Fluorescent Yellow-Green Signs
The color most important to know, by far, is Fluorescent Yellow-Green, also known as FYG to traffic sign manufacturers. The specially engineered color is reserved among all traffic signs to alert drivers to school zones.
It’s not the yellow with an orange tint that you see on more general warning signs, such as railroad crossings, no-passing zones, or to indicate an impending merge. It’s not the yellow you see on a school bus, either—that’s known as National School Bus Glossy Yellow. FYG is an entirely different hue.
The History of a Color
School warning signs are Fluorescent Yellow-Green to ensure they are never mistaken for something else. The neon-like yellow materials weren’t durable enough for long-term signage until the early 1990s. FYG goes beyond standard retroreflective sheeting for visibility. Fluorescent sheeting can transform invisible ultraviolet rays and reflect them back as visible light. FYG glows, even in the daylight, for can’t-miss noticeability.
Proof of Effectiveness
Drivers can recognize FYG from further distances than standard colors. In fact, the Federal Highway Administration was so concerned about increasing pedestrian injuries and fatalities that they commissioned a two-year study in 1993. In conclusion, the FHWA discovered that FYG signs significantly reduced pedestrian-vehicle incidents and considerably increased driver yield and stop rates.
Even public opinion polls approved of FYG, and the duller yellow signs were phased out. By the time a new edition of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices was issued in 2009, FYG signs were required for all school zone warning signs.
FYG Shapes
Individuals can further identify school zone signs by different shapes with different messages. The five-sided yellow sign shape that resembles an old-fashioned schoolhouse warns drivers of school pedestrian crossings. There are fewer examples of FYG signs in vertical rectangular shapes, which have red accents to instruct drivers to stop or yield for pedestrians. More common are the diamond-shaped FYG signs, which are used for:
- Pedestrian Traffic
- Handicapped Pedestrian Crossing
- School Bus Stop Ahead
- Playground Alerts
- Bicycle Warnings
Black, White, and Red
FYG signs are warning signs. School zone regulatory signs are less urgent and are indicated with non-neon colors, such as black, white, and red, which is generally used for Stop and Yield signs. Black and white school zones resemble other speed limit signs, but with a bright FYG strip at the top to indicate their use for school zones.
At Custom Products Corporation, we’ve been in business since 1985, and we’ve watched sign color for school warning signs evolve over the decades. Our school zone safety signs meet all the latest regulations in the MUTCD, and we also offer enhanced features such as flashing LED lights. Contact us so we can help keep your students safe.
