Road signs in Lithuania conform to the general pattern of those used in most other European countries as set out in the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.[1] Due to the country being occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union between 1940 and 1990, when it restored its independence, modern road signs used in Lithuania are in many ways similar in design to road signs used in the Soviet Union before its dissolution in 1991. This design of road signs is still used in most post-Soviet states, in particular Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Neighboring post-Soviet Baltic countries Latvia and Estonia, which were also occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, have significantly modified their road sign designs, resulting road signs in these two countries being extremely different in design from road signs used in most other post-Soviet states.
Lithuanian road sign design saw minor changes in 2014. Some of the warning signs design were changed, a few new signs were added, like the sign indicating speed bump (formerly uneven road sign was used for indicating speed bumps), or sign indicating emergency stopping lane. Also, Lithuania is the only post-Soviet state to use both a blue and green background on the "Motorway" road sign. Lithuania formerly used only green background on the "Motorway" road sign, as now do the rest of the post-Soviet states.
The official typeface used on road signs in Lithuania is based on the Soviet standard GOST 10807-78 .[2]
The first road signs arrived in Lithuania on 1 October 1930 after the President of the Republic Antanas Smetona signed the International Convention on automobile traffic.[3] In 1940, after the Soviet Union occupied and subsequently annexed Lithuania, the Soviet road traffic rules and road signs, which had been in force in the Soviet Union since 1936, were adopted in Lithuania.[4] On January 1, 1980, the standard GOST 10807-78 was adopted in the Soviet Union, including the territory of present-day Lithuania. In 1990, after Lithuania restored its independence by the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania and the dissoltion of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet road sign design used remained unchanged.[5]
Due to the fact that modern road signs in Lithuania are very similar in design to Soviet signs, including modern Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Moldovan signs, there have been proposals to change the design of road signs used in Lithuania. In 2020, Seimas deputy Kęstutis Masiulis addressed the Minister of Transportation Jaroslavas Narkevičius with a proposal to change the design of road signs, which had not been changed since Soviet times.[6] He stated the following about it:
In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, two road signs were installed in the Liepkalnis area of Vilnius, indicating distances to the Ukrainian and Belarusian capitals, Kyiv and Minsk, respectively.[7] The Ukrainian flag is displayed at the bottom of the sign indicating the distance to Kyiv on the left, while "OCCUPIED BY KREMLIN" is written at the bottom of the sign indicating the distance to Minsk on the right.
On 2 April 2024, Seimas deputies Andrius Vyšniauskas, Paulė Kuzmickienė and Mindaugas Skritulskas appealed to the Minister of Transport, proposing to change the design of road signs, because in their opinion, the design of road signs used in Lithuania is similar to the signs used during the Soviet occupation. "Lithuania has not only identified itself with the Western world for more than 30 years, but is also a part of it. We do not associate our identity with the states stuck in the post-Soviet space, which were part of the USSR, even more so with Russia or Belarus. In the course of Russia's war against Ukraine and against the entire democratic Western world, we are trying to sever all links with the criminal authoritarian regimes of Russia and Belarus. However, after crossing the Lithuanian-Russian or Lithuanian-Belarusian borders, we are greeted by the same or very similar Soviet standard road signs with the same Soviet font. We are able to remove Soviet boulders from city squares, move soldiers' cemeteries, it is time to abandon these Soviet relics as well", says Seimas member A. Vyšniauskas.[8] However, the Ministry of Transport and Communications states that there is no sufficient legal basis to change the design of road signs following the example of other countries. The ministry also emphasized that installing one standard road sign costs an average of €200.[9] [10] [11]