Fixed Penalty Notice..... Gobsmacked!

Joe_Horner

The offence comes from S.36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 "Drivers to comply with traffic signs".

Regulation 10(1)(a) of The Traffic Signs Regulations and general Directions 2002 specifies sign 611.1 as a sign to which the RTA section applies. That sign is the roundabout sign as shown here, which requires drivers to comply with regulation 16:



Regulation 16 says that:

"611.1(a)A vehicle entering the junction must give priority to vehicles coming from the right at the transverse road marking shown in diagram 1003.3 associated with the sign or, if the marking is not for the time being visible, at the junction; and
(b)a vehicle proceeding through the junction must keep to the left of the white circle at the centre of the marking shown in diagram 1003.4, unless the size of the vehicle or the layout of the junction makes it impracticable to do so; and
(c)no vehicle shall proceed past the marking shown in diagram 1003.4 in a manner or at a time likely—
(i)to endanger any person, or
(ii)to cause the driver of another vehicle to change its speed or course in order to avoid an accident."

So, if there was a blue warning sign on the approach, and it wasn't "impracticable" to drive round without going over the painted circle because of the layout, an offence was committed.

Note that "impracticable" doesn't mean "it was inconvenient to slow down enough or turn the wheel enough to go round the outside".

I've got some sympathy for you getting ticketted if it was just a "graze" across, when a quiet reminder of how they should be negotiated might have done as well. But we have no way of knowing how you measured up in the attitude test and, ultimately, if an offence was committed, they're perfectly entitled to ticket for it.

Letting the policewoman off in the same situation might be (unproveable) grounds for a complaint, but has no direct bearing on whether or not you were liable to be ticketed for your contravention.

I've got to say I'm in favour of any initiative to improve general driving standards / awareness that aren't focused entirely on speed and phones because most accidents are caused by general sloppiness rather than the popular scapegoats.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Thats what happens when promotional prospects and pats on the head depend on tickets and nicks instead of real coppering, probably low on his nick rate and under pressure to get the average up.

Its instances like this why public support has dwindled to an all time low.

Aretnap

Joe Horner beat me to it (the reply I was writing was nowhere near as comprehensive anyway), but the Cliff Notes version is yes it is an offence assuming the mini-roundabout is properly marked and that it would have been practical to avoid driving over it with a bit more effort. As it's a non-endoseable traffic sign offence, the fixed penalty is £30 and no points.

If your wheel just clipped the white circle then ticketing you is a bit harsh, but that isn't in itself a defence - unless the junction is so tight or your car so big that you had no option but to clip the circle (which is why buses etc can legally drive over the middle).

A traffic cop I know on another forum said that he always uses a "reasonableness" test - did the driver make a reasonable effort to go round it properly, or did he just drive straight across it or (as many do) the wrong way round it? Unfortunately this test isn't enshrined in any sort of law.

Also be aware that challenging this would mean spending a day in court, and would open you up to a much larger fine (maximum £1000, more likely a couple of hundred) and costs if you lost, so for the sake of £30 I'd be inclined to pay it and move on.

Gloomendoom

My brother in law got one of these. He wasn't very happy either.

Hintza

Think I'm going to need to be more careful!

TrickyWicky

Gotta be honest, I've always driven around them as I've always been paranoid about the car behind being an unmarked plod.

daveyjp

Plenty of these near us and from my observations there are those who simply refuse to acknowledge there's a roundabout there, driving straight across and those who see it, but still drive too quickly to negotiate it correctly, then blame the roundabout for being to tight.

Hoof_Hearted

I think people doing u-turns around mini roundabouts are much more dangerous than somebody clipping the white circle.

TrickyWicky

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

I think people doing u-turns around mini roundabouts are much more dangerous than somebody clipping the white circle.

Depends if you mean the mini mini roundabouts or the big mini roundabouts lol.

I can think of a mini roundabout near me that you can quite safely perform a u turn on (I've done so many times) yet I can think of another on a main road that you simply can't get around at all - I tried it once and got 2/3 round it and had to stop and reverse

adouglasmhor

A junction near hwere I say has no recognisable roundabout it is so worn away but still has the roundabout signs. I have lost count of the number of throbbers who have driven in front of me as I join it. (where Springburn Way becomes Lenzie Street after going under the flyover)
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=Springburn,+before+Lenzie+Street+on+Balgrayhill+Rd,+Springburn,+Glasgow,+Glasgow+City+G21,+UK+(Springburn,+before+Lenzie+Street+on+Balgrayhill+Road)&daddr=Lenzie+St&hl=en&ll=55.885421,-4.230359&spn=0.001549,0.003428&sll=55.885415,-4.231383&sspn=0.001561,0.005472&geocode=FSnCVAMdynS__yk1rcvZdESISDEXv3kdx_Hqhg%3BFZ6-VAMdYHK__w&mra=mift&mrsp=1&sz=18&t=m&z=18