Signature Signals

I've been reading about the different walk/don't walk traffic signals around the world the last couple of days which brought back found memories of a trip to Australia. The signals themselves weren't that much different from ours other than when you were about halfway across the street they started playing a warning tune that reminded us of the Pac-Man game but I digress. In Maryborough, Australia,where the author of Mary Poppins was born they have installed Mary Poppins walk signals in honor of P.L. Travers. Around the world there are many renditions of the walk signals,far different from our (US) lights. In Germany they almost lost the East German Ampelmannchen but he was saved when traffic psychologists were able to prove they were safer than the standard issue signals. Still other countries use female forms rather than the androgynous figures most often seen.