To wonder why people don't understand that the rules for mini-roundabouts are the same as for "normal" ones?

[Salmotrutta]

Twice in two days I've seen people behave as if they have taken leave of their senses at mini-roundabouts:
a) Old lady blasted our horn at us because we were approaching from her right on a mini-roundabout and she was ready to go straight ahead. She clearly thought she had right of way when she didn't and was about to drive out in front of us. Actually she looked very old so maybe she was confused .
b) Witnessed the same thing happening when a car ahead of me cut across the path of a car turning right (and travelling in the opposite direction to us, so coming from our right) at a mini-roundabout.

Do people think rules are different for mini-roundabouts??

I see this regularly - why??

the "give way to the right" rule only applies if another car is already on the roundabout. so if you are approaching and the car from the junction on the right is not proceeding then why wait?!

Yep. I always make a mad dash out first on mini roundabouts (brave or mad, who is to say?), but there seem to lots who just sit there, pondering who will make the first move.

Actually, you can drive over a mini-roundabout where it is not possible to drive around it. What else can you do?

Mini-roundabouts. Approach these in the same way as normal roundabouts. All vehicles MUST pass round the central markings except large vehicles which are physically incapable of doing so. Remember, there is less space to manoeuvre and less time to signal. Avoid making U-turns at mini-roundabouts. Beware of others doing this.

Taken from the Highway Code

Oooh. Wish I had known that when evil policeman threatened me. Arse

That link [[http://www.ukadi.co.uk/2006/02/dealing-with-mini-roundabouts.html
]] is saying you don't need to indicate for the exit of the roundabout, but youDO when approaching or starting out on it. And to be honest, a driver with any experience and dexterity should be able to indicate their exit at the same time as steering...

I was told when I was learningthat if the mini roundabout was flat you drive straight over as if normal road (with giving way etc of course) but if it was raised then you have to drive around it.

I used to live in Hemel Hempstead.

There is a bitch of a roundabout there, called the magic roundabout

Nobody knows what the hell they're doing!

get round THAT fecker!

I used to go round it with my eyes closed!

OH my god - that has to be the scariest roundabout I've ever seen - where would you even start?
I'd probably have to close my eyes too, whilst screaming "Banzai!" then just go for it

anyone who's ever been round it will be able to confirm that at least half of those going round it do indeed drive like they've got their eyes closed.

You just have to get on in there and hope for the best

I've seen plenty of police cars going over mini roundabouts!

You are taught to indicate more than you need to, times you'd get a fault if you did it in your test but if you did the advanced test you'd get a fault for doing it - for example turning onto a dual carriageway or on a filter lane (my XH was a driving instructor and I used to make up test papers for his advanced test and for students).

My OH draws roundabouts for a living, he's learnt now not to tell us what type of roundabout we're going around or what type of bridge that is! We're meanies

He draws roundabouts for a living?

Do you mean he designs them? Or is he a really really weird arty type?

If he designs them, can you ask him why the holy hell we even have bloody roundabouts anyway, when lights are a FAR better system? with lights you don't get people stuck each giving way to the right at a busy roundabout and nobody going. You don't get people cutting you up even though it's your right of way, you don't get people going round even though they were indicating to turn off, or not indicating and just going... everyone knows where they stand with lights. when it's green, it's your turn and everyone else waits.

I wish they'd stop making stupid bloody useless roundabouts

He's not the designer, he draws what he's told to draw. I'm sure he would give me a wonderfully technical description of what they're for and why if I asked (and he didn't think I was taking the mick!) I used to get all the information about them and the difference between a roundabout and a squareabout or over bridges and under bridges... He learned that it get's him teased though.

There are squareabouts??!! ............

Ive come out in a cold sweat just looking at the photograph of that roundabout. Crazy.

Yes. Please ask him why we still have roundabouts when they are a useless pile of crap and a pain in the arse and lights would be so much better.

And ask him what a squareabouts is. I need to know.

Me too!!
Then I'll probably have nightmares about them

We've got a magic roundabout up the road. You should see the confusion on there sometimes!

I live near the Magic Roundabout in Hemel. I love it. The look of fear and confusion on the faces of drivers new to the concept of going the wrong way round the roundabout is priceless .

I have a mini roundabout at the end of my road and it can take ages to pull out because the road going across is more of a main road and people think they have right of way (in fact some of them don't even slow down and just steam across regardless).

There've been a whole host of crashes and near misses over the years but the funniest one was a collision (nothing major) in which the driver of the car that had the right of way was so incensed he got out of his car, slammed the door and the window fell out!

Well now I am confused. DH says to indicate when going left or right and not to indicate going off and to drive over flat ones BUT I have seen him at a junction just turning right across one when it was clear.

He said not to do that on my test but I assume if clear that's pretty harmless.

OK, he's here and I'm grilling him!

Squareabouts

Exactly what it sounds like, it's the shape of a square rather than a circle - or more a square per say. You can have more exits, but it's hard to describe because there are other factors you have to take into account. Your more likely to see them at motorway junctions. He said he'll dig out the proper definition of a squareabout tomorrow.

Lights V Roundabouts

From a design/ cost perspective lights tend to be more expensive because of the power and the signalling patterns so more people's inputs. Signal junctions also take up less space, they usually tend to be a crossroad rather than more than four exits. It's not as simple as one or the other, you have to look at what you want, what space you've got, the amount of traffic, what type of traffic... there's lots of things that need to be taken into account. As designers we usually design and cost both and then the client will decide which one they want depending on what they're looking for.

I've just impressed him by knowing the difference between an overbridge and an underbridge and when it's rail or highway. Told you he thought I was taking the mick though, I'm asking him some serious questions and he's pointing at me and saying "Don't you..."

Is he dead happy that someone is finally interested in roundabouts?

Has given him a laugh! It did take half an hour to write the previous post as the TV was one (silly me!) so probably could have been happier lol

There is a mini-roundabout near me, where I've had so many near misses that I actually checked the highway code because I thought I was doing it wrong. I wasn't.

Weirdly, about 500m along the road, there is another mini-roundabout, where everyone manages to get it right. Then a further 500m along the road is another one, where no one knows what to do. How can this even be possible?!