Opinion on mini roundabout crash

pinkteapot

Lum wrote: »

If anyone is truly to blame for this accident though, it is the idiot traffic engineer that designed that junction.

The magic roundabout in Colchester (one of only three in the country I believe) beats the layout in this thread:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=51.884493,0.932867&spn=0.001705,0.005686&z=18

Five mini roundabouts arranged in a big ring. It's terrifying the first few times you drive it. The overall circle obviously isn't a roundabout so you can go round it either way. Effectively it's five mini roundabouts in very quick succession. Each one has two lanes when you exit, depending on whether you want to go left or right at the next mini roundabout. The trouble is, there's so little space between them that if you get this lane choice wrong it's difficult to change lanes. You need to enter the whole thing thinking "I'm going left, then right, then left".

I've never understood why it's not just one large roundabout. Colchester is roundabout-happy. Practically every T-junction now has a mini roundabout.

Lum

The one in Swindon is the most famous, there's also one in Hemel Hempstead. Didn't know one had sprouted in Colchester.

They do actually work quite well, in theory, once the local population get used to them as they provide two routes to any possible destination (can avoid small pockets of congestion) and make more road space available to people crossing the junction with surprisingly few points of conflict.

The problem is if you don't use them daily then many people find them utterly terrifying and some locals never get used to them either.

cyclonebri1

almillar wrote: »

OK everyone repeat this until you understand it. CycloneBri1 you especially - I think you agree with it but are just saying it a different way.



Roundabouts are the most complex and varied junctions on the roads, hence all the confusion and debate.
When APPROACHING a roundabout. Look at the sign or layout of the road. if going left, indicate left. If going straight on, don't indicate (which in itself is an indication that you're going straight on!), if you're going right, indicate right. When on the roundabout, continue your approaching indication, until you pass the exit before yours, at which point you indicate left, and take your exit.
The problem is with the straight on bit, and OP was given a common piece of advice, if your exit is beyond 12 o'clock, indicate right. This is an ABSOLUTE rule, and doesn't allow for all the different junctions. It should be left to drivers what 'straight on' means but maybe we should consider only indicating right if the exit is beyond 1 o'clock instead. From the look of the junction, OP was right to be indicating right, but she could easily have not been indicating and still be in the right (as in correct!!). Glad it's sorted anyway!!

The problem is that people will read this as an instruction for all roundabouts. And I don't quite understand if you are arguing or agreeing with the post you quoted, which to be honest is very innacurate. That quote was assuming a traditional crossroads type roundabout, unfortunately any reference to 1st exit or second exit flies out of the window when it's only a 3 way RB, 1st exit often being straight one

As you say in bold, it's not clear cut. There is a massive RB near me, 3 dual carriageways join it plus 2 other roads, and yet the approach I normally use has 3 lanes onto the RB. My normal route is 3/4 around. The correct lane is either the left, middle or right, its all clearly marked up on the road but thats no use when theres traffic in all 3 lanes. You just know when traversing that one that if you are in the left hand lane you will get cut up every other time.

Consider this a moderate sized RB where you have to make a definate circuit half way round the roundabout to take the 1st exit which is actually straight on. You make a positive turn to leave the motorway. Do you signal or not? How does the car racing up behind know which point you entered at?

I do.

Not easy to write a simple one size fits all rule.;)

knightstyle

Who taught you to indicate right when you are going straight ahead? IDIOTS, and against the highway code but I seem to see more and more new drivers doing this! They go in the left one of the two lanes and indicate right!!!!! Totally confusing other drivers and causing this type of accident!

joanne_d_3

I have to say that this post confused me right from the beginning !

The op had stated many times that she indicated right even though she was actually going straight ahead !

I dont know what kind of driving instructors are teaching new drivers to do this but to me it seems incorrect.....

Lum

joanne_d wrote: »

I have to say that this post confused me right from the beginning !

The op had stated many times that she indicated right even though she was actually going straight ahead !

I dont know what kind of driving instructors are teaching new drivers to do this but to me it seems incorrect.....

Have a look at the images I posted earlier on in the thread where I scribbled on the satellite photographs.

This roundabout only has 2 exits, a left and a right, there is no straight ahead. What it does have is a left turn junction immediately after the right exit from the roundabout.

This junction is not part of the roundabout, so the OP correctly treated it as a right turn followed by a left turn.

However this being Liverpool a lot of other drivers just treat it like a crossroads and barrel through the junction on the wrong side of the painted dot.