Rant Roundabout retards .... or is it me?

[old.user4556]

Gents,

In the past 4 or 5 years, I've noticed a really bad habit / situation that's I've started to see a lot of, and that's the general public's complete lack of knowledge on how to handle roundabouts. I've been driving for about 13 years and I'd never seen this until 4 or so years ago.

My understanding on roundabouts is thus: YOU FUCKING GIVE WAY TO TRAFFIC FROM THE RIGHT. Allow me to illustrate with two roundabouts that I drive on regularly.

The red line is me approaching the roundabout to take the motorway. The single lane opens up into two lanes depending on which exit you are taking on the roundabout. Since I am going past the 12 o'clock position (and as indicated in the sign approaching the roundabout...), I take the right lane of the two and move onto the roundabout. The blue arrows indicate traffic also entering the roundabout (again, two lanes depending on which exit you want). When I reach the green dot on my red arrow, the car as indicated by the top blue arrow seems to think they can just move out beside me onto the roundabout and "match" my position all the way round leading to a conflict for the exit usually resulting in a lot of beeping horns, flashing lights and V signs. This isn't now and again, this is almost every single fucking day.

Worse still, the lanes that I approach the roundabout in (the start of my red arrow) are both appropriate for "straight on" as indicated by the two white arrows as there are two lanes on the opposite side of the junction. Again, the blue arrowed cars completely ignore this and simply cut infront of the cars on the roundabout. If I was to go straight over to take the white line exit, I'd certainly crash into the blue arrowed car.



Here is another example:



This roundabout is near my parents' house. I approach in red and want to travel three quarters of the way round the roundabout to take my exit. I am indicating as appropriate, then a car approaches (again, in blue) from the opposite direction. The see me on the roundabout, and simply pull out in front of me expecting to be able to slip onto the same exit I'm taking resulting in more beeping of horns, swerving and V signs.

Given this happens to me a lot, I'm starting to think I've maybe got it wrong, or perhaps the standards of driving where I am have gone seriously downhill. Did I miss a fucking meeting with the highway code?

It gets better. The lack of giving way is just one problem, but there is another retarded situation, and that's people taking the obvious left lane and travelling past the 12 o'clock position. Here's a picture:



The black arrows indicate a motorway terminus / motorway junction. I'm in the right hand side of the lane indicating to turn right and a car moves into the left side of the lane (used for taking the motorway slip) - we're both giving way or slowing up for the roundabout. As we pull onto the roundabout, the car indicated by the blue lane just sweeps right round into my path (horns going, lights flashing, V signs given to me).

The fuck?!

 

[Tom]

Given the apparently poor road markings used in your area, I'm not surprised that people get confused. I don't recall blue, red and black wibbly arrows being mandated in the Traffic Signs Manual.

 

[MYstIC G]

Gents,
...
The fuck?!

Not you at all. Had one the other day at a mini-roundabout near the other halfs place where some chick in an Audi decided that although I was already half-way across the roundabout before she got there, that didn't give me right of way. Had to swerve to avoid the cow (mellow description) ploughing into the side of my car.

Dumb people drive in numbers and they are not getting any smarter, perhaps they're breeding?

 

[gohan]

I heard the biggest car has right of way? Acctaully cars is a sore point right now my clutch has gone to the land of fucked..... £350 to fix, only using the car for another 5 weeks before uni so not getting it fixed, but resell value is fucked and I miss out on about £150 of wrok over the next 2 weeks.

Just don't have the money to fix it tho

 

[Punishment]

We have a roundabout in galway city here with traffic lights, to this day it still confuses the fuck out of me

That being said they are swapping all the roundabouts in galway for lighted juctions which make journeys so much longer, such a major step backwards and kills trafficflow

 

[Tom]

Perhaps they're changing them because roundabouts are difficult junctions for inexperienced cyclists to navigate.

 

[KevinUK]

I live in Milton Keynes and haven't been cut up like that. I would expect to see road markings though. Is it in times of heavy traffic? Maybe they are annoyed waiting for a space to open up so they are just pushing in.

We have had a roundabout redesigned which starts off with 3 lanes which all have an arrow for straight over but the other side only has 2 lanes! So many people have slammed on their brakes to a stand still or swerved to go around the roundabout again.

 

[throdgrain]

People on mini roundabouts are just the opposite I think, they meekly sit there all three of em peeping at each other trying to decide whos going to go first.

I just go straight on ahead most times, no problem.

 

[ECA]

People on mini roundabouts are just the opposite I think, they meekly sit there all three of em peeping at each other trying to decide whos going to go first.

I just go straight on ahead most times, no problem.

They are stopping and waiting to boot up their brains before figuring out who's meant to go where.

 

[Lamp]

The quality of driving has gone down the toilet in recent years. Increasingly I am having to drive defensively and seem to be doing the thinking for them.

Do the people who mark A-level papers also double as driving test examiners?

 

[Shagrat]

It's the morons who forget that their indicators are good for giving you an idea of where they are going on a roundabout that wind me up.

IM NOT PSYCHIC YOU MORON, turn your damned indicator on.

 

[ECA]

It's the morons who forget that their indicators are good for giving you an idea of where they are going on a roundabout that wind me up.

IM NOT PSYCHIC YOU MORON, turn your damned indicator on.

Watch their angle/speed/trajectory, people are so terrible with indicators that it's a better way of judging where the fuck people are going.
One that winds me up is coming out of a junction wanting to turn right, but waiting for an oncoming car to pass before turning out, only for them to indicate 5 meters before they turn left. Oh fuck I want to burn those people alive.

 

[Lamp]

Busy dual carriageway. Your man overtakes you, moves directly in front of you, then immediately brakes.
People who do that need to have their licences revoked. And their balls chopped off.

 

[Lamp]

I think everyone applying for a car driving licence should spend a day on a scooter or motorbike. The complete lack of knowledge about how 2 wheels move is astounding

Thank goodness there's a high standard required to pass the full motorbike test in the UK. If some of the 16 year old idiot scooter riders on their 90cc hairdriers were let loose on a bike like mine there would be carnage.

 

[old.user4556]

Busy dual carriageway. Your man overtakes you, moves directly in front of you, then immediately brakes.
People who do that need to have their licences revoked. And their balls chopped off.

This annoys me to high heaven, particularly when there is a massive gap behind you. There's something inherently wrong with humans who just have to get one more car infront regardless of safety. Pricks.

 

[wolfeeh]

Hah in my humble opinion the standard of driving these days is appalling. I've been driving since 1999 and am now on my 5th car with a total of 13 accidents now under my belt. All the pervious cars have been written off and all of the accidents, bar the last one, we're someone else's fault. The last one there was no one else involved, I just lost control on a bad road in terrible driving conditions ( dry clear day to pelting hailstorm in <5 seconds, and it was only sheer skill and the fact that I was doing half the speed limit at the time that let me walk away from that one, as it was I broke my hand)

That aside, the roundabout situation isn't as clear cut in your first example as in the rest. Not all roundabouts follow the assumption of left lane for everything up to and including straight ahead and right lane for past 12 o clock and right around to back the way you came. I can think of a few big roundabouts around here, motorway junctions especially where local knowledge tells you to be in the left lane even if going right - and a couple of traffic police I know and discussed this with stated it was safer to do it that way when i asked them about it.

 

[old.user4556]

Traffic police are one of the last groups of people I would take driving advice from.

 

[wolfeeh]

Traffic police are one of the last groups of people I would take driving advice from.

Generally speaking I would agree with you on this one but this pair are actually pretty decent (and know their shit when it comes to their job)

 

[Raven]

It isn't just roundabouts it is all driving. Not indicating, pulling out without looking, talking on the phone while dricing. People are generally bad drivers. A test should be mandatory every 5 years.

 

[Hawkwind]

Ever tried the 'magic roundabouts' in Swindon? As good, if not more fun than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

A work of genius!

You think the UK is bad try Middle East. If you don't have a big car people just pull across you or out in front of you. Plus they drive straight and not around, cutting the corners. Bloody nightmare. Qatar is the worst place for it.

 

[wolfeeh]

Is that real??

 

[Reno]

Do they have a large number of car repair shops there that need extra work to stay afloat?

 

[Hawkwind]

Is that real??

Very

 

[old.Tohtori]

Well first of all it's ALWAYS you, but let me read what you wrote now

Honestly though, you're a racist towards blue people.

 

[Lamp]

There's a bunch of mini-RABs on a main RAB at Hatton Cross near Heathrow - looks similar to the pic above

 

[DaGaffer]

I actually think UK driving standards are pretty good (or at least, "the least bad"). I certainly can't think of many countries where they're better, maybe in Scandinavia and Germany, but that's about it. The casualty rate would certainly seem to indicate the UK is better than most.

Try driving on UK roads with an American. Roundabouts blow their fucking minds. And French roads still have some "priorite a droite" roundabouts; not many, just enough to completely confuse the hell out of you when you least expect it.

 

[Hawkwind]

There's a bunch of mini-RABs on a main RAB at Hatton Cross near Heathrow - looks similar to the pic above

yep very similar, used to work on the Western Perimeter of Heathrow and used to use the bank there opposite Hatton Cross.

 

[Gwadien]

I actually think UK driving standards are pretty good (or at least, "the least bad"). I certainly can't think of many countries where they're better, maybe in Scandinavia and Germany, but that's about it. The casualty rate would certainly seem to indicate the UK is better than most.

Try driving on UK roads with an American. Roundabouts blow their fucking minds. And French roads still have some "priorite a droite" roundabouts; not many, just enough to completely confuse the hell out of you when you least expect it.

I was gonna say... bit of nit picking I think, people make mistakes, but it's far far better than places like Greece for instance, where if you had a bus, you won.

 

[PLightstar]

Driving standards have dropped, i've noticed people drive, only thinking about themselves, they don't indicate or indicate at the last second, before stopping very quickly and turning. I was always taught to think what other drivers around you are doing and 9/10 times I can predict what a car will do. People don't read signs or directions anymore, even if its painted as a giant arrow on the floor. I've noticed alot of people relying heavily on their sat navs and not actually, reading the road and other drivers. I can get massive road rage over things like this, even though there's nothing I can do and should not be bothered by it.

 

[eksdee]

Get this shit ALL THE TIME. I hate it. The worst thing for me is people who, on a roundabout with clearly marked lanes, feel like it's fine to just drift across into my lane when they're exiting because they just drive straight towards the exit - thereby cutting across the lane to their right - for what reason I can't fathom, I can only surmise they're too thick/lazy to follow the road's curve.

It's ridiculous, dangerous and makes me so glad that I take the tube to and from work every day.