Falling grapes, half moons - the road signs that are driving France crazy

London, Apr 6 : If you're planning a trip to France make sure to brush up a set of odd new road signs that advise on matters such as the proximity of wine and places to put a canoe in the water.

The 20 new signs from the superministry of the environment are intended to update obsolete pictograms but they also include new ones that are mystifying France.

In one case, comprising a pair of half-moons that look decidedly cleavage-like, drivers may even be driven to distraction.

"A certain number of them remain perfectly impenetrable to drivers with hundreds of thousands of kilometres under their wheels," Times Online quoted Le Figaro, one of France's leading newspaper, as stating.

And once they have been learnt, some drivers may be wondering what the point of them is.

The half-moons, for example, inform passing traffic that near by is "a garden that has been officially certified as a garden of note".

On inquiry, the Ministry of Culture defines this as a garden certified as having "design, plants and care of a remarkable level". An image of a speeding train indicates the presence of "a station with traffic above 30,000 passengers a year".

Thirsty drivers will be relieved to see a bunch of grapes signifying that "wine products" can be found near by, while those who happen to have a boat on the roof will be informed of a suitable launch point by a figure of a man apparently ramming his canoe into the bottom of a lake.

Two other incomprehensible signs indicate that you are approaching "a museum certified as a Museum of France" and "the entrance area of a sensitive natural space".

ANI