Traffic and wildlife

A few days ago we went with the kids at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to visit this great place and view up close Queensland wildlife. 

tree kangaroo

cassowary

And when we were admiring the tree kangaroos and the cassowary  I remembered how impressed I was when I first saw the wildlife warning signs.

kangaroo - camel -cassowary - wild horse - koala - wombat

And there are also the "care for our wildlife" information signs.

echidna - tree kangaroo - duck - small bird - possum - lizard

In Greece there is only one wildlife sign depicting a deer and it is representative of all wildlife animals even though there are only a few deers left; some in Mount Parnitha near Athens and more in Mount Rodopi near my former hometown Kavala. 

 

There is also a warning sign with a cow on it representing all livestock animals. 

This is similar to the livestock warning sign in QLD.

Unfortunately there is no sign depicting a bear which is the animal more endangered by road traffic in Greece. Just yesterday two young brown bears were killed in the road near Kastoria another northern Greek city that I love and have family at. 

Wildlife protection is one of the most important sectors in environmental protection and sustainable development. Sustainable mobility can play a big part in this cause not only by putting up signs to warn drivers for the presence of wildlife but mainly through planning and design of infrastructure that does not invade wildlife habitat and protects these sensitive ecosystems from collateral damage.

Keep left

Coming to Australia from Greece I had the problem to adjust to left side driving. Today about 66.1% of the world's people live in right-hand traffic countries and 33.9% in left-hand traffic countries. About72% of the world's total road distance carries traffic on the right, and 28% onthe left.

source

It took me about a month to get comfortable on driving to the other side that I used to drive for 20 years. 

Australia drives on the left. The decision to drive on the left side of the road was made in the early 19th century in the early period of the British colony of New South Wales.

Keep left sign on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria

Thankfully roads in Australia are well signed, equipped also with pavement markings and lines making it real easy for the foreign driver to drive here. The most helpful sign is without doubt the KEEP LEFT sign.  

The sign is used near the start of a central island, median or similar device where traffic can physically pass on either side but it is necessary for all traffic on the particular approach to pass it on one side only.

The sign and the left arrow is also used in other occasions. It seems that the last days everywhere I go I find one of this in front of me.

Bermuda Road, Gold Coast

Q1 Gold Coast

Australia Fair Parking, Gold Coast

Gold Coast Highway

Gold Coast Highway

Victoria Bridge, Brisbane

No parking odd sign.

While discussing parking restriction signs and regulations with my colleagues I realised that European parking signs are a lot different than those in Australia.

Take a look at some of the most common parking signs in Australia:

 

Here, parking signs are more like the USA signs:

In both countries you will find some differences between the different states (and territories).
But in Europe, parking signs are a lot different,. This is how the no parking and no standing sign look like.

Also there are some odd signs. Because of the mixed land uses in city centres and the narrow width road network there are the no parking on odd months and even months signs in Greece that look like this: