The Amazing World of Australian Roadsigns

So Australia strikes again at LEZ!

This time we would like to illuminate you about one of the most striking aspects of the Land Down Under, especially when visiting the country as a tourist. We are not referring to beautiful Sydney with its Harbour Bridge and Opera House, neither are we talking about Ayers Rock in the centre of the country nor the beautiful fauna found at the Great Barrier Reef. Today we’ll be dealing with Australian road signs!

As in any developed country, signs of notice, stop, caution, danger, obedience, emergency, safety and many others may be found in Australian roads. In any case, the most popular ones are those regarding caution and danger.  Most of them are diamond shaped, with a black picture or message on a yellow background.

And here it comes the interesting part. While in Spain drivers must be aware of “cows” or “deers” (at most), Australians were eager to show the wide variety their fauna has to offer. Hence, they designed funny caution and danger road signs with pictures of various Australian animals on them:

Now judge yourself and make your own comparisons. Cows and deers in Spain while kangaroos, koalas, Tasmanian devils, cassowaries, penguins, crocodiles, camels, platypuses, and a long etcetera in Australia

But hey, don’t get confused! Who said koalas were all the same? In Australia, road signs designers have plenty of creativity to create a design that fits every taste. If you don’t believe me, look at the following signs (they all suggest the same but with a different look):

Australian people are highly concerned about animal safety. That’s why they make drivers and pedestrians aware of the smallest and most defenceless creatures inhabiting their country. Don’t we have turtles or ducklings in Spain? Yes, we do. However, we are happy with our monothematic “cows and deers” road signs and forget to create others like the ones below:

And, again, mummy duck may have one, two, three or four ducklings (including a little one and another  eager to escape flying).

Are you speeding? In case you’re a bad driver who goes on hitting cassowaries, kind Australian people would remind you of the consequences:

To end with this amazing world of Australian road signs, we would like to show you our favourite. The Frilled-Necked Lizard road sign, an animal which inhabits mainly the north of the country. It reminds me of something... don’t you think so?

Yes, you are absolutely right!! The spitting lizard from Jurassic Park!!

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