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Drive around the roads of South Africa and you'll soon realise that this is not quite your 'normal' society. You'll pick this up from the many road signs that you'll never see elsewhere in the world.

I mean, where else in the world do you get an official sign warning you that your wheels are going to get stolen if you park in that spot; or that hijackers are going to nail you as you wait at that spot for the robots to change?

And then there are the more humorous and ingenious signs, such as the one in East London on the road approaching the Beacon Bay Country Club that urges you to slow down as you're going too fast and then, a bit further on, you come across a second sign 'shouting' at you that you are still going too fast. It works by the way.

And what about the fact that pedestrians are not allowed, by law, to walk on the highways but then you come across official signs that tell you to beware of pedestrians. Where? Walking on the highways of course - and not just for a kilometre or so ahead but for the next 110 kms ahead nogal!
 

	Pedestrians are not, by law, allowed on the highways. So where do we get warning signs of pedestrians? On the highways of course. And there they are!

And then we have the rural areas where cows rule the roads in the absences of fences so we have signs telling us to beware of cows. Phew! It's no wonder there's so many head-tail collisions. Everyone's looking out for tyre thieves, hijackers, pedestrians and cows instead of keeping their eyes on the vehicle in front.

Hope drivers don't shoot at the cows on the roads as they've shot at this cow on the sign.

As a matter of interest, Nazir Ali, CEO of the South African National Roads Agency and I were chatting some time ago and I mentioned that it was not such a good idea to have our international cricketers and their supporters welcomed to the cricket grounds in Centurion Park with a warning sign telling them that they were in the middle of a 'Hijacking Hotspot'. He agreed saying he had already told the 'sign-guys' to take them down at the off-ramps and erect signs imparting the same message but in a more subtle way. So now everyone is urged to be aware for their own safety.
 

Before: A huge Yikes!     After: A more subtle Yikes!

It doesn't tell you exactly what you must be aware of so when I stopped on an off-ramp the other day and saw such a sign, I immediately recalled the former warning signs about hijackers and those ones about cows. After keeping a beady eye on the bush alongside hoping that I wouldn't be attacked by a galloping cow ridden by a hijacker, my relief was high when the robot changed to green. I dropped the clutch to pull off quickly from that dangerous spot but my car ground to an abrupt halt. My wheels had been stolen. (Only joking!).

Have you seen any 'strange' road signs lately? If you have, why not send us a photograph along with a caption and you could win yourself a prize. Not sure what the prize will be as yet but we'll come up with something. How about a cow?

Our first winner is Phillip Hull for sending us the photographs of the 'Wheels Stolen' signs. He gets a new set of wheels after having his stolen when he got out his vehicle to take the photographs of the warning signs. He obviously didn't read the sign!