In ancient times, when there were no cars and public transport, people rode horses, donkeys, camels or walked. But they moved along the roads. And where the road leads, somehow they should have known.
How to know where to go and how much
Our ancestors got out of the situation very simply - they put big stones, broke branches, made notches in the trees. These were the first road signs. In ancient Rome, the inhabitants went even further - they put stone pillars along the roads and carved information on them. The distance was considered simply - from a particular pillar to the Roman Forum - the main square of the capital of Ancient Rome.
During the epic times in Russia, progress went even further. Remember a stone in front of heroes or knights at the crossroads of three roads? A lot of information is carved into it. This stone can be considered a road sign. But not at all intersections there were stones (there are many roads in Russia - you cannot save enough stones). And then, like the ancient Romans, people began to erect milestones along the main roads. The first dates back to the 16th century, during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. These pillars, 4 meters high, were installed on the road from the royal estate of Kolomenskoye to Moscow.
Peter I, of course, supported and developed a good undertaking. The system of milestones began to gradually spread to all Russian roads. Then they began to paint the pillars with black and white stripes so that they could be seen both in white during the day and in black at night. The milestones indicated the name of the area and the distance to the next settlement.
When cars appeared
That was enough until cars appeared. Here already signs for drivers and pedestrians, giving them the necessary information, have become essential. A special congress of the International Tourism Union gathered on the road signs. And it was decided to make them uniform throughout the world. How? If all the languages of the peoples of the world are different since the time of the Tower of Babel? In 1900, finally, all countries agreed that symbols should be depicted on road signs, not letters. The symbols are understandable for both foreigners and illiterate ones.
The first modern road sign officially and solemnly appeared in 1903 in Paris. But for a long time, people looked at him as a curiosity. Another 6 years had to pass before the installation of road signs became a system. They began to be placed on the right in the direction of travel 250 m before the designated problem area. The first four were: "Rough Road", "Intersection of Equivalent Roads", "Dangerous Bend" and "Railway Crossing with a Barrier". Russia finally acquired road signs in 1909.
