A Brief Background...

Road Signs or Traffic Signs are signs erected by the side or above roads, to give instructions or provide information to road users. Road Signs are presented in a form of letters, numbers, symbols and arrows. As per above explanation of a road sign, its purpose informs the road user to adhere to legislated road behavioural patterns. Road Signs and Road Markings are the primary and often the sole means of communication between the road user and the road system. The general policy and sign design principles are laid out in the Southern African Development Community Road Traffic Sign Manual (SADC-RTSM). The manual detail the sign purpose and classification, dimensions and sizes, shape, colour, font and manner of display of the road signs.

Virtually all road signs may be used in either a Permanent or a Temporary form. Permanent signs includes all road signs used to indicate normal conditions - the status quo. Temporary signs is any sign that is placed in view of the road users to indicate a change to normal circumstances.