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Falling Rock Signs in South-Africa

If you are into Falling Rock Signs and plan to visit South-Africa then take some extra film —that's what I wrote in 1999; how awfully dated that now is— and a sketch-book with you.

This type of warning-signs seems left out of the standardization programme: every pass, almost every curve has a local version. After days of new variants continuously coming up I didn't feel much like road sign collecting any more. Team members had a hard job cheering me up.

But that's long forgotten now and I'm very happy that new finds still come up.

Although the variation is enormous, it is possible to bring some structure into the collection.
Calitzdorp, 31.VIII.2010; pict. P. Welk Cape region, 01.IX.2010; pict. P. Welk
 
The number of boulders is a constant: seven stones, no more no less. Given the number of panels this is extraordinary. But further analysis revealed that the size of the stones could help to clear things up. We can distinguish two main groups.

The first group (left column) has seven stones of about the same size each. The artist is probably free in the positioning of the stones: sometimes close to the wall, at other times drifting away.

The second group (right column) features boulders together with gravel-like stones. The constellation of the stones is more or less constant. The British rock warning sign has similar looks (and probably inspired the South-African counterpart), but comes out quite differently if you look a bit closer.

Ceres (Michell's Pass), VII.1997 Cape Town, VII.1997
Citrusdal, VII.1997 Prince Albert - Beaufort West, VII.1997
 
This panel has been mounted with the wrong side down, creating the illusion of boulders escaping from earth.
Visit USA, Armenia or Belgium for more. I suppose that engineers from Jordan took exactly this traffic sign as an example to furnish the Desert Highway.
Zwartberg Pass; Oudtshoorn side, VII.1997

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More signs from South-Africa: Men at work - Children's crossing