wrote in message
...
On Monday, 22 April 2019 21:30:40 UTC+1, Steve Walker wrote:
On 22/04/2019 15:58, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Mon, 22 Apr 2019 15:50:49 +0100, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:

It happened again today as it has happened countless times before
three
vehicles approach at the same time and all stop at the give way line
at
a three way mini roundabout....we all sit there wondering who has
right
of way...so feck it I blasted on around leaving them sitting....fed up
with everybody stopping and wondering who should go....any body else
found this? ....

Er, priority to the right ?

Priority from the right only applies when vehicles are actually on the
roundabout and, until someone enters, everyone has equal right to do so.


and so the first one to move then gets priority and everything unclogs
smoothly.

Unless two people decide simultaneously (to within some tolerance) to set
off at the same time: mini roundabouts are so small that in the time it
takes to set off, recognise that someone else has also done so and is
blocking your path, and braking to a halt, a collision has occurred.

I think that is the situation that the OP was referring to: everyone waits
for someone else, then when no-one moves, more than one person thinks "sod
this, if no-one's moving, I'll go first", and you have a collision.

This problem can happen in a communications network when two devices try to
talk at the same time and "hear" each other. Fortunately there is a way of
resolving this: "back off, wait a *random* time, and retry" - the crucial
thing being the random element so both don't try to talk again at the same
time.