If you are making a long trip on a motorway and you do not want to deviate too much to refuel, it might help if you know some of the hidden secrets of the road signs.
On a long trip, it is quite common to not want to go too far out of your way to refuel. In most cases, the filling station that is next to or very close to the motorway is often preferred. However, sometimes, because we may not know how to read and interpret traffic signs, we end up selecting a petrol station which is surprisingly far away from the motorway.
The distance indicated by the information signs is one of the main giveaways for drivers, but the colour is also an indicator.
In the case of distance, if the indicative signs say that the petrol station is at 1,000 metres and then at 500 metres, this means that the filling station will be practically next to the motorway or on a parallel service road that will make you deviate very little.
On the other hand, if the petrol station identification signs are located 750 and 250 metres away, in these cases you will have to deviate from the motorway and, on certain occasions, even take a short tour of a section of a regional or national road.
Likewise, the colours of the filling station or service station identification signs also constitute a fundamental trick. First of all, if these signs are blue, then the petrol station will be on the same side of the highway; secondly, if the signs are green, the service station will not be parallel to the motorway, although it will be a short distance through a small section of connection that will not make you deviate too much; and thirdly, if the signs are white, this filling station option would be the least interesting for you , because to get to the service station you will have to travel a few kilometres through a national, local, provincial or regional road.
In addition to the colours and distances, another piece of information that you must take into account and that is usually indicated on these signs is the timetable in which the gas stations provide service. Be careful because there are a good number of these establishments that have restricted hours (from 6-7 am until 11 pm in many cases) and even on Sundays and holidays they may be closed.
Of course, if your car is equipped with a GPS navigator with a service station/petrol station locator, it will be helpful to consult it, unless its software has not been updated for a long time. Likewise, there are many apps for smartphones with petrol station locators and, in many cases, they also tell you the price and the ranking of the cheapest according to the route you are taking.
