Swedish Road Signs Explained

Most Swedish signs look like the rest of Europe’s. A handful don’t, and those are the ones that cost visitors a fine, a tax bill or a close call with a deer. Here they are, described in words and tied to the ordinance that gives them force.

When you need this

You’ve just picked up a rental car. Or you passed a yellow triangle with a reindeer on it and wondered how seriously to take it. Or a yellow diamond appeared and you’re not sure who goes first at the next junction. Or your overtaking lane is about to end on a road with a barrier down the middle.

Every sign’s meaning comes from one text, the vägmärkesförordningen (Road Signs Ordinance, SFS 2007:90). Transportstyrelsen, the Swedish Transport Agency, writes the detailed placement rules and publishes the official image of every sign.

The five shapes

Learn these and most of the system falls into place:

Yellow is Sweden’s normal warning colour, not an extra-urgent version. Signs stand on the right. A ban or mandatory sign hung over the road applies only to the lane beneath it. Electronic signs may show white on black, but red borders and bars always stay red.

Direction signs tell you the road type by colour: blue for ordinary public roads, green for motorways and motortrafikleder (expressways), yellow with a red border for private roads, and brown for tourist destinations.

Wildlife signs: extra risk, not the only risk

The wildlife sign (A19) marks a place or stretch with a particular risk of animals on or beside the road. The default symbol is a moose. Transportstyrelsen also allows deer, cow, horse, reindeer, sheep and wild boar. If the risk runs for a longer stretch, a panel underneath gives the length.

Here’s the part most guides miss. On ordinary rural roads with the 70 km/h base speed, the rules allow warning signs only for dangers a driver cannot be expected to foresee. Animals are expected across much of Sweden, so no sign doesn’t mean no animals.

The numbers make the point. About 73,300 road accidents with hoofed game were reported in 2025, roughly 200 a day. Roe deer made up about 69% of them and moose about 8%. Slow down at dawn and dusk, sign or no sign. If you do hit one, what to do after hitting an animal walks you through the legal duty to report.

Warning: In reindeer herding land the reindeer version of the sign appears. Reindeer are owned by individual owners and herded through Sami herding communities, and a collision must be reported too.

The yellow diamond: priority road

A yellow diamond with a white and black border marks a huvudled, a priority road. It stands where the priority road begins and is repeated after junctions unless it’s obvious the road continues.

On it, you have right of way: a driver entering from another road without an acceleration lane must give way to you. That means the give-way-to-the-right rule, familiar to German drivers as rechts vor links, doesn’t apply to you there. Don’t hesitate at every side road.

The same diamond crossed by a black diagonal bar ends the priority road. After it, ordinary junction rules apply again, including giving way to traffic from the right where no sign says otherwise.

One more rule catches visitors: you may not park on a priority road, even where no no-parking sign stands. The ban is in the traffic ordinance, not on a post.

2+1 roads: when your lane ends

A mötesfri väg, or 2+1 road, alternates between one and two lanes in each direction, with a barrier between opposing traffic. Its lane signs are white squares with black arrows:

• Lane-decrease sign (F17): arrows showing two lanes narrowing to one.
• Lane-layout sign (F18): arrows for each lane’s direction on the stretch ahead. A version with a hatched symbol for the barrier stands at least 200 m before it, on both sides of the road.
• Oncoming-traffic warning (A25): a yellow triangle with one arrow up and one down, where one-way lanes turn into two-way traffic.
• Merge sign (E15): a red arrow whose two branches join into one.

When two lanes merge, drivers in both lanes must adjust to each other with mutual consideration. In practice: when the lane-decrease sign appears, finish your overtake or stay behind. The barrier leaves no escape to the left.

Warning: Trafikverket counts about four deaths a year from breakdowns and punctures on motorways and 2+1 roads. If you break down, set out the warning triangle, then leave both car and road, behind the barrier if there is one.

A green sign with a white car seen from the front marks a motortrafikled. Motorway rules apply there: no stopping except at signed parking or rest areas, no reversing or turning, and no vehicles unable to do 40 km/h.

Camera and toll signs

The camera sign (E24) is a blue square with a white camera. It announces automatic camera monitoring, normally 40–300 m before the equipment, and may share a post only with a speed-limit sign. Trafikverket reports about 2,735 fixed safety cameras. But the ordinance defines E24 as monitoring of traffic rules, taxation or fees, so near Stockholm or Gothenburg the camera may be a tax camera. Full detail on limits and fines is in Swedish speed limits and cameras.

The toll-road sign (E25) is a white square with a black border showing a hand holding coins over a road. It means a fee or special tax is due for driving on a certain road or within a certain area. That covers congestion tax and the bridge fees on the Motala, Sundsvall and Skuru bridges.

There are no booths and nothing to stop for. Stockholm and Gothenburg register passages at camera-equipped payment stations, and the owner is billed afterwards. Foreign owners are invoiced via EPASS24, and a rental company passes the bill on to you. Times and rates are in congestion tax in Stockholm and Gothenburg.

Parking signs and their time panels

A blue circle with a red border and one diagonal bar bans parking. With two crossed bars it bans stopping too. Either applies on its own side of the road, from the sign to the next junction.

The panels underneath use a code worth memorising:

Red digits aren’t a stricter rule, just another day. Outside the listed hours the restriction doesn’t apply. Parking discs, winter date parking and fines are in parking in Sweden.

Winter signs

The slippery-road sign (A10), a car with wavy skid marks in a yellow triangle, warns that the road may be slippery. But the ordinance allows it for snow or ice only when there are special reasons. Its absence in winter tells you nothing.

The real winter signals are elsewhere:

• Variable speed signs drop the limit when there’s a risk of ice or queues. The number is binding when it sits in a red ring and advisory without one.
• The stud-ban sign (C44): a red-bordered circle with a studded tyre crossed out. Stockholm, Gothenburg and Uppsala use it on named streets; crossing them at marked junctions is allowed. See winter tyres.
• Snowmobile crossing (A33): a snowmobile in a yellow triangle, where snowmobiles often cross or enter the road.

In the mountains, a closed road may reopen only as a convoy behind a plough. Details are in winter driving in Sweden.

Practical information

FAQ

What does the yellow diamond sign mean in Sweden?

It marks a huvudled, a priority road. Traffic joining from side roads must give way to you, so the give-way-to-the-right rule does not apply to drivers on it. The sign is repeated after junctions. The same diamond with a black diagonal bar means the priority road ends and ordinary junction rules apply again. Parking on a priority road is banned.

What does the moose warning sign mean?

It is sign A19, warning for animals: a place or stretch with a particular risk of animals on or beside the road. The moose is the default symbol; deer, reindeer, wild boar, sheep, cows and horses also appear. A panel may give the stretch length. Slow down, especially at dawn and dusk, and remember that most collisions involve roe deer.

What is a 2+1 road?

A road where one lane and two lanes alternate in each direction, with a barrier between opposing traffic. Arrow signs show the lane layout ahead. When your overtaking lane ends, the lanes merge and both drivers must adjust with mutual consideration. Finish overtaking before the merge, and never stop in the lane: breakdowns on these roads kill people every year.

Are speed cameras signposted in Sweden?

Yes. The blue square sign with a white camera, E24, announces automatic monitoring, normally 40–300 metres before the equipment, and may share a post only with a speed-limit sign. The same sign can also announce cameras for congestion tax or fees. Trafikverket reports about 2,735 fixed safety cameras. Treat the sign as a reminder to hold the posted limit.

How do I know I am entering a congestion charge zone?

Stockholm and Gothenburg charge congestion tax at camera-equipped payment stations with no booths or barriers. The road-sign ordinance provides sign E25, a white square showing a hand holding coins over a road, for roads or areas where a fee or special tax is due. You cannot pay at the roadside: the owner is billed afterwards, foreign owners via EPASS24.

What do red numbers on Swedish parking signs mean?

Red digits on the panel under a parking or no-parking sign give the hours for Sundays and public holidays. Plain black or white digits cover ordinary weekdays, and digits in brackets cover the day before a Sunday or holiday, usually Saturday. Outside the listed hours the restriction does not apply. Our parking guide covers discs, date parking and fines.

Does Sweden have signs warning of ice?

Rarely. The slippery-road sign, a car with wavy skid marks in a yellow triangle, may warn of snow or ice only for special reasons, so its absence in winter tells you nothing. Winter warnings come instead from variable speed signs that lower the limit when ice is likely, binding when the number sits in a red ring, and from Trafikverket’s road-conditions map.

Related guides

• Driving in Sweden — the core rules these signs sit inside
• Parking in Sweden — discs, date parking and how to pay or dispute a fine
• What to do after hitting an animal — the reporting duty when the sign was right
• Swedish speed limits and cameras — defaults, cameras and fine levels
• Congestion tax in Stockholm and Gothenburg — times, rates and paying from abroad

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Facts verified 2026-09-25. Sources: the Road Signs Ordinance (SFS 2007:90) and Road Traffic Ordinance on Riksdagen, Transportstyrelsen (the Swedish Transport Agency), Trafikverket, Naturvårdsverket — full register in this topic’s source file. Signs are described in words; see Transportstyrelsen’s catalogue for the official images. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.