‘More cool than annoying’: The weirdest road signs surprising tourists around the world

Despite an abundance of universal road signs that are straightforward, some countries occasionally have some signage that can leave anyone without local or insider knowledge scratching their heads.

To the uninitiated, Australia’s eclectic mix of signage – ranging from warnings about camels, bandicoots, wombats, and kangaroos and the like to those aimed at tackling driver fatigue – would be enough to intimidate even some of the most seasoned drivers.

RELATED: 'Normal in Australia': The local road signs baffling tourists

With this in mind, Drive has compiled a list of some of the funniest, unique and downright confusing road signs around the world shared on social media.

Here’s what we found.

If you’re thinking about travelling to South Africa, there are some road signs warning drivers to look under their parked cars before leaving as there’s a chance a penguin could be hiding under the vehicle.

For example, this signage found in the Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town warns visitors to keep an eye out for the flightless bird.

While this might seem fake, a local Cape Town driver shared a photo of this occurring in a viral Reddit thread from 2021.

In the photo, the penguin can be seen hunched over and seeking shelter under a vehicle, much to the amusement of commenters.

“Don’t judge, do you have any idea how hard it is to be a penguin, my dude just needs an escape, if only for a few hours,” one Reddit user added, while another remarked “That’s more cool than annoying, I would feel [honoured]”.

Similar warning signs can be found in Phillip Island, Victoria, where the local penguin colony is a popular tourist attraction.

While most drivers are used to clear and concise directions, this specific road sign found in the southern US state of Alabama reads more like a complicated equation than a simple guide.

The signage mixes a range of directions, and seemingly random numbers as well as sprinkling of words such as “business” and ”trucks”.

Despite similar signs around the US circulating on social media, this example was spotted in Alabama and uploaded to Reddit, with some locals and commenters sharing their opinions about the convoluted signage.  

“It is kinda crazy to expect someone driving along to ingest that all at a glance,” one user wrote.

“I have driven through that intersection several times. Glad to see someone finally posted this ridonculous [sic] collection of signs,” another one added.

“This is why people end up in Alabama, they can't find their way out,” a Reddit user stated.

However, one Reddit user did break down the confusing road signs when they explained: “You just locate the road number and direction that you need and follow its sign. If your road and direction show up twice, and one is labelled ‘business’, that is going to be the slower route, which will take you through a more densely populated area with more traffic lights and such”.

“The non-business route will largely bypass that sort of thing,” they added.

Speaking of complicated equations, this sign spotted on an unspecified stretch of road in Palermo, Italy – the capital city of Sicily – warned drivers of incoming road closures in its native tongue, which is made more confusing for visiting drivers by the inclusion of seemingly nonsensical numbers.

The photo was posted to the social media platform Reddit on October 2024, where the original poster explained: “Traveling in Italy. What do these signs mean?”.

One commenter added: “I know what a white sign with a red edge means, but I'm sure this sign means more than that”.

To save you the headache, the signage loosely translates as 'road closed to traffic from 15+350 to 15+650'. To avoid any further confusion, the warning sign notes that in 15km, there will be a 300m stretch of road that is closed from its starting point of 350m at the end of the 15km.

While road authorities’ main focus is saving lives, some transport departments aren’t exempt from jumping on witty pop culture references to make their road safety messages more memorable.

In the case of Iowa’s Department of Transport, workers have previously capitalised on the notoriety of singer Taylor Swift by cheekily embedding her lyrics on highway signs warning drivers to focus on the road ahead.

One billboard photographed in 2017 went viral on social media after a driver snapped the highway sign that read: “Old Taylor can’t come to the phone… she’s driving” – which drew inspiration from one of Swift’s best-known songs Look What You Made Me Do.

Despite various state transport authorities jumping in on pop culture trends over the years, the US Federal Highway Administration previously condemned the idea of using humorous and obscure pop culture references for road safety signage across the country.

According to a January 2024 report by US news outlet AP News, the Federal Road authority said signs should be “simple, direct, brief, legible and clear” when sharing important safety information with drivers.

Despite an abundance of unique animal warning signs found on local roads across Australia, this one located in the coastal Scottish village of Tongue might be the most confusing for tourists.

Depicting an octopus playing with the silhouette of a car, the unique road sign can be found at the Kyle of Tongue Bridge, with the image going viral on Facebook.

One tourist who snapped the photo posted it to the social media platform where it generated more than 12,000 likes and was shared 5000 times, with most commenters likening the depiction to the mythical colossal squid, the Kraken.

“So that's where the Kraken lives!” one Facebook user stated, while another commenter added: “I thought Krakens liked warmer waters!”. However, the meaning of the signage is a little less mythical and more mundane, with the road sign warning drivers they are driving close to the sea.