Question about the new road rules

[BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation]

I've been trying to keep up to date with the changes regarding giving way to pedestrians and bikes and thought I had it cracked. I've googled it and have been reading newspaper articles and been on YouTube.

However, I'm following a youtube channel that belongs to a driving instructor and he was showing some dashcam footage of his car giving way to pedestrians who are crossing at the exit of a roundabout. I didn't realise that this was included. I did give way to some pedestrians who were crossing at a roundabout exit. They didn't stop and just started to cross. I was being careful and driving slowly and it was easy enough to let them across, but what if a driver behind wasn't expecting me to be stationary there?

A group of students were standing waiting to cross at another roundabout exit and becoming irate because none of the cars were stopping to allow them to cross.

Have I missed something? Are motorists meant to stop to give way to pedestrians at roundabouts?

Many drivers seem to be ignoring the rules turning into junctions and I almost got squashed yesterday by white van man.

I feel really uneasy about these new rules and how people are navigating the roads to include them. I was driving ds to the railway station this morning and a man just crossed the road at a random point and traffic had to stop.

Bump in case anybody knows.

The thing about turning into junctions I always believed was part of the highway code but not law previously. Where I could stop safely in this situation I did - but not when I had fast traffic coming up behind.

I still think that common sense needs to be shown by all road users. When my kids were learning to drive I always reminded them that 'right of way' counted for nothing if you were dead or injured in the road.

I don't think, even legally, people can walk out anywhere on the road though, although some always have done. I guess, coming off a roundabout, you are technically entering a different road so pedestrians will have R.O.W

Again I'd be weighing up the odds if a 40 tonne truck was on my tail

I was waiting to turn off a main road into a side road....group of young kids with scooters stopped at kerbside waiting for mothers a few hundred yards behind.... what do you do then??

Wait for the strolling mothers with prams/coffees to catch up and all cross... or do I go??

Wait for the strolling mothers with prams/coffees to catch up and all cross... or do I go??

Was there an irate Audi driver behind you? 🤔

The other thread on the new rules got a bit shouty, & I had worries like this which didn't get answered.

Today I drove for the first time since the rules came into effect & the only thing I noticed was a bloke who was walking along the pavement on my left. When he got to a side road he just carried on walking, without checking for traffic or anything. While he might have priority, surely anyone sensible would see what traffic was around? (I was going straight on, so no problem.)

I'm worried that pedestrians are going to rely too much on drivers stopping for them. It's enough to follow the road, control the vehicle, read road signs, avoid other motorists and pot holes without random bodies walking into your path 😬

Stopping whilst exiting a roundabout seems like a really risky thing to have to do.

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

Wait for the strolling mothers with prams/coffees to catch up and all cross... or do I go??

Was there an irate Audi driver behind you? 🤔

Don't know. I was highlighting the fact nobody on the pavement were in a hurry

I think the bottom line is that all drivers will have to seriously slow down when driving through areas with pedestrians. That's no bad thing.

The boy-racers and generic-angry-men audi drivers are the main culprits and need to seriously re-think their entitlement to drive like twats.

I'm worried that pedestrians are going to rely too much on drivers stopping for them.

That would make them idiots. If you have right of way (whether walking, cycling, driving) its still common sense to double check.

But I don’t think most pedestrians will just walk out - most people don’t just walk out at a zebra crossing, they check to make sure they’ve been seen, cars are slowing down/stopping etc. I don’t see why you wouldn’t act the same now really. I walk more than I drive and I don’t just step out onto a zebra crossing if a car is speeding towards me, and wouldn’t just step out into a road at a junction without checking either.

Surely pedestrians aren't going to just start walking out in front of traffic?? I've not noticed any difference so far, I've seen that pedestrians are still waiting at the side of the road until traffic has passed. I certainly think it would be dangerous to slam your breaks on as you exit a roundabout because someone is waiting to cross.

It happened today. Was exiting a medium sized roundabout only to find a chap starting to cross the road at the same time. He was in my blind spot initially, then I spotted him and slammed the brakes on.

Yes, pedestrians have right of way at the exit of roundabouts, over cars who are exiting the roundabout. They don't have right of way on that same exit over cars who are pulling up to enter the roundabout.

So you get the situation where the car on the roundabout must stop for pedestrians, while the pedestrians must wait for the car travelling in the opposite direction to pass. So no one moves if there's a lot of traffic approaching the roundabout I guess.

No one should be slamming brakes on. You should be scanning ahead for potential hazards and travelling slowly if there are any pedestrians near your exit.

What about roundabouts that have pedestrian crossings and lights to control the traffic on them? Do they still have to wait for the lights to say they can walk or do the drivers need to stop regardless of whether the pedestrian crossing says so?

@AndSoFinally

Yes, pedestrians have right of way at the exit of roundabouts, over cars who are exiting the roundabout. They don't have right of way on that same exit over cars who are pulling up to enter the roundabout.

So you get the situation where the car on the roundabout must stop for pedestrians, while the pedestrians must wait for the car travelling in the opposite direction to pass. So no one moves if there's a lot of traffic approaching the roundabout I guess.

No one should be slamming brakes on. You should be scanning ahead for potential hazards and travelling slowly if there are any pedestrians near your exit.

If only all roundabouts were designed so that there were no nasty surprises! I use one which is a masterpiece of bad design - & the designers admitted to us that they couldn't make it right so they just went ahead with it (due to imperatives from above). You can't see far enough ahead to even obey boxes painted on the road; it's impossible for a first-time user to know where they should be; drivers change lanes because it's so easy to go wrong; and there are pedestrian ways across it too. Good luck with that one.

Any pedestrian or cyclist who totally relies on it being their right of way and go without checking is being totally stupid
They may well be in the right (and I am certainly watching for that kind of stupidity at all times) but being right will be no comfort to them or their relatives when they are dead or have life changing injuries.

Entitled people, be they vehicle drivers, cyclists or pedestrians make life more difficult for everyone. I have no problem giving way to pedestrians or cyclists if I can see their intention and have time to stop. With the best will in the world a heavy vehicle, even travelling slowly doesn't stop dead - unless it hits an unmoveable object

Is there a site online where there's a full list of the changes? I'm a reasonably intelligent person, but I'm finding elements of this confusing.

@GirlInACountrySong

I was waiting to turn off a main road into a side road....group of young kids with scooters stopped at kerbside waiting for mothers a few hundred yards behind.... what do you do then??

Wait for the strolling mothers with prams/coffees to catch up and all cross... or do I go??

I would say that you continue to drive, with care, as always when it looks like there are pedestrians who might suddenly step out. The children weren't 'waiting to cross', they were 'waiting for mothers'.

Isn't the problem that if one of the kids suddenly ran or fell into the road, the driver who'd continued into the side road might be held to have broken the rules? It's pretty impossible to read the mind of a pedestrian, or ascertain their intentions, & this is what seems wrong about the new rules.