right. something needs to be cleared up.
ROUNDABOUTS DO NOT HAVE STOP SIGNS. (unless they do, of course) most have give way signs, or the broken dotted line you may or may not be familiar with. this means, you GIVE WAY.
to break it down for the slow kids:
1. as you approach the roundabout, keep one eye on the car in front of you, and one any cars approaching from the right.
2. as you learnt in driving school all those centuries ago, you must give way to anyone coming in from the right. PLEASE NOTE: you do not have to give way to people travelling straight through the roundabout unless they are crossing your path.
3. if there is no one in front of you, and no one approaching from the right, and get this, it’s the exciting bit… YOU CAN KEEP GOING!!! amazing, i know.
people need to realise that roundabouts are there to control the flow of traffic and are an alternative to traffic lights, because they keep traffic moving at a better pace and allow heavy traffic to continue flowing. when you STOP, peer over your exceptionally high steering wheel like a frightened bunny, cautiously look left, then right, then left again, then venture 5 feet over the line, then BRAKE HARD, look right again, wait for a written invitation to shoot through your air conditioning vent, and ever so gently manouver that giant piece of steel you’re controlling across the intersection at -70km/h, you are delaying scores of others on the road because you didn’t have the foresight and brainpower to check out what’s happening on the road before you are first in line.
you remind me of the people in the supermarket who, upon loading all their groceries on the conveyor belt, shuffling along to stand in front of the cashier, and watching each item be scanned, look surprised when asked to make payment and proceed to spend the next 5 minutes hunting for their wallet for that magic little card.
get it together, or get off the road.
