yeterday i had an interesting day,i had a number of near misses at different roundabouts. To cut a long story short.
when entering a roundabout we all think that the car coming /on the roundabout must give way to us approaching from their right.i was fuming yesterday when a car half way on the roundabout kept on inching out in front of me instead of giving right of way to me.
after thinking about it for a while , i have to admit i was wrong.
yet when we are in the same situation as the car i encountered, we fume that we were here first even when there is nothing coming on the roundabout from our right even though you might be sitting there for a few mins. yet everyone else that approaches onto a roundabout from our right thinks they have right of way automatically no matter what the situation.
my other near miss was coming around a roundabout full circle indicating and a car coming from my left onto the roundabout. now this car had not entered the roundabout when i was coming around. she basically pulled out without looking to her right. which again most drovers do.
waiting a few minutes patiently can save up hours dealing with an accident.
16 Comments
Never wait at a roundabout unless you have to – it’s a Yield situation, not a Stop situation.
Other than that give way to traffic on the roundabout – by which I don’t mean traffic approaching the roundabout at great speed even if they are coming from the right…
i agree with “give way to traffic on the roundabout ” but my point is that most drivers dont think that way. they think they have automatic right of way on a roundabout even if someone has come on from their left and are sitting on the roundabout.
I don’t understand the situation described by meanie. Surely if you are attempting to enter a roundabout you always give way to traffic on the roundabout. Why would we consider what is on their right or left? If they’re on the roundabout, then surely they have right of way over us every time. Am i missing something?
Someone put me straight.
I read this post a number of times and am still unsure of the point being made.
However, I suspect Meanie is referring to the situation where a driver enters onto a roundabout and is attempting to get into an appropriate lane, having had no visible traffic coming from the right, only to find a vehicle that entered at a previous and unobservable entrance is now behind or beside them, and they feel they are blocking them.
This was a common problem at the roundabout near Newhall (B&Q) in Naas where the centre was so high no-one can see traffic on the roundabout, only those trying to enter from their right.
I might be way off the mark. Meanie?
I suspect meanie was talking about slow moving traffic on a roundabout. This should be a simple enough live and let live scenario where those with the right-of-way allow another car to merge into the traffic ahead of them. But it doesn’t work that way, does it? I’m not saying we’re a mean-hearted bunch but many of us would literally die (or at least burn the bejaysus out of our clutches) rather than let a car anywhere near the sacred patch of tarmac in front that our forefathers died for!
steve has hit it right on the head and is absolutely true.
example 1
any of the roundabouts in blanch s/c ,it’s a free for all.
i come along side atlantic approaching roundabout at pc world. traffic at a stand still. i’m going on the roundabout, car had been half way on the roundabout coming from my left . here i blew a gasket because they didn’t yield to me (i’m coming from their right)what i failed to realise was that car could’ve been sitting there for ages waiting to inch forward.
i was wrong
example 2
same roundabout i was doubling back on myself, car on my left coming from dunnes stores car park area literally pulls out in front of me (she was nowhere on the roundabout when i was coming around)the driver never bothered to look to see what was coming from her right.
example 3
most of us have been stuck on a roundabout only to find some gobshite coming onto the roundabout from our right thinking they’ve right of way just because there coming from our right
i hope that explains things a bit better.
This is one of my pet hates.
1. Traffic on the roundabout always has right away, dont matter how long your sitting there.
2. The speed at which you approach a roundabout has no bearing on your right of way only your stupidity. If two cars approach a roundabout at different speeds from different directions if the slow moving car enters the roundabout first they are right even if the car is coming from the right and has to stand on there brakes. This is a common one.
3. Most people do not know how to drive on , indicate, enter or leave roundabouts correctly but still proceed to blow their horn at you when you cross them even though they have gone all the way around the roundabout in the outside lane.
Well i think every one should have to spend some time standing at the rounabout on the Ballymahon road out side Athlone. every morning you can see the speed of the newcomers as they think a roundabout is for who gets on to it first.
i have seen cars with our new friends having near misses and still it goes on.
Now dont think i have anything against our new friends, but you cant go from a bike to a car over night and think an L sign is a licence.
I reckon, they should change the name “roundabouts” to “straight-through-abouts” as most of the drivers on ’roundabouts’ don’t follow the lane they’re supposed to be in. I can’t tell you the amount of times i’ve had to jam on to avoid someone that’s cut into the lane i’m in while taking, say, the third exit & they’re taking the second exit…grrrr!!!
I feel like walking!! lol
Is the problem with our roundabouts or with our drivers? Okay, the above post and comments verify the latter, but should we be considering the former? Are many of our roundabouts designed and sited so badly that the rules of the road and of common sense cannot be applied?
e.g. The ROTR deal with ’straight ahead’, yet there are roundabouts where there is no exit at that point. Or those with 3 or more exits prior to an imaginary ’straight ahead’ and none thereafter, yet two lanes leading onto it.
e.g. Roundabouts that stifle rather than smooth the flow of traffic, as they are intended. Those situated where there should be traffic lights, and those with lights themselves. Those where a T junction would suffice.
e.g. Ones with raised centres that obscure the view of on-coming vehicles.
e.g. Roundabouts built because, in the long run, they are cheaper than maintaining lights (or deities forbid, cheaper than flyovers).
Just some thoughts – flame me or agree or add. I’m easy. Just think about it. And think about it when your local authority is building yet another.
Roundabouts are in general a good idea.
But people are shite.
That’s probably not entirely fair – all people are shite some of the time is probably a bit more accurate.
It seems that everyone posting here knows the rules – they’re simple enough and generally work.
So why then to we have one person arriving at the roundabout at 100kph assuming they have right of way before they even get on the roundabout and another who will sit at the yield sign watching an empty roundabout until at least one car passes???
People are shite (at least sometimes) but those responsible for implementing roundabouts and ROTR should bombard the populace with education on road usage. It’ll get through to everyone eventually. I suggest using TV and tabloids…
Listen its like this…regarding galway drivers!!!!
all rules regarding giving way to on-coming traffic from your right on roundabouts means absolutly Zero in Galway city. Your going around the roundabout and drivers just at you blankly and pull out in front of you so you have to break suddenly. This happens EVERY time. My friends from england were over at the weekend and could not believe the carry on with the driving! SO ANY GALWAY DRIVERS READING THIS TAKE HEED!
You forgot one thing, Galway is one place that they cant even park
so when it comes to roundabouts it must be very hard for them, to do something moving.
Bad driving ‘linked to hormones’
Parked by a man or a woman?
Spatial skills such as map reading and parking may be difficult for some women because they had too little testosterone in the womb.
Some men have long held that women are deficient in these skills.
Scientists from the University of Giessen, Germany, writing in the journal Intelligence found a lack of the hormone affects spatial ability.
Low testosterone levels are also linked to shorter wedding ring fingers, they say.
The research looked at the spatial, numerical and verbal skills of 40 student volunteers from Galway. Men do seem to be better at spatial abilities, and women at verbal and emotional skills
Dr Nick Neave, British Psychological Society
Spatial skill is the ability to assess and orientate shapes and spaces. Map reading and parking are spatial skills which men often say women lack. Women tend to disagree.
The researchers also looked at the length of the students’ wedding and index fingers.
In women, the two fingers are usually almost equal in length, as measured from the crease nearest the palm to the fingertip. In men, the ring finger tends to be much longer than the index.
For one of the spatial tests, volunteers had to tell which of five drawings could not be rotated so it looked like the other four.
The other test involved the ability to think in 3D by mentally “unfolding” a complex shape.
Overall, men achieved higher scores in the tests than women.
But women with the male pattern of finger length did better than those whose wedding finger was shorter.
They also scored better on the numerical tests.
Fertility
Writing in Intelligence, the researchers, led by Dr Petra Kempel, said women who had ‘male-like’ finger length ratio patterns outperformed other women.
They added that the differences seen within the group studied were “remarkable.”
However, the researchers accept that their study was limited because only one saliva sample was taken from each person, and no detailed account was taken of women’s menstrual cycle, which can affect hormone balance.
Other studies looking at finger length ratio have suggested that, in men a long ring finger and symmetrical hands are an indication of fertility, and that women are more likely to be fertile if they have a longer index finger.
Another study controversially suggested that finger length ratio could also be linked to sexual orientation, with lesbian women having a greater difference in length between their ring finger and index finger than straight women do.
Dr Nick Neave, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Northumbria who specialises in spatial awareness and gender differences.
He said: “Being exposed to testosterone early on does seem to affect the way the brain works.
“It seems to push it to work in a more masculine way, with a stronger right hemisphere; the spatial hemisphere.
“The extra testosterone also appears to cause the ring finger to be longer than the index.”
Bones contain testosterone receptors, and Dr Neave said the fourth finger appeared to be particularly receptive to levels of the hormone.
Higher levels are linked the ring finger being longer than the index.
Dr Neave, a member of the British Psychological Society, added: “The sexes do use different skills to find their way around. Men seem to be able to keep the route in their head without landmarks, whereas women do use them.
“So men may be better at finding the car when its parked in a huge shopping centre car-park. It may also tap into driving and parking abilities.”
He added: “Men do seem to be better at spatial abilities, and women at verbal and emotional skills.
“It may be a generalisation, but that does seem to be the case.”
But Dr David Gray of the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University, said: “Correlation between genetic features and skills may often have an environmental intermediary which determines performance at a given skill.”
He suggested skilled drivers may be those who are more practised at the activity. In addition, he said people with longer ring fingers may have dominating personalities and therefore do more driving.
“This practice would make them better at these activities and would be correlated with a physical feature, but not caused by it.”
Now let me tell you i hate truck drivers.
Not too sure I understood this post, Im pretty sure you do give way to traffic coming from the right.
Ireland must be the only country in the world that has traffic lights on a roundabout (Red cow)