Mini roundabout Question
Discussion
There is a mini roundabout on my commute. It's situated where the main single carriageway road goes straight ahead with minor unclassified road off. It is totally flat, not raised and is basically a white spot painted on the road
As I approach with the junction to my left, to go ahead, the roundabout is not situated centrally to the two main carriageways, it is not even situated ahead of me, it situated to my left, so far to the left that to drive straight ahead would place my nearside wheels on the centre of the spot and the offside wheels on the wrong side of it. This roundabout is also very tight, and in fact to negotiate it correctly you have to perform really quite hard, almost exagerated turning of the steering to maintain lane discipline.
What I see is that 100% of drivers do not observe it correctly, instead they cut it to a greater or lesser degree. If I negotiate it correctly I'm so far to the left that following vehicles who are cutting it often have to brake on my offside to avoid me because I'm forced to go so slowly.
As I see it there are therefore three options at this roundabout when the junction is to the left.
1. Observe it correctly which if not difficult is silly in terms of the steering required.
2. Pay lip service to it and cut it like everyone else, which is an offence if your vehicle is not a HGV.
3. With no other traffic at the junction, ignore it completely and drive straight across which is an offence.
In Machynlleth on the A487 Aberystwyth road there are two very small mini roundabouts, one immediately after the other which are just spots on the road, and, in similar fashion to the one above are most easily negotiated by driving straight across, which the majority of drivers appear to do. The police have been heavily criticised for sitting on the junctions off the main road and issuing penalties to those drivers who contravene the not so central white spot. Traffic plod in desperate need of the neccessary number of fixed penalties to hit their monthly quota in order to demonstrate they're doing their job 'propely'.
I'm also aware of two other mini roundabouts in my area where exagerated steering is required to negotiate them. This does of course achive the aim of 'traffic calming' but in the places of which I'm aware of it, in 30 mph restriction areas, the traffic is already moving very slowly.
So, do we all drive our lane around similar white spots on the road or are we guily of cutting across to a greater or lesser degree?
As I approach with the junction to my left, to go ahead, the roundabout is not situated centrally to the two main carriageways, it is not even situated ahead of me, it situated to my left, so far to the left that to drive straight ahead would place my nearside wheels on the centre of the spot and the offside wheels on the wrong side of it. This roundabout is also very tight, and in fact to negotiate it correctly you have to perform really quite hard, almost exagerated turning of the steering to maintain lane discipline.
What I see is that 100% of drivers do not observe it correctly, instead they cut it to a greater or lesser degree. If I negotiate it correctly I'm so far to the left that following vehicles who are cutting it often have to brake on my offside to avoid me because I'm forced to go so slowly.
As I see it there are therefore three options at this roundabout when the junction is to the left.
1. Observe it correctly which if not difficult is silly in terms of the steering required.
2. Pay lip service to it and cut it like everyone else, which is an offence if your vehicle is not a HGV.
3. With no other traffic at the junction, ignore it completely and drive straight across which is an offence.
In Machynlleth on the A487 Aberystwyth road there are two very small mini roundabouts, one immediately after the other which are just spots on the road, and, in similar fashion to the one above are most easily negotiated by driving straight across, which the majority of drivers appear to do. The police have been heavily criticised for sitting on the junctions off the main road and issuing penalties to those drivers who contravene the not so central white spot. Traffic plod in desperate need of the neccessary number of fixed penalties to hit their monthly quota in order to demonstrate they're doing their job 'propely'.
I'm also aware of two other mini roundabouts in my area where exagerated steering is required to negotiate them. This does of course achive the aim of 'traffic calming' but in the places of which I'm aware of it, in 30 mph restriction areas, the traffic is already moving very slowly.
So, do we all drive our lane around similar white spots on the road or are we guily of cutting across to a greater or lesser degree?
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