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Special zone signs

Indicate special areas like school zones, pedestrian areas, and work zones.

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Last updated: May 27, 2026

About special zone signs

Zone and special-regulation signs form a hybrid category drawn from Annex 1, Section E of the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals and from national supplements outside the Convention. The Convention does not itself standardise a pedestrian-zone sign — the familiar rectangular blue panel showing pedestrians is a national design used by most European parties — but Vienna Section E.7 does define the entry to a built-up area. Other zone regimes — notably low-emission zones (Umweltzone in Germany, ZFE in France, Area C in Italy, ULEZ in the United Kingdom) and most North American school zones — are not standardised in the 1968 Convention and instead rely on national regulations such as the German StVO Zeichen 270.1 or the United States MUTCD S1-1 pentagonal school-zone sign.

The defining driver-action principle of zone signs is areal: the depicted rule applies throughout an extended area rather than at a single point, and remains in force until a corresponding end-of-zone sign cancels it.

School zone

All special zone signs

Triangle
Red
White
Black

School zone

Marks the approach to a school. Under Vienna 1968 the standard form is the Section A.13 children-warning triangle, supplemented where necessary by a panel reading SCHOOL or by a reduced speed-limit disc. The dedicated pentagon-shaped school-zone sign is a national variant.

When you see it: You see this sign on the approach to primary and secondary schools, at school crossing patrols and on residential streets used as walking routes to school. Variable-time speed limits often apply.
What you must do: You must reduce speed to the posted school-zone limit during the hours when the limit is in force and shall be ready to stop for school crossing patrols and children entering the carriageway.
Country variations: There is no single Vienna-standard school-zone sign; the Section A.13 children triangle is used Europe-wide. The United States uses a fluorescent-yellow-green pentagon (MUTCD S1-1); Canada and Australia follow MUTCD-derived variants; the United Kingdom uses a children-on-warning-triangle (TSRGD diagram 545) plus a yellow rectangular 'SCHOOL' supplementary plate.
Penalty: Penalties for ignoring this sign vary by country. See your country's driving guide for specifics.

Source: Vienna 1968 Section A.13

Rectangle
Blue
White

Pedestrian zone

Marks the entry to a pedestrian zone in which the road is reserved for pedestrians. Vehicle access is permitted only for residents, deliveries within posted hours, or emergency services, and only at walking pace.

When you see it: You see this sign at the entry to pedestrianised town-centre streets, market squares and shopping precincts in European cities. The end of the zone is shown by the corresponding sign with a diagonal bar.
What you must do: You must not enter the zone unless you fall within an explicitly permitted exception. Where entry is permitted you shall travel at walking pace and must give way to pedestrians at all times.
Penalty: Penalties for ignoring this sign vary by country. See your country's driving guide for specifics.

Source: Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, 1968