Do you know the rarest traffic sign in Germany? It only exists 13 times

Not all traffic signs are equally well known to German drivers. One sign only appears 13 times in Germany. What does it mean?

Hamm – Participation in road traffic requires compliance with certain regulations. These are anchored in the Road Traffic Act (StVO). The most common violations of these rules concern traffic law, as statistics show. Recently, around 1,325 drivers were caught speeding in a very short space of time because they did not correctly interpret an A3 traffic sign.

Do you know the rarest traffic sign in Germany? It only exists 13 times

In 2023, the Driving Aptitude Register (FAER) recorded around 4.2 million traffic violations in Germany, as the Handelsblatt reported. The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) registered 240,100 criminal offenses and 3,966,392 administrative offenses. Speeding is one of the most common traffic offenses in Germany.

In Germany, there are more than 400 traffic signs that direct and regulate traffic. These are set by the road traffic authorities and must be followed by all road users. However, not all meanings of each individual traffic sign are known – and that can be expensive.

Some signs and markings are easy to find everywhere, while others rarely appear and are therefore unknown to many drivers. The Laternenring is a traffic sign that is one of the oldest, but also one of the least known. It is probably the rarest traffic sign in Germany, only existing 13 times and only found on the A9 between Pfaffenhofen and Kreuz Holledau north of Munich, as stern.de reported.

Landmark sign is important for autonomous vehicles

The so-called landmark sign, a black and white sign with a cryptic pattern, was not developed for drivers but for autonomous vehicles to provide orientation. It is part of the “Digital Test Field Autobahn” pilot project of the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV).