Thursday, September 16, 2010

WTF? - Roundabouts

Have you ever tried to negotiate a roundabout at the same time as someone who has no concept of driving etiquette, highway rules or geometry?

The roundabout is an incredibly simple concept to understand: Take geometry's simplest shape, the circle, and place it in the center of an intersection as a means of allowing an almost continuous flow of traffic to circumnavigate the island and to pass through said intersection from any direction with minimal interruption to the journey.

Wow, now that I write it down, it starts to sound complicated. Interceding the continental flow of circumcision???
The roundabout - simplicity in it's purest form
I have made some assumptions, as follows:

The driver is aware of which direction they wish to travel upon exiting the roundabout.
This would generally be the same direction that he/she used to travel before they put in the roundabout.

The driver is aware of the correct side of the road on which they should be driving.
This is so elementary that I almost left it out, but you never know.

The driver is aware of the direction of traffic flow around the roundabout.
This is usually communicated by signs with arrows on them and also by other cars already on and around the roundabout.

Obvious difficulties may arise when approaching a roundabout with 2 lanes. Again look out for signage. Generally sign posts and arrows painted on the road can give a driver a clue about left lane for a left turn and right lane for a right turn. Notice the clever use of alliteration to aid the driver's memory. Right turn, Right lane and Left turn, Left lane.

The other thing to remember, and this is a difficult one since we are dealing with curved roads and not straight ones, Do NOT pull out in front of oncoming traffic. It may look like the car is not coming your way, but it is traveling in a circular path and will be driving on the exact piece of road that you are stupidly thinking of trying to occupy at exactly the same time. What would Sir Isaac Newton say about that?

According to Newton F=ma where F is Fucked upm is motorized and a is asshole.

Once safely through the roundabout continue to be a courteous and safe driver until you reach your destination.

Let's make it a pleasure to share the roads.



1 comment :

Dennis Hodgson said...

You omitted one crucial rule: always look both ways before entering the roundabout. This isn't a joke. In Hong Kong (where I live), cyclists are as likely to ride the wrong way as the right way, and there have been a couple of times when I'd have clattered one had I not been aware of this possibility. They even ride the wrong way down dual carriageways, but that's a different story.

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