Funny road signs from around the world
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Have you ever wondered what sort of work goes into making a road sign? It's actually an intensive, ongoing process - one involving more than posting giant white lettering on a big reflective sign.
Traffic experts from around the world attend conferences on the creation of effective road signs. They do studies and experiment with visibility, legibility and understandable instructions for drivers whizzing by.
And yet... signs have defied more than a century of attempts at standardisation.
And then there's just good old human error. Check out some of these humorous head-scratchers, starting with this, a slightly frosty reception for visitors to the Cumbrian village of Allonby.
Deer can cause a lot of damage when hit by a car, so drivers in North Vancouver are probably happy to be warned that deer may be crossing.
However, using a photograph of a camel in the sign is a bit puzzling. Doh!
spotted this in India on last year’s Silk Trail expedition.not sure why people should call this number, and we weren't particularly keen to find out...
Despite signs like this spelling it out, some drivers insist on following their sat navs.
We wonder what happens if you ignore the sign
We don’t know what “Australian Wife Carrying Titles” are, nor “World Husband Dragging Titles”, but this sign makes a change from all the car boot sales you see advertised on the roadside.
London taxi drivers are never short of an opinion or three and when a survey asked them to suggest some new UK road signs they didn’t hold back.
What follows are some of the signs motorists would be treated to if cabbies ruled the roads...
With UK councils apparently incapable of repairing their pothole-scarred streets, how about some helpful signs to warn us of the worst carriageway craters?
Phone use is rightly banned at the wheel but pedestrians wandering about with their heads buried in their mobiles can be almost as dangerous. This sign would warn drivers to stay on their toes.
The rickshaw rider is the sworn enemy of taxi drivers everywhere so it’s little wonder that the cabbies proposed a sign to warn of their slow-moving presence.
Taxi drivers hate headphone-wearing pedestrians. Not only because they can walk out in front of cars but also because when they do, they can’t hear the cabbie’s trademark torrent of abuse.
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This helpful sign reminds motorists of the lane hierarchy
This is the last of the cabbies' road signs. A warning of what drivers should expect when passing a school during rush hour.
No country has a monopoly on funny road signs but if you had to put your finger on one place where they’ve got more than their fair share, it would have to be the mountainous areas of northern India.
On the region’s treacherous Himalayan roads they’ve turned the hilarious road sign into an art form.
It’s a slightly garbled message but its heart is in the right place.
When it comes to the crunch, some signs really are unnecessary.
This sign near Glastonbury, Somerset, should have heeded its own warning.
You don'€™t see signs like this every day, unless you live in the arctic circle
This warning sign on the Falkland Islands is one that you definitely don'€™t drive past lightly.
Wherever possible road signs should blend in with their local environment. This one in Wiveton, Norfolk, even goes so far as to adopt the local vernacular. Either that or Yoda has landed a job with the town council.
There are tight squeezes and then there'€™s this physically impossible fit. Although we can think of a few cars you could attempt it in, you'€™d have to pray you didn'€™t meet anything coming the other way.
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A light-hearted sign warning against a deadly serious offence.
Whoever planned this series of signs clearly has a sense of humour. The road surface may be uneven, but so are camels
The existence of the sasquatch or 'big foot' is a popular myth in remote areas of the US. Or is it? If they've put up a road sign it must be tr
In 2008, speeders on the country road between Great Dunmow and Finchingfield in the UK were given the warning that they'd be tracked by a police helicopter if they strayed above the limit. In fairness, if we breached the limit and found a searchlight in the rear view mirror, we'd slow down pretty quickly.
Is it a gopher? Is it a tortoise? Apparently, it's both and is likely to cross the road at the (very slow) drop of a hat.
In Oz, drivers are warned of the dangers of possums. Though there's no indication as to whether they'll dangerously leap across the road or are just there for motorists to see..
Similar to the possums sign in Australia, this sign in Nova Scotia, Canada only suggests that there may be a moose or two kicking around, rather than what the moose are likely to do.
This is more like it! If you're going to put an out-of-the-ordinary sign on the road, it may as well be useful. And apparently New England has a full 11-mile stretch of road full to the brim of asphalt-traversing Moose. Drive slowly through there
Residents of Wellington, New Zealand, are warned of penguins crossing the road. That said, New Zealand penguins look awfully like miniature burglars. Maybe that's why the sign is so big?
In Charlestown you can hire your own, erm, hoofs to get around. Though we hope that this is just an opportune picture, rather than the actual deal.
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