Road signs in Malta are regulated by the Road Signs and Road Markings Regulations 1969,^[1] amended several times over the years, most recently in 2011, and are standardised by Transport Malta.^[2] Maltese road signs are divided into warning signs, regulatory signs, information signs and road markings. The Transport typeface is used on road signs as well as on road signs in the United Kingdom. Maltese road signs, regulated by The Highway Code of Malta, are based on those used in the United Kingdom, since the island nation was a British colony until 1964 when it became independent, with minor exceptions, for example, speeds are measured in kilometres per hour and distances in metres.^[3] However, road signs produced in Italy may be found in Malta and are identical to those used in Italy^[4][5] currently (for example the Stop sign) or in the past (for example the U-turn prohibition sign), sometimes "mirrored"; in these cases the "Alfabeto Normale" typeface is used, as in Italy. To date, in the Maltese archipelago there is therefore the coexistence of different signs on the British and, to a lesser extent, Italian model for the same function (even in combination). It is rarely possible to encounter, again without any official nature, diamond-shaped warning signs similar to those used in Ireland.^[6]

Although Malta is not a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, road signs generally conform to a pattern used by many other European countries (United Kingdom and Italy mainly), with the notable exception of Ireland that uses diamond-shaped warning signs instead of triangular ones.

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References