Re: Let the games begin ....
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 3:48 pm
Very often this seems to be a deliberate ploy by the Council or Highways Engineers, to place the circle in such a place that the traffic has to deviate significantly to circumnavigate it. I think their thinking is that "we'll make sure they have to make an effort to go round", whereas what happens is that more and more people just ignore the paint completely, and treat the junction as a T-junction / cross-roads / multiple access junction, aiming directly for their exit. Even when the mini roundabouts are raised, people just drive over them, given that they usually can't be raised much, or they would hamper large vehicles, buses, etc.
Here is an example close to me. A large proportion of the traffic is between the first exit as we're looking at it, and the second. People turning left from where the learner is have to be very careful, because traffic coming down from the bridge (the direction we're travelling) of course just straightlines the roundabout and barely slackens their pace. Conversely people turning right across in front of the camera rarely bother with the roundabout, but just turn right, sometimes missing the paint completely. If you do, then the person behind thinks you're turning left into the housing estate, and tries to cut across behind you. Totally pointless, and has added far more danger than was previously there.
Here is an example close to me. A large proportion of the traffic is between the first exit as we're looking at it, and the second. People turning left from where the learner is have to be very careful, because traffic coming down from the bridge (the direction we're travelling) of course just straightlines the roundabout and barely slackens their pace. Conversely people turning right across in front of the camera rarely bother with the roundabout, but just turn right, sometimes missing the paint completely. If you do, then the person behind thinks you're turning left into the housing estate, and tries to cut across behind you. Totally pointless, and has added far more danger than was previously there.