On 21/05/2013 02:18, Arfa Daily wrote:


"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.

I'm surprised it was being taught as late as that. I was taught signal
right only when staying on the roundabout past straight ahead and I
learned quite a few years before you. Possibly it had more to do with
what the individual test centres were looking for than. The main tester
where I went was an ex-Police driver with a reputation for being very
tough; Probably why the first thing I was told to do when I started to
drive was to learn Roadcraft, which then was a government White Paper,
with a section on how to use the bell.

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 ...

That is a spiral marked roundabout. Provided you enter in the correct
lane, it should carry you round to your exit with minimal or,
preferably, no need for weaving.

Colin Bignell