Swedish parking sign rules and p-disc fines, Digi Mart USA News: Two sign combinations that look almost identical in Sweden carry different meanings for drivers using a parking disc (p-skiva), and the difference can lead to a parking fine.
According to Carup, one sign shows a P sign with two supplementary plates, meaning parking is allowed for two hours per day with a parking disc. The other shows a P sign with one supplementary plate, meaning parking is allowed for two hours with a parking disc during the stated time, with no other time restrictions.
Stefan Wahlberg, a lawyer and parking expert, said many drivers are unsure of the difference and that it is the duty of every motorist to understand road signs. He said the meaning follows a system set out in law and in a Swedish Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen) ruling in a parking case involving a confusing sign arrangement.
Wahlberg explained that the sign at the top sets the main rule, such as parking prohibited or parking permitted, while supplementary plates below list exceptions. When several exceptions appear on separate plates, each should be read separately, as if the others were not there, with the phrase “and in addition applies” between them.
When several exceptions appear on a single supplementary plate, the conditions should be read together as one combined exception. Wahlberg said the most complicated cases arise when both types of supplementary plates are combined under the same main sign.
Under Swedish law, road signs must be clear and easy to understand. Wahlberg said he has seen combinations that are logically impossible, where plates contradicted or cancelled each other, and that in such cases the parking fine should be annulled.
He questioned where the limit lies when a correct sign becomes so complicated that it breaks the rule that conditions must be clear.
