Let's hope this doesn't gain traction...

[mthee]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63743597

[themoudie]

Rather than allowing another heednabor to come charging into a roundabout at warp factor and skirling the tyres round, whilst believing they are God's gift to the undertaker, or some clone called "Hamilton"?

Can we have a GPS feature that restricts acceleration/speed/turns off mobile devices when approaching roundabouts/junctions, so that peoples attentions are focused on the hazard ahead, not the hazard in their heed?

All genders and those who think that babies are delivered by "Deliveroo", in a plastic bag, whenever they fancy one, appear to have a problem at these meetings of the ways!

Today, whilst out on the Duke, I had a close call, with a dragster artiste in a large AMG Mercedes, unable to distinguish 3 lanes on a roundabout, nearly taking me out broadside, as the setting sun burned his eyeballs and he juggled his mobile "fix" in one hand, having burned rubber to get onto the merry-go-round in front of a large 44 ton whisky tanker holding his station in the correct lane!      I shot off an exit before I intended, to avoid contact, whilst the 44 ton tanker hit everything and lost many miles of wear from his tyres. I didn't wait around to see which way the heednabor went.

As for driverless cars!    Spend the money on public transport, whilst locking up the "white coats" who design these things and throwing the keys away! 

I know this is a "RANT" and will re-post there if it offends. Ta! Bill

[Moto63]

Well it certainly doesn’t offend me Bill. You are most certainly correct. People simply just do NOT use the brains they were born with, especially when they think that “technology” is the saviour. I fear we are the minority in this argument/debate though. Only yesterday coming back from the NEC motorcycle show whilst driving around The service station car park to exit, both myself and my mate saw it coming from 200yards.....but it still didn’t stop the guy in the estate car reversing out straight into the car in front of us. A complete side swipe, with lots of damage. The car in front of us was a Volvo SUV type thing, so quite a size, easy to spot if one was actually looking. Truly unbelievable, you had to witness it to believe it could actually happen the way it did. 🤦 The bloke was clearly NOT looking, probably pratting around with his phone/satnav or some such “device”. If it had been a person walking behind the car he’d have most definitely run them down and most likely killed them.
Keep smiling 😁
Cheers Michael

[Itsme]

Both of you worthy gentlemen get my full support one this topic. Roundabouts and car parks are both places where I take extreme care as people seem to tackle them without their brains engaged.

I would also go as far as suggesting people have to pass a test in order to own a sat nav as many people drive the sat nav and not the actual road. Sat nav says take left turn so people do whether there is anything on the real road or not.

Bah humbug as the season demands.

Ian

[iansoady]

I've noticed a couple of things on roundabouts in the last few years.

1. If you're taking anything but the first exit - hence are close to the centre and indicating right - people will join beside you rather than waiting till you've passed. I find this quite scary as they often start to move before you've evn arrived opposite them.

This can result in:

2. People taking other than the first exit staying all the way round in the outside (ie left) lane. If you're doing it properly and trying to get across from the right to the left at your exit you often find these people are actually continuing further round but hovering under your left elbow so stopping you getting off.

I've always taken roundabouts where I'm not leaving at the first exit as a sort of spiral where I start close to the centre and move out as I approach my exit, but both the above stop me doing that.

[themoudie]

Thank you for your support! 

I remember when this wee beastie (or not so wee) was introduced in Hemel Hempstead, way back in the early '70's. See attached image.

Vehicles can go either to the left or to the right around the main roundabout, whilst the accepted/stated rule; "Give way to vehicles coming from the right", applies at all 6 of the mini-roundabouts.

It worked well when negotiating it on a bicycle and the AJS 18S, as vehicle speeds on and when entering the roundabout were reduced. However, 50 years since its inception, I have no up to date knowledge of how it copes, with today's traffic speeds and volumes. 

Good health, Zebedee

[spooky]

Aaaah, the Magic Roundabout, never had the pleasure !   

[CrazyFrog]

Yes I agree with all the sentiments here too. In my opinion, the design of modern islands has a part to play in all this too. It used to be simple:- left hand lane for left or straight on, right hand lane for right. Now we have road markings which tell you which lane you have to be in for particular destinations, and lanes which spiral round the islands. Given the fact that this new system coexists with the old, its hardly surprising that people get confused. In my darker moments, I could almost imagine that modern road designers are in league with car insurance companies...