Route shield pavement marking

A route shield pavement marking (also called an advance pavement marking or pavement marking shield) is a road surface marking that depicts a route shield and functions as either a road traffic safety measure or a mitigation against street sign theft.

Many countries, including those that never use highway shields, such as France, the United Kingdom and Germany, paint highway numbers on the surface. The Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals allows highway numbers to be painted on surface, either white or coloured (most often in white). An example in the United Kingdom is the A33 painted on a lane destined for Basingstoke.