There is a four exit mini roundabout that is on a route I have had to drive recently. Over the past couple of weeks I have had two incidents where another driver has completely undercut the centre of the roundabout, when taking the third exit. They haven't driven over the centre a bit, they have completely undercut it so, in fact, have gone around the roundabout in the opposite direction.
On both occasions that I have seen this I have been coming from the opposite direction and going straight on, have arrived at the roundabout at the same time as the other driver and have assumed that they are going to go around the roundabout, therefore allowing us to be on the roundabout at the same time.
Of course, what actually happens is that I find the driver pulling directly in front of me instead.
It is at times like this that I wish I had bought the in car cam that I plan to buy.
I haven't seen this on other mini roundabouts, so I'm wondering if other have seem this happening?
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Saw someone do that yesterday, thought it was quite impressive to be able to go round a mini-roundabout the wrong way.
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Driving discipline on roundabouts is quite poor, I agree.
There's a mini-roundabout that I use regularly, on which I turn right. It's fairly common for me to have completed a 90-degree turn on it and be headed straight towards the exit, only to have to do an emergency stop because someone has just ploughed straight on to the roundabout without giving way.
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It's not much worse than people who are turning right driving over the stop line at the end of the road they're entering ~ and people frequently do that all over the UK.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Fri 2 Apr 10 at 13:32
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Mini-roundabouts are there just to give an idea of priority. They are often so placed that you more or less have to go across them or miss them on the wrong side when you are turning right. So when someone coming the other way is signalling right, you stop to let them turn across you. It doesn't matter a damn what side of the silly button they go, the rule is priority to the right. What's difficult about that? The thing is just a crossroads.
Taking films of people driving perfectly sensibly and running to the authorities to sneak on them is a waste of everyone's time, and damn silly.
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Quite, mon ami. Strikes me if you're conscientiously keeping left of the centre circle when turning right, you're more likely to be T-boned by an oncoming hooligan than if you demonstrate your intentions by indicating and driving over the insignificant little hump.
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Although Mini Roundabouts do not look quite like normal roundabouts,you must give way at the broken line to traffic from the right and DRIVE ROUND the Roundabout in a CLOCKWISE direction. Large vehicle may drive over part of the central circular marking if necessary to negotiate the junction.
Failure to obey question of failing to conform to traffic sign/drive without reasonable consideration offence.
dvd
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Not just large vehicles. I know several where it is impossible for any vehicle to get round the outside other than by doing a 3-point turn on the roundabout. Amazingly, a small number of people are stupid enough to try.
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Indeed, CP.
I know DVD is an expert on road law, but the law is one thing and sensible driving another, and they don't always coincide.
I would pity any copper who tried to pull me for not 'going all the way round the pimple in a clockwise direction'. He might make my failure of the attitude test a cause celebre, but he would end up feeling very, very damn small. And rightly so.
But actually I think road coppers are wise to these things and wouldn't dream of harassing someone for driving over them or the wrong side. Of course non-driving beat or community plod could be another matter, but one would hardly notice them. They could easily be mistaken for some of one's host of fans, cheering and waving.
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>> I would pity any copper who tried to pull me for not 'going all the
>> way round the pimple in a clockwise direction'. He might make my failure of the
>> attitude test a cause celebre but he would end up feeling very very damn small.
>> And rightly so.
I think a lot of criminals think that they could make the police feel small...I'm sure they have seen anything that you could throw at them.
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>> a lot of criminals think that they could make the police feel small...
Do they? I wouldn't know. I thought people usually felt small when they realised they had done something dumb, and that other people had noticed it.
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>> >> a lot of criminals think that they could make the police feel small...
>>
>> Do they? I wouldn't know. I thought people usually felt small when they realised they
>> had done something dumb and that other people had noticed it.
I don't know either, only what a can glean from Cops with Cameras :)
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>> Mini-roundabouts are there just to give an idea of priority. They are often so placed
>> that you more or less have to go across them or miss them on the
>> wrong side when you are turning right. So when someone coming the other way is
>> signalling right you stop to let them turn across you. It doesn't matter a damn
>> what side of the silly button they go the rule is priority to the right.
>> What's difficult about that? The thing is just a crossroads.
>>
>> Taking films of people driving perfectly sensibly and running to the authorities to sneak on
>> them is a waste of everyone's time and damn silly.
>>
Nonsense. You have to go around the roundabout in a clockwise direction, going anti-clockwise is not only stupid but is clearly a driving offence (as dvd states).
Your argument doesn't even make sense in this situation. I got to the the junction at the same time as the other driver, I was going straight on, he was turning right, so even if we use your interpretation of a roundabout as an indication of priority he still turned right by pulling across oncoming traffic.
The roundabout in question is certainly not implemented in such as way that you cannot use it properly.
I will typically cross the button to some degree on most of them, I am not suggesting that people shouldn't, but to suggest that you can go anti-clockwise around a roundabout, when there are other users on the roundabout, and be driving sensibly in frankly ridiculous.
You jumped the gun by suggesting that I wanted to record it to go to the authorities, more likely as evidence to the insurance company in the event of a collision, but I don't buy into this silly nonsense about not "grassing" to the police. People who do drive like idiots, often get away with it because of this ridiculous idea of "us and them" with the police and a culture of not grassing.
Last edited by: SteelSpark on Fri 2 Apr 10 at 15:37
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>> to go to the authorities, more likely as evidence to the insurance company in the event of a collision
Ah. Sorry about that. And I do see that if it was a very, very large mini-roundabout you could have been taken by surprise by a yobbish driver. But one would have to have been there to know.
Driving the wrong side of a mini-roundabout is not 'going anti-clockwise' though. Going anti-clockwise would mean turning left round the wrong side of the thing. Did you see someone doing that?
If you did, grass them up by all means. They are barmy.
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>> Driving the wrong side of a mini-roundabout is not 'going anti-clockwise' though. Going anti-clockwise would
>> mean turning left round the wrong side of the thing. Did you see someone doing
>> that?
>>
>> If you did grass them up by all means. They are barmy.
I can't quite picture this, so maybe you can tell me what the following is.
Four exits, I am approaching at 6 o'clock, my first exit is 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock is straight-on, 3 o'clock would be for me to turn right.
The other guy is entering the roundabout at 12 o'clock, he turns right and drives directly from 12 o'clock to 9 o'clock, with the button on his left hand side.
Do you consider that to be driving anti-clockwise?
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Best not to be on one of these damn things at the same time as somebody else, even if it means waiting a second or two.
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>> Do you consider that to be driving anti-clockwise?
No. It's just cutting across the thing. Driving anti-clockwise would mean turning left round the mini-roundabout in the teeth of any other traffic.
Listen SS, you may well have been startled and cut up by someone driving yobbishly. I'm glad you didn't have an accident. But mini-roundabouts are NOT roundabouts, and only the very literal-minded think they should be treated as such.
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>> No. It's just cutting across the thing. Driving anti-clockwise would mean turning left round the
>> mini-roundabout in the teeth of any other traffic.
Surely that is exactly what he did, he drove around the round about with the centre of it to his left. As for, into the teeth of other traffic, I was going straight on, and there was a car in the 9 o'clock exit too.
>> Listen SS you may well have been startled and cut up by someone driving yobbishly.
>> I'm glad you didn't have an accident. But mini-roundabouts are NOT roundabouts and only the
>> very literal-minded think they should be treated as such.
As you know I haven't been driving long, but already little startles me. Being startled is not the issue.
I don't really know what you are saying here. if you are saying that it is OK to cut across, or under cut them, when nobody is around, and also that doing so when there are others around should be considered cutting up and yobbish, then I don't really object.
But, what you seemed to be saying originally is that, with other traffic on the roundabout, doing so could be considered driving sensibly. If so, I can't agree with you there.
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It's really a question of road manners. Driving sensibly, you will not surprise someone coming in the opposite direction by cutting across them when they don't expect it (incidentally, there seem to be quite a few drivers who don't understand the priority rule). The three important things are timing, making your intentions clear and trying to avoid crashing into, or even alarming, other traffic.
Sorry if I seemed to misjudge you SS. There are so many twerpish, twisted little mini-roundabouts where I used to live until the other week that the very mention of the things makes me hot under the collar.
I insist though that driving anti-clockwise would mean turning left, with the wheels of your car turned left, round the wrong side of the thing.
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I certainly always drive on the "wrong side" of a certain mini roundabout near me and every car going in the same direction does the same thing. This never causes any problem. The mini roundabout serves its purpose in sharing the access.
The only problem there was when it was first introduced. The inept council did not put up any warning signs indicating a change of priority.
So much better than those awful 3 or 4 way stops beloved of some countries.
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>> It is at times like this that I wish I had bought the in car cam that I plan to buy.
Buy a toyota instead :-P
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I tend to assume that other drivers on roundabouts large or small are going to do something stupid or selfish and so drive pretty defensively when using them. However on mini roundabouts there's much less room for manoeuvre. Incorrect or complete lack of indication in my experience tends to be the main culprit. It's a pity that you have to spend so much time second guessing what other drivers are going to do, but that's life, I suppose.
Has the lack of indication on roundabouts got worse over the last few years or is it just me getting ever more curmudgeonly?
CM
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...lack of indication on roundabouts...
I always understood you did not indicate if going straight on.
That may have changed with the advent of larger roundabouts and ones with more than four exits.
There is a three exit roundabout - used to be turning off the main road - on my way to work.
I go straight on and do not indicate.
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No left indicator when you exit the roundabout?
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...No left indicator when you exit the roundabout?...
Er, no, although I expect I'm about to find out I should be doing so.
It's a smallish roundabout, and by the time I've passed exit one - the left turn - I'm nearly into the mouth of exit two - straight on.
Since I could not start indicating left until I've passed exit one, there would only be time for a couple of flashes before I was well on my way straight on - particularly at the speed I was driving this morning. :)
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What about the poor guy patiently waiting at exit 3 to join the roundabout while you shoot down exit 2 with no indication. Do you ever wonder why he looks so annoyed?
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>> What about the poor guy patiently waiting at exit 3 to join the roundabout while
>> you shoot down exit 2 with no indication. Do you ever wonder why he looks
>> so annoyed?
I tend to signal between the previous exit and the one I am taking, but I do usually wonder if I am doing so just because I was taught to and will eventually fall out of the habit.
As mentioned above, the gap between the exits on the roundabouts mean that it is almost just a split second between them, so it might be questionable if it will actually benefit a drive on the next exit, who would arguably see from you road position that you are taking that exit at the same time that he would see your signal. Also, because you are starting to steer the car to the exit, you have to take a hand off the wheel to signal, which arguably is not the best time to do it (on a bigger roundabout you obviously have more time to signal and then manoeuvre).
Anyway, as I said, I do tend to signal off, just not sure if it is of much practical benefit.
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...What about the poor guy patiently waiting at exit 3 to join the roundabout while you shoot down exit 2 with no indication...
CG,
Can't disagree, so I'm going to have to start indicating when I leave the roundabout.
No harm in it, because even if he thinks I'm leaving one exit earlier than I am, we will still not collide.
Last edited by: ifithelps on Fri 16 Apr 10 at 23:09
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>>Has the lack of indication on roundabouts got worse over the last few years or is it just me getting ever more curmudgeonly?
Yes....and I don't know, ask Crocked Madam.
Last edited by: crocks on Fri 16 Apr 10 at 19:22
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Treating a mini roundabout like a T-junction - Fursty Ferret
