Refuge Island

I borrowed Dan's digital camera to bring you this post. *Grin*

The following pic shows a road sign near where I stay: The first time I saw it, I was both tickled and quizzed. I bet many a non-Australian driver must have scratched their heads upon seeing this road sign. Indeed, I once witnessed a driver, should be a non-local, who slowed down to a crawl upon approaching the sign and then later the refuge island, not knowing what to do. He gana sworn at by an Aussie beng tailgating him.

So what is it? Further up the road, I find this. Yes, those two slabs of elevated concrete is the refuge island (got two, so shouldn't it be islands?). It is for pedestrians to well... take refuge (?) when crossing the road.

Now, what's more interesting is that "Keep Left" sign. That is the third version put up.

The first version is an "N" shaped structure painted orange with black arrows pointing left, roughly half the height of that "Keep Left" sign. And there were two such structures, one at where the red arrows are pointing to (call it no. 1), the other at where the white arrows are pointing to (call it no. 2). When I first moved here, the no. 1 sign had already been run over (!!!) and the no. 2 sign was slightly bent. Run over as in the whole sign lies flat on the ground after suffering from a direct impact from a car, but its two "legs" remain cemented to the ground. Within one month of my moving in, no. 2 sign also got run over. Speaks volumes about the drivers here, or the poor lighting. Or both.

It took the town council about one school semester, roughly 4 months, to get them replaced. Within one month of being replaced, BOTH signs got run over again! This time, it took the town council about half a year to get them replaced. Speaks volumes about their er... efficiency. Speaks volumes about the drivers here, or the poor lighting. Or both. Or all three.

Then, they decided to change the design of the sign. Maybe drivers can't see it at night. So the next sign, the second version, put up had those light reflecting material pasted on the "N" shaped structure. The new structure was also made taller. This time, the sign lasted a little longer. For about 8 months I think. It got run over (just a question of time, I suppose) about a month ago. But at least it lasted more than a month.

It took the town council only a month or so to get somebody down to replace it. They're improving! That white "Keep Left" sign is what has been put up. Third version liao. Much taller than the "N"s. You can still see the stumps left behind by the predecessor signs, i.e. where the four arrows are pointing to.

Given that this sign is NOT light reflecting, I am not so optimistic about its mortality rate. All bets are off on how long it will last.

And given the high rate of mortality of these poor signs, I can't help but feel vulnerable when crossing that particular road. Standing on that slab of concrete always gives me the creeps.

Whilst I am still at it, I also took a pic of a U-shaped tree I mentioned some time back. There is a whole stretch of them along this road. They send people down to prune them from time to time to make sure they remain U-shaped. Power cables vs trees? Power cables win.

Akan Datang: Cantona

190 days to go.