The Evolution of the Stop Sign – the History of One of the Most Important Traffic Control Devices
The stop sign is among the most important traffic signs – it informs drivers that they must stop completely and make sure there are no other road users coming towards them on the road on which they want to continue their way. It is one of the signs that instructors for driving lessons Orange County offers are strict upon. Stop signs around the world use various designs – they are universally recognizable, but some of them use color variations and some countries choose to replace the word Stop with the word’s equivalent in local language.
Stop signs became necessary when cars became widespread and the roads became more crowded with vehicles travelling fast. The sign originates from Michigan – the first ones, featuring black lettering against a white background appeared in 1915 on the side of the road, at crossroads or in other areas that required the drivers to be more vigilant. The octagonal shape that is still used today became the standardized version in 1922, but the usage of the sign did not become law in the US until 1966. The sign became adopted in Europe in 1968 by the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals and it is today used not only in the US and in Europe, but also in countries that are not part of the Convention, such as Japan and India (though in country-specific variations).
