Why do people not understand traffic circles

AlphaBravo said:
Thanks for this, I surely learnt something today, me thinks the K53 did not cover this
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No worries. ;)

The only marked difference between a mini-circle and a 4-way stop is that you are indeed free to drive across if there are no cars closer to the circle than you coming from any other direction.
 
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enigma243 said:
Yeah... Dunno how many times I've nearly been taken out by some yahoo trying to take the 2nd exit (i.e. go straight) from the inner lane around a circle when I'm trying to do the same.
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Not to mention all the idiots using the left lane to take the 3rd exit.
 
It makes logical sense to treat tiny circles as four-way stops.

In Cape Town we have a circle in town that really throws people for a loop because the number of lanes changes inside the circle. Another interesting one is a circle that has a right of way sign on one of the roads coming into the circle - if entering from this direction you go straight through and on the on road coming in you give right of way to left in this circle (it is a weird circle). Some people either don't see the sign or don't know what it means, so they start entering the circle, remember the rule about giving way to the right and slam on their brakes (in spite of there being no yield sign/line there).

Like most things on the road applying a little sense generally keeps things moving smoothly.

deweyzeph said:
No, even if you were there first, you have to let the person to your right go first, that's the law!
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No, if you arrive first you enter first. You give way to those already in the circle. If you and the car to your right arrive at the line simultaneously chances are you can both enter the circle simultaneously, unless the circle is too small, but then it's probably four-way stop sized.

tau1z said:
on william nicol by the highway
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My favourite is when everyone stops, sits there confused for a bit, then they all go at once and crash into each other.
 
Wonder if the inventor of traffic circles ever imagined that it could be such a debated topic. I'm sure he/she must have thought "Oh I have a perfectly simple and easy solution for busy intersection"...hmm little did he know :)
 
The worst part is trying to anticipate what the other people think the right way to use the circle is. :)

If someone drove into me because they were doing it incorrectly, knowing that I was using it the right way would not make me feel any better.
 
230px-UK_Roundabout_8_Cars.gif


Just be glad we don't have any of these here:
england.bmp
 
Sorry for being so late to the discussion.

It's true, seems all the small circles around here get completely misused. They are treated as broken traffic lights. Whoever crosses the line first has right of way.

I had a guy screaming at me the other day when I entered a circle, he was a good 20 metres to the intersection on my LEFT. He apparently thought that because the road he was on had more traffic, he could just go no matter any other cars on the road.

I wish people would lean, because it now causes a danger for those of us who do know how to use it.
 
for those of you who live in Jozi, if you want to see how few people understand how to use a circle, just cruise down to the entrance of Fourways crossing and watch the mayhem that usually takes place there :p
 
Apart from the people who don't know how to use traffic circles (and there aren't enough expletives in the dictionary to properly describe how I feel about them), two other groups of idiots piss me off.

People who don't care how a traffic circle is supposed to work, and follow the 'right of way' principle: I'm right and you're in my way. Look outside The Glen in Jo'burg Souf, any day of the week. (Too many 'roid users in the Souf, I guess).

And traffic engineers (well, all engineers actually), who design two lane circles smaller than 100m diameter. If the distance between the first exit and the third is 70m, how the **** do they expect cars to enter AND exit the inner lane in that time, without coming to a compete stop (because of people entering the outer lane at the second exit), or driving like they own the road? Engineers are lower than pond scum, but traffic engineers make mechanical engineers seem like saints.
 
ponder said:
230px-UK_Roundabout_8_Cars.gif


Just be glad we don't have any of these here:
england.bmp
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WTF is that? That would confuse the crap out of me. I had the unfortunate experience to be driving around the circle at Trafalgar Square in London & that is a seriously fast-paced affair. If you dawdle, or hesitate, you'll get stuck in that roundabout forever.

Drunkard #1 said:
Apart from the people who don't know how to use traffic circles (and there aren't enough expletives in the dictionary to properly describe how I feel about them), two other groups of idiots piss me off.

People who don't care how a traffic circle is supposed to work, and follow the 'right of way' principle: I'm right and you're in my way. Look outside The Glen in Jo'burg Souf, any day of the week. (Too many 'roid users in the Souf, I guess).

And traffic engineers (well, all engineers actually), who design two lane circles smaller than 100m diameter. If the distance between the first exit and the third is 70m, how the **** do they expect cars to enter AND exit the inner lane in that time, without coming to a compete stop (because of people entering the outer lane at the second exit), or driving like they own the road? Engineers are lower than pond scum, but traffic engineers make mechanical engineers seem like saints.
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Why exactly are engineers lower than pond scum?
 
FlatspinZA said:
WTF is that? That would confuse the crap out of me. I had the unfortunate experience to be driving around the circle at Trafalgar Square in London & that is a seriously fast-paced affair. If you dawdle, or hesitate, you'll get stuck in that roundabout forever.
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I have no idea but it's called the Magic Roundabout so never venture anywhere near Swindon or you might end up inside it :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)
 
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enigma243 said:
From your borked wiki link: "...by the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society..." Only the English can possibly be that dull. :D
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Like trainspotting? :p I find it nice that people find pleasure in the weirdest things, it's what makes the world such a wonderful place.
 
AlphaBravo said:
What's the difference between a small trafic circle and a big traffic circle, the sign says its a circle i.e. give way to traffic comming from right. It is not a four way stop, else you would have seen the stop signs!!
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Regardless of what it may or may not say in SA traffic legislation or what you may have heard, the way a traffic circle works is that you give way to traffic IN THE CIRCLE. That's how all traffic circles work around the world, and why they are so successful are keeping traffic flowing in countries that use them extensively.

If you apply the correct rules for circles to so-called "mini-circles", all you get is cars hitting each other. The only way to make any sense whatsoever or these nonsensical hazards is to treat them as four-way stops, or perhaps as accident scenes. In practice, of course, what they actually become is through-roads for the busier of the two roads crossing, and stop streets for the other road. Of course, when someone from outside the area (who doesn't know the roads) tries to apply some or other "rule", that's when accidents happen. In sane countries, you don't get mini-circles.
 
Rules are great in theory, but they assume the others follow the rules too (they don't) so following them too strictly is dangerous. In practice we've got a bunch of unlicensed people on the road & its a battle-zone.

For some serious excitement visit the Lunnon street exit of Tuks. Small traffic circle w/ a pedestrian exit on the one corner and Res pedestrian on the other, so at any given time there are pedestrians crossing near/in the circle. And then you get chops cutting the circle counter clockwise despite another car already being in the circle to their right. Timing is the only thing that prevents disaster. :eek:
v17ie.jpg


Those are the days when I walk into class with a thousand yard stare expression.
 
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