Kangaroos ahead sign
Kangaroos cross the road along this stretch, most often around dawn and dusk, so slow down and scan the verges.
- Group
- Warning signs
- The group at a distance
- Diamond, standing on one point, with no exceptions in this group. Yellow ground, black symbol.
- Does this group carry the law
- Not enforceable on its own. It changes nothing about right of way.
- In the sign deck
- 3 questions ask about this sign
What to do when you see it
In the order you do it, from the moment the sign comes into view.
- Slow down, especially between dusk and dawn when kangaroos move most.
- Scan the verges and the fence lines rather than only the road ahead.
- If one crosses, expect more behind it, because they travel in groups.
- Brake in a straight line rather than swerving, since leaving the road at speed is usually the worse outcome.
Where you see it
On rural highways and country roads almost everywhere in Australia, and on the outer edges of most capital cities.
Across the states and territories
The animal on the sign changes with the region. Kangaroos are the most widely used, while cattle, camels, emus, wombats and koalas appear on signs in the states and territories where those animals cross roads. The action is the same in each case: slow down and scan.
Tell it apart from these
Both signs at the same size, next to each other, with the one line that separates them. These are the pairs people mix up under time pressure.
- Kangaroos aheadthis pageCattle ahead
Livestock are slow and stay put. Kangaroos are fast, arrive without warning and change direction, so the sign asks for more caution at dusk.
Cattle ahead: Cattle may be on or beside the road here, so slow down and be ready to stop.
- Kangaroos aheadthis pageCurve to the left
Both are yellow diamonds, and on an unlit country road at night the shape reads before the symbol does. Slow down first and identify second.
Curve to the left: The road ahead curves to the left, so slow down before you reach it.
How the knowledge tests use it
The braking answer is the one being tested: brake in a straight line, do not swerve, and accept the collision over leaving the road at speed.
A real question from the sign deckWhat does this sign mean?
Animal warning signs are placed where animals of that kind regularly reach the road. The risk runs along the whole stretch, not just at the sign.
State and territory driver handbooks, warning signs
Try it in a question
The sign tests draw the artwork above the question and ask what it means, which is closer to the way you meet a sign on the road than reading a page about it. They are original questions written for this site rather than an agency's published bank.
More warning signs
Yellow diamond with a black symbol.