Roundabouts (small traffic circles, or “rotaries” as they call them in New England) have been appearing one by one in my area, like a stealth invasion force of ellipsoid asphalt aliens. My Driver’s Ed class was for shit and besides, we hardly had any roundabouts then, so I don’t remember learning how to signal in one.
Technically everyone in the circle is preparing for a right turn no matter which way they’re going, so it would seem you should signal right–except that would be stupid, since (see first clause of this sentence). Should I maybe signal for the direction I ultimately intend to go, then turn the signal off as I enter the circle? Should I not bother to signal at all?
Around here it depends on the size of the rotary. On the smaller ones no one bothers to signal, but there are some larger ones around with 5 or 6 exits were most drivers will signal, especially if the exit has two lanes coming off of it. If there’s only one exit lane it probably isn’t worth it, IMO.
The rule in Australia (that no one seems to get right) is that before entering the roundabout, you signal the direction you are ultimately going, same as if you’re approaching a standard four way intersection. Once in the roundabout you then indicate LEFT prior to exiting the roundabout (assuming a left driving country, if you’re in a right driving country, you’d indicate right out of the intersection.
So, lets say you’re going straight ahead. Approaching the intersection you do not indicate at all, then once in the roundabout you indicate LEFT just prior to exiting.
If you’re turning right, you’d indicate RIGHT prior to the intersection, maintain the RIGHT indication until just prior to exiting where you indicate LEFT.
If you’re turning left then indicate LEFT prior to the intersection and just maintain that as you enter and leave the roundabout.
That’s how it works here. Obviously everything is reversed for a right driving country.
You should always signal. Period. What do you do if you’re in the right turn lane or the left turn lane, where the only legal option is to turn right or left? You signal. It takes an inconsequential effort. Just do it.
Well… I never questioned this, and now I see I should have… I always stuck with the “throw the signal on after the last exit that isn’t yours” approach, which is useless and potentially misleading unless literally every other driver is using the same system.
Regardless of my roundabout failures, let me say that the phrase “ellipsoid asphalt aliens” made me chuckle, and some of your other sentences were impressively well constructed. If your traffic woes remain unsolved, you should know that most writers work from home…
ETA: Sorry, I’m a sucker for excellent grammar
Write back again when you have driven through the Fresh Pond Rotary in Cambridge, Massachusetts at a busy hour. I am not joking at all when I say that it causes true trauma among experienced drivers from out of the area. I once worked near there so I got reasonably good at how it works but there is no signaling that would make any sense to anyone. The Boston area has a few of these types of rotaries that you have most likely never driven. They are much more similar to bumper cars than traditional roads and that style of driving is both very stressful and takes lots of practice. Signaling has no meaning in Boston area rotaries because no one looks for them and they wouldn’t know what they meant even if they spotted one.
That is the way we are supposed to signal our exit from the roundabout, so assuming your rules are similar, you aren’t doing anything wrong, but you are also supposed to indicate prior to the intersection. We are not required to indicate our exit if it is impractical (such as on a very small roundabout.)
I learned to drive when there were no roundabouts (or very, very few). Now they are everywhere. There are stil old-timers who will drive miles out of their way to avoid one, and now there are kids who don’t know life without them. For me, I’ve gone from hating and fearing the things, to accepting them, to positively liking them.
They work really, really well PROVIDING everyone signals. What might have just been “that arsehole made me wait for no reason” in a traditional intersection if the guy doesn’t signal can become a smash in a roundabout. But if people use them properly, they are great - and if there is an accident, they tend to be low speed fender benders.
Most people don’t do the required exit signal (I admit I don’t either on the smaller ones) but drivers in my city are pretty good at the more important entry signal these days (and using the term “pretty good” for anything to do with Sydney drivers is saying something!).
My only beef is that I don’t think roundabouts are right for multilane roads or bigger intersections - but they are fantastic in the suburbs.
Those stupid things are crazy dangerous. Even my husband, with his characteristic presence of mind in a car, had a nervous breakdown when we drove through the one that was just installed in a nearby town. Most drivers are incredibly confused anyway what with texting, phone calls, and screaming at other drivers and that’s with straight lines and clear cut instructions of where and how to drive. Roundabouts are scary free-for-alls in my limited experience. Aaaaahhhhhhhhh! :eek:
I single the direction I am going when entering the R/A then single the direction I am exiting the R/A. ( we have nicknames for the R/A like "Ugly Bastard, Stinky)
Here, I think most close their eyes and hope for the best!
Death Ray’s Australian rule sounds the best to me, as long as the roundabout is large enough. The ones around here are mostly very small, though. Plus, they occur on small, undivided roads. If I approach the roundabout signaling left, to indicate that I plan to exit at nine o’clock, I’m afraid the drivers behind me will think I’m about to cross into the oncoming lane to pass.
I also think they make them more confusing than need be by putting too many signs on them. A thicket of signs close together is bewildering.
I don’t know how it is everywhere, but in California you don’t have to signal if you’re in a lane that only has one direction you can go. If you’re in a left turn only lane, you don’t have to signal that turn.
To me, roundabouts really aren’t that different than entering a freeway. There’s only one way you can go and you don’t have to signal until you intend to leave the entrance lane and merge onto the freeway, which is usually a left lane change, even though your vehicle is generally angling right. You’re signaling which lane you intend to occupy.
Sounds like the Aussies have the same principles as the British system:
And yes, ALWAYS signal. Signalling to leave a roundabout may seem inconsequential, but makes it easier for other drivers joining at the next entrance, and also can warn pedestrians of your intentions, too.
The one place it doesn’t actually look crazy is from the ground. It just has the appearance of being several small junctions in sequence, each of which happens to be a mini-roundabout. That there are so many of them doesn’t matter, because you won’t be driving around them all. Unless you choose to.
Also, the ubqiuitous emphasis needed in threads like this: roundabouts and large New England-style rotaries are not synonymous.
The British rules apply to any roundabouts, of any size, including miniroundabouts, which are nothing more than painted on the road. You’ll risk failing a driving test if you don’t signal correctly, and these are on roads where pedestrians are most of a concern, too.
Agreed. Of course, it depends on local road rules whether common sense can apply. Our ‘roundabout’ or ‘miniroundabout’ symbol sign, along with various road markings, is enough to dictate ‘give way to the right’. If several other signs are obligatory then it can become counterproductive.
I just want to chime in that I like roundabouts. DC has lots of them and there is one a couple of blocks from my house. Once you are used to them, I find they are much more efficient than four way stops or traffic lights.
Signaling is important, if I am trying to enter the circle, I can gauge my timing by the fact that you are exiting. Of course, when people don’t know how to use signals, the system falls apart.
Doha primarily uses roundabouts instead of traffic signals, so I go through probably a dozen or more taking my daughter to school. Maybe 1 person in 50 signals what they are going to do before entering the roundabout. Signaling when leaving the roundabout is essential, especially since people exit from the middle lane, not just the outside lane. You don’t want the guy in the middle lane cutting in front of you without warning. (But in any case, you’re likely to get honked at/run in to if you try to continue in the roundabout from the outside lane.) As was mentioned before, signaling when you exit is also helpful to broadcast your intentions to the people wishing to enter the roundabout.
You can apply this simplicity-on-the-ground to a normal roundabout. Just think of it as a series of T-intersections. Imagine a roundabout ten miles in diameter. It’s so big that each road coming off it looks and behave just like a normal T intersection in which cars entering give way/yield to cars already on the main road. Shrink this down to a couple of dozen feet in diameter, and the same applies. And really, that’s all there is to it. Think of the main circle - large or small - as its own discrete one way street. In the US, you give way to cars coming from the left, and essentially, THAT’S IT! That’s all you need to know. Too much knowledge can be dangerous with these things. Yield left and you won’t crash.
New Englanders don’t signal at any other tims. Why would they start doing so at rotaries?
From what I’ve seen, Bostonians don’t know what the rules for driving in a rotary are, amnd don’t seem to care particularly. Thinking about appropriate signalling in one would be the farthest thing from their minds.
