In this paper, a new traffic sign detection algorithm.. and a symbol recognition algorithm are proposed. For traffic sign detection, a dominant color transform is introduced, which serves as a tool of highlighting a dominant primary color, while discarding the other two primary colors. For symbol recognition, the curvilinear shape distribution on a circle centered on the centroid of symbol, called a circular pattern vector, is used as a spatial feature of symbol. The circular pattern vector is invariant to scaling, translation, and rotation. As simulation results, the effectiveness of traffic sign detection and recognition algorithms are confirmed, and it is shown that group of circular patter vectors based on concentric circles is more effective than circular pattern vector of a single circle for a given equivalent number of elements of vectors.