Antananarivo, IX.1998
| Nederlands | Path: Home / Country list / Children in depth / Children's crossing signs in Madagascar |
Though the situation is not as ominous as with the Asian toad, one has to be prescient and I therefore show finds influenced by modern foreign designs first. Commit them to memory and take appropriate action when they cross your path.
The girl with the ponytail comes straight from Germany and was reported only once. Let's hope we can keep it that way.
The next find is the most common sign in France. The design has spread into the local gene pool, but there is still hope because its offspring often features some local touch. The girl of Ile Ste Marie carries a bookbag and on the sign from Antsirabe it is the boy. Notice also the signs' shape which is round instead of triangular like most.
The signs discussed up until now all belong to the same group: where the tallest person shows the way.
Looking at the tallest, and leading, person we can recognize three divisions.
Other nice triplets, but then with a girl who shows the way, can be found in The Gambia, France, and Spain.
Peculiar to Madagascar — and France — is that roadsigns are sometimes donated by a company or an association: a gift from the BNI (Banque Nationale d'Investissement), the Rotary Club, a township and even a brand of milk concentrate Socolait promising power and strength.
Notice that apart from concrete or a metal occasionally roadsigns painted on wood are found. The triangular canvas is carefully constructed from separate planks. We have several on this page, but it happens also with Men at Work signs.
Sometimes however, the tall person is a female. Almost as frequently reported are signs where both persons are girls. This never happens with boys; probably because two boys together, and not supervised, cannot be trusted.
We have one sample where nothing hints towards the gender of the children. Their posture is different: it's like they are ready for a sprint.
I am not sure of some signs but I publish them nevertheless. One sign shows adults. But they both carry something like a bookbag and I therefore think the sample qualifies as a children's crossing sign. Another find features a person carrying a basket and a second woman a kind of a bag. The sign must warn for a marketplace, but because of the bag, which I see as a satchel, the story is that a mother brings her overgrown daugther to school first and will then go shopping, hence the basket.
