you have examples of wordy US signs that are only symbolic in the EU system? All of the ones I see on the article are either city names or pedestrian signs with complex instructions that I don't think could be conveyed effectively in only symbolic form.

The ones I can think of that are words only that might have a better symbolic notation are Dead End, No Outlet, and No Passing Zone.

[alocasia-1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibitory_traffic_sign

A handful of good comparison examples there - notably no pedestrian/no vehicle signs, which use clear imagery in Europe

[playingalong]

Not the OP, but let me try.

Some like "cross only at cross walks" or "no pedestrian crossing" are not a sign at all in EU. They are either implied by general traffic rules, or implied by traffic rules for given road category, or enforced with infrastructure.

"One lane bridge" EU has specific signs for lane cross section (not for bridges specifically). "Pavement ends" I even consider funny. What comes next after that? "A meadow starts?"

[jetbalsa]

"Pavement ends" normally means the road is going to be a dirt road or gravel road. Pretty common in rural areas

[yamtaddle]

"Slow the fuck down now, speeder—yes, you!—or be very unhappy when, a few seconds from now, you try to brake on gravel at high speed and spin out"

[karaterobot]

Depending on where you are in the U.S., a "cross only at crosswalks" sign is necessary because all intersections are considered to act as crosswalks even when there are no solid white lines. Pedestrians can still cross, and vehicles should yield the right of way. That sign could indicate an exception to the rule, due to some dangerous, non-obvious condition that makes it unsafe for pedestrians to cross the road.

[rmnwski]

Here you can find the German traffic signs for example. Basically all of them are pictographic: https://www.bussgeldkatalog.org/verkehrszeichen/