In this paper, a new traffic sign detection algorithm and a symbol recognition algorithm are proposed. For a 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 a symbol recognition, the curvilinear shape distribution on a circle centered on the centroid of the symbol, called a circular pattern vector, is used as a spatial feature of the 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.