Today’s lesson in road safety
Posted by Don Packett under Uncategorized on August 3 2005 at 3:11 PM
Lesson 14: How to navigate your way around that incredibly mind-boggling round thingy
The diagram above illustrates your everyday traffic circle, or roundabout as some may know it.
Contrary to popular belief, you may not drive wherever the hell you like on whatever side of the road you have chosen i.e. left or right. This diagram shows clearly which direction you may go, depending on which side of the road you are driving.
1. The yellow arrow indicators show you that there are only TWO (2) possible directions to take when on the left hand side of the road, or, outside lane.
2. The blue arrow indicators show that there are also TWO (2) possible directions to take when on the right hand side of the road, or, inside lane.
3. The red indicator arrows show when some idiot decides to take the road-law into his own hands, ending up in an accident, often resulting in an angry argument and possibly a restraining order for use of bad language and throwing punches.
You may be wondering where the blue indicator arrows go to from there? Well, my dears, the rules start all over again. They may go straight, or right again. It’s that simple.
There will be a test on this at Fourways Crossing two weeks from Thursday. Study hard, teach others, or bring a crash helmet.
Class dismissed.
August 3rd, 2005 at 3:19 pm
Tell me about it. Stupid fuckers always always cut me off, by going full circle from the outside lane. dumbass-saltene-ass-mother-fuckers!
August 3rd, 2005 at 3:28 pm
Here’s an animated version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:UK_Roundabout_8_Cars.gif
August 3rd, 2005 at 3:44 pm
Where’s the red fist indicator for those that think it’s ok to STOP while IN the traffic circle
August 3rd, 2005 at 4:07 pm
Brilliant, wonder if we can buy a billboard here in Durban, and print it out for the dorks who still havent figured out how to use a circle, in this circle crazy town.
August 3rd, 2005 at 4:16 pm
Too circular in your thinking – try be a little more lateral for better results…..here in the cape we somme go straight over…..
August 3rd, 2005 at 4:51 pm
dumbass jo’burgers
take a look at your “wonderful” explanation and tell me then oh wise ones how the hell the traffic circle will then work for the cars coming from the left and right hand side of the circle in your drawing.
August 3rd, 2005 at 5:07 pm
Thanks for finally clearing that up. Now I know who I can and can’t yell at.
And I also now know why people sometimes yell at me…
August 3rd, 2005 at 5:09 pm
See, in Johannesburg you think that you have traffic circle issues, but really you don’t.
Paris has traffic circle issues. Specifically at Etoile (the traffic circle around the arc de trioph). It’s the one place in the world where nobody will insure you. Accidents on average every 12 minutes, and complete madness!
August 3rd, 2005 at 5:21 pm
coda: Thanks, that’s a help for those who can’t imagine things moving.
fullrat58: It’s another rule of the circle – Yield to the right. If there’s someone there, you wait. Simple as that. Just as someone would have to wait for you if you were already inside the almighty circle.
Mo & BigGuy: Not half an hour after I posted this was I almost in another accident at Fourways Crossing. A stupid cow thinking she could turn right on the outside.
:: sigh ::
August 3rd, 2005 at 5:41 pm
This makes no sense. What if someone is coming from the left side of this picture, on the outside(yellow) does he have to get off at the top or can he continue to the right side the same way as the yellow coming from the bottom going to the top? If he does you sure will have a accident, if he can not why can the gyellow from the bottom skip once but the yellow from the right not? just Asking?
August 4th, 2005 at 8:38 am
Only someone from Welkom would post a rant about traffic circles.
Yes something has to be done about it, the migration of you chumps up North I mean.
August 4th, 2005 at 8:47 am
Man… thanks for this — now please hand it out to your fellow Joburgers before they come to Umhlanga in December…!
Can’t believe how some people cannot grasp such a simple concept…
August 4th, 2005 at 10:16 am
Aaah…traffic circles. Out here in the Gulf, they only use traffic circles. And three lane circles (kind like the pic coda pointed to) except that no one slows down or keeps to a lane.
I arrived as a sensible South African driver, thinking I survived in Johannesburg…little did I know. Here are the rules :
1. If you are a local (generally driving a Toyota Landcruiser) don’t slow down. In fact, speed up and always stick to the inside lane no matter where you want to exit.
2. If you are from the Indian Sub-continent (ie. Pakistani, Indian or Nepali) you will always drive in the outside lane (even if they intend on going all the way round the roundabout, which is usually the case)
3. If you’re from Europe, US, Australia or South Africa you try to follow Coda’s animated picture for two days. This usually gets you close to death. On the third day you just drive in the inside lane.
4. Indicators. Don’t use them. If you do you will distract and confuse the drivers around you and they will probably drive into something.
5. The middle lane is the absolute worst lane to be in. If the guy from the inside lane decides he wants to exit you’re screwed. If he and the guy on the outside decide they both want to go all the way round you’re screwed.
6. Don’t expect anyone to obey these rules.
So as you can see, having to drive amongst people from all over the world who each have their own crazy idea of what is normal can be a challenge.
August 4th, 2005 at 10:22 am
Without wanting in any way to excuse the drivers, it is worth pointing out that the traffic authorities can do something to make the roundabout markings clearer: for example the left (outer) lane of the roundabout should “feed-off” into each road, rather than continuing in a concentric circle around. This would mean that the driver has to cross a solid line to continue going around (ie change lanes). This makes a big psychological difference. In this example the right (inner) lane would split where the driver has the option to turn left or continue going around the roundabout. Another option would be to use compulsory arrow markings in the lanes.
August 4th, 2005 at 9:41 pm
ROFL!
I’m from Welkom.
Man, and when we see ppl outside of welkom driving round the circles, we stay the hell away from them.
This town just has circles and circles and circles.
Drives you a bit dilly though.
Oh how I wish I could be in JHB and see the frustration of robots!
LOL!
August 4th, 2005 at 9:52 pm
I just go over the stupid things if I can. Traffic circles are awesome – nervous drivers usually don’t act well around them, giving room for some line-jumping.
August 5th, 2005 at 1:34 pm
Its amazing that only fullrat58 & dumb have identified how impractical these guidelines are! If all traffic in the circle enters from the same point, then it works. But the reality is that vehicles enter from all sides. Simply proclaiming that you give way to traffic already in the circle or that approaching from the right only helps with the rules for entering a circle.
If you can imagine the same yellow & blue lines originating from ALL FOUR sides super-imposed on the diagram, you will see the obvious conflicts. A traffic circle is too dynamic to expect any simple set of rules to account for all the possibilities. They might assist partially but create the dangerous false impression that any particular party has right of way.
Anyone who believes they have right of way in a circle is in the wrong!
August 5th, 2005 at 3:51 pm
No, Nekkid Chef, you are wrong.
There definitely are guidelines, and the ‘yield to the right’ is a rule. Did you not learn that while studying for your learner’s?
And coming from Welkom originally, as well as passing my learner’s and driver’s licenses both times first time in Welkom, I’m sure I’m capable of telling people how it’s done.
And if you want to imagine traffic from all sides, go here, funnily enough, the first comment on this post.
August 5th, 2005 at 9:26 pm
Well some people in Brighton need that GIF on their dashboards because I almost got wiped out tonight by some idiot veering left at the last moment…
August 8th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
Nekkid Chef, you are extremely wrong.
How do people in Welkom manage to go around the circle without getting into an accident?
The only time I remember someone getting into an accident, was my mother.
She was on the inside lane…and the stupid twat from Maputo decided to OVERTAKE in a circle!
WTF?
I’m 20 years old, I got my learners and licence in Welkom..I may be more inexperienced than most of you out there on the roads….but man…I sure can drive around a circle!
August 9th, 2005 at 2:08 pm
Nice one. This is the logic I learnt when learning to drive in Jo’burg. Now I live in the UK, it seems I’m one of the minority who uses this logic. The UK must have the whole of Europe’s quota for traffic circles (the UK uses traffic circles instead of robots where ever possible) – it’s so bad, a town called Swindon has what they call The Magic Roundabout – how’s that for screwed.
Oh and you just don’t want to drive in France… firstly you go the wrong way round them (that takes some getting used to) and then some traffic circles have the rule that anyone entering the traffic circle has right of way. Yup, you guessed it… on a busy day, you end up with a traffic circle completely blocked because every man and his dog is giving way to joining traffic and no one is actually getting off the damn thing.
August 9th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Could someone please explain this to me?
The rules state that thr right has right of way, but i’ve always believed that its for vehicles already in the circle.
Does the same apply to cars arriving at circle?
If so, thats so stupid, cause if one lane has a never ending lane of cars and the first one gets in first, then none of the other lanes will ever get in?
I always treat it like a four way stop when arriving at the circle, then give way to cars already in circle.
October 12th, 2006 at 11:03 am
Greetings All,
Interesting here is, in order to justify your own rules of the road you contradict yourselves.
“3. The red indicator arrows show when some idiot decides to take the road-law into his own hands, ending up in an accident†is how Don has decided it should be, then Coda comes along and ‘confirms’ Don’s road rules with a very nice GIF.
Coda, look carefully at that GIF, try to avoid the hypnotic effect and notice how the little blue car comes into the circle and then goes all the way around the circle in the outside lane, to exit at the 3 o clock position. You should not download little GIF’s from websites that teach the correct road rules and post it on another site that promotes incorrect road rules.
I now know that when I drive along a perfectly straight highway (in the left hand slow lane) past an off-ramp, and some moron zips in front of me from the middle lane (where most south Africans love to drive) and speeds up the off-ramp, then it must be our Don, or worse still it could be Mo.
The biggest problem with a south african driver is that he is south african.
KThanxBye
October 12th, 2006 at 11:36 am
Zero, I think you should look carefully at the blue car, ‘cos from where I sit (and I don’t think it changes from seat to seat) the little dark blue car enters at the 6 o’clock position and exits at 12, not 3.
You seem to have meshed the dark blue and light blue cars together, ‘cos the light blue enters at 9 and exits at 3.
I’ve studied the gif quite well, and not one car goes around the circle using the outside lane, the ligth green car enters and exits at 3 (making a full turn) but it uses the inside lane.
KThanxBye
October 12th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
My humble apologies Don (that darn hypnotic effect)… yes the blue car does actually leave the circle at the 12 o clock position. By going around the circle I actually mean “passing a turn-offâ€.
You are implying that a car entering at 6 o clock in the inside lane (blue arrows) may not exit at 9 clock (red arrows) but he may do so at 12 o clock? Also the car entering at 6 o clock in the outside lane (Yellow arrows) may pass around the circle (past the 9 o clock exit) but he may not pass the 12 o clock point in the outside lane? Do I understand this correctly?
If this is in fact what you are saying then how are we to determine exactly where 6 o clock is? Because you will be amazed at how the 6 o clock position changes from seat to seat.
October 12th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Hehe, a mouthful, but yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
And treat wherever you enter the circle as 6 o’clock, and work your way from there, in whichever seat you’re in!
October 12th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Ok so if I am a little pink arrow entering your circle above from the 9 o clock (now MY 6 o clock) in the outside lane, and I pass the 12 clock position (now MY 9 o clock) how do I get to the 3 o clock (now MY 12 o clock) position without getting crashed into by the little blue arrow?
You are not seriously trying to imply that YOU decide for the driver entering the above circle from 9 clock, that he is compelled to leave the circle at 12 o clock and is not allowed to exit at 3 o clock?
October 12th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Is it 3 o’clock already? Shit, late for a meeting, or is it at 9? Who knows?!?
Dude, as far as I know (referencing the K52 Learner’s License Book), pink arrows have right of way, so drive around till your little pink heart is content!
October 12th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Indeed, I would love to continue this battle of wits with you, but clearly you are unarmed.
Perhaps you should suggest in your next “road safety lesson” that one must never forget the fundamental road rule, which is: “never change lanes (i.e. cross over the dotted white line) when there is already a vehicle in that lane”.
If you follow that principle then you will find that the “mind-boggling round thingy” is actually quite simple to comprehend. Although it seems that you apply a rather typical south african road rule i.e. “if I am in the wrong then I get aggressive”
October 12th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
No, it’s more a case of “when they are in the wrong they’re usually the ones following the pink arrows, or they are in fact the pink arrows themselves.â€
KThanxBye
October 12th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
Spoken like a true south african.
October 12th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
And proud of it.
March 19th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Hi everyone,
Following a recent incident at the roundabout next to Monte Casino, I searched the web for the official regulations.
This is what I found:
“If intending to take the first exit from the roundabout, the signal (left) shall be activated on the approach to the roundabout. When intending to leave the roundabout at any subsequent exit, the
signal (left) shall be activated in good time prior to such exit.(When the signal has been activated, the first exit shall be taken)
Unless otherwise required by road traffic signs, all combination of motor vehicles shall remain in the left lane of a roundabout to eliminate blind spots to the left.”
This comes directly from the NATIONAL ROAD TRAFFIC ACT, 1996 (ACT NO. 93 OF 1996), and is signed off by the minister of transport.
(http://www.info.gov.za/gazette/regulation/2006/28446f.pdf)
What this states, quite clearly, is that vehicles with trailers (etc.) are REQUIRED to stay in the outside lane, no matter where they intend to exit the roundabout.
Other official regulations, like those pertaining to vehicles driven under Code B licenses, have no explicit requirement for vehicles to drive in any particular lane in roundabout.
From this, we can learn the following:
1. You are only required to exit the roundabout if you have signaled (left) that you intend to exit, REGARDLESS OF WHICH LANE YOU ARE DRIVING IN.
2. If you have NOT signaled that you are turning left (exiting), you may drive around the roundabout in ANY lane.
3. Given that some vehicles (e.g. those with trailers) are required to drive in the outside lane, you may never assume that it is safe to exit the roundabout directly from an inside lane; you must always check first if there is someone in the outside lane, and, when in doubt, continue driving around the roundabout until it is safe to exit.
So what does all of this mean? Simply that the diagram above is not valid, and that the yellow arrow (car) is allowed to continue around the circle, unless he signaled that he intends to turn left.
Regards,
Frans van den Bergh