I have a particular interest in road lay-out and road signs between different countries and territories. For my own experience I have only driven in one complete different area of Britain: Gibraltar. It´s an experience. Even though they drive on the right, and all speed limits are in kilometres, road signs and lay-out are exactly the same as in Britain. I also would like to see more pictures and comparisons of the Falklands and Hong Kong for example. Also I believe a lot of north-African countries use the French system, as well as French Guyana, while Dutch (ex) overseas territories use a mixture of their own based on Dutch influence.
I have noticed that the Greek motorway system virtually has a German road lay-out with German style signs in a different colour.
And Finland seems to copy the Swedish style.
Albania only has become independent in 1912; before that, it has been a part of the Osman Empire since around 1500. The new state was very unstable and during the Great War, it was object of occupations of neighbouring countries.
After the war, the instable situation continued, and the fascist Italians gained influence in Albania. This lead to the annexion of Albania by the Kingdom of Italy. After WWII, Albania was a part of the Eastern Block (COMECON and Warsaw Treaty), but in 1961, it turned away from the Soviet Union and seeked support from the People's Republic of China.
Thus Albania was isolated, and like in many Eastern nations, only radio & TV built a bridge to the outside world, while the own media would only spread propaganda of the own regime. In the case of Albania, the Italian TV was widely watched throughout the country, so that since the 1980ies, Albania was still influenced by Italian language and culture.
So there are some historical and cultural ties between Italy and Albania, which is obviuosly reflected in the Albanian roadsign design.
Yep. And while there are some clear ties between Italy and Albania, sometimes one country simply copies another country without any apparent tie. Simply look at the way Greek directional signage resembles Germany. Every country in the world is free to have itself inspired by someone else...
Japan uses a speed limit sign that is similar to a speed limit sign in the Czech Republic, but Japan uses blue font while the Czech Republic uses black font.
^^ It's DIN Mittelschrift, so indeed the font that the Germans use as the principal font for their signs. The Czech Republic also has selected this font, albeit that they have a tendency towards printing in allcaps while the Germans use normal capitalisation as a principle.
But when it comes to speed limit signs, the Germans use DIN Engschrift. So on this point the Czech / Japanese speed limit sign looks German, but has a clear difference with what you see in Germany.
DIN 1451 Mittelschrift is actually my favorite font...
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