"Mike Barnes" wrote in message
...
Nightjar :
On 20/05/2013 15:51, mully wrote:
Nightjar wrote:
...
By comparison, a smallish concentric marked roundabout has traffic
entering and leaving in all directions, often without signals, short
weaving zones, and highly variable traffic speeds, which I view as
involving a much higher workload.

Can agree on that, and in France the common signal to go straight on
(for
exit 2) is to signal as though going all the way round until they reach
the
exit

The Highway Code used to give that as the way to signal at roundabouts,
so you sometimes see it in Britain too.

A friend of mine does that. I've never plucked up the courage to ask him
why. I did once query his use of sidelights at dusk, but it didn't get
me anywhere.


It's how I was taught in 1971, and it made a lot of sense back then when
roundabouts were designed to a 'formula'. It meant that wherever you went in
the country, and encountered a roundabout that you had not used before, you
could still drive round it safely and confidently according to the 'rules',
which didn't change because the roundabouts were all designed to the same
rules.

Now, I find new roundabouts are often a 'free-for-all' with lanes weaving
about all over the place, with 'instructions' painted on the road in an
effort to get you routed into the correct lane for where you want to go.

They reworked the Barnes Meadow Interchange in Northampton a couple of years
back, and turned what was a perfectly serviceable roundabout / interchange
system, into a multi-lane nightmare that follows no discernable rules, and
often results in drivers cutting you up as they try to find their way around
it ...

Arfa


--
Mike Barnes