Hoons on Utes

Two very Australian words in one title. The hoons are mostly white, suburban, teenagers. Not much of a brain. They are those kids whose main activities include speeding, street racing, burnouts or screeching tyres in their utes. So what's a ute I hear you ask? Just see the picture above. A ute is short for 'utility vehicle'. They have been very much in fashion for some years now but lately they have been mainly coming in funny colours and it is not uncommon to see gangs of them aligned at some reststop parkings. Each country has its own plague really.

Road Signs

The Kangaroo and Crocodile road signs are famous Australian icons all around the world. If you actually see the kangaroo one on nearly every road all around the country, the crocodile sign is less frequent and I do not recall having seen the Cassowary sign before today even though I surely have seen a huge flock of emus in the wild in the past - but it was down in Victoria and there was no sign for them...

ERP

Well before the infamous London's congestion charge, Singapore innovated as far back as 1998 with an electronic road pricing system logically called the ERP. It was the first automatic road charge syste in the world. Its aim is to 'ease' the traffic during peak hours. I have to believe the statistics saying that as a consequence the number of vehicles has decreased and the average speed came up during these busy periods thanks to the ERP even though I think it actually more likely results into a huge additional revenue for the LTA (Land Transport Authority). Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against it as long as we know the money is reinvested to develop public transports for example. Anyway, if you happen to rent a vehicle in Singapore do not forget to buy a cashcard that will have to be inserted in the specially designed box in the vehicle in order for the gantries to detect it and deuct the necessary amount while driving under.