Roundabouts

Jumpy

Need peoples views on this.
I have driven in many countries, professionally at one stage.
Drivers in Ireland arent the worst drivers I have come across. Except when it comes to roundabouts.

I would ask confirmation of a particular rule.

If an entrance to a roundabout has two lanes to enter and the exit you are taking has one lane, then the inside and the outside lanes must merge just after the exit in the wider section (just like a zipper) if the exit is congested.

To clarify (hard without a picture)

I am turning right at a roundabout with two lanes. Therefore I am on the inside lane. My indicator is on. And the exit I am taking is congested.
The next entrance also has two lanes, and they must go straight to take the exit I intend to take. Therefore they are on the outside lane. It is also a busier road, so since the exit is congested they are lined up across the roundabout.
Since I am on the inside lane and turning into that exit, I pull up into the wider section and attempt to merge in the wider section. To prevent blocking the inside lane as well.
Dumb idiots assume I am trying to jump the queue and instead of letting me in they deliberately go bumper to bumper. This in any other country I have driven Is illegal and very dangerous and congested merging requires a zipper formation. one then one.

Is it different here or can people just not use roundabouts.

CaptainSparrow

I know exactly what you mean, drives me mad too. Another thing you must have noticed is the lack of use of the indicator on roundabouts.

The best thing is to have an extra set of eyes in the back of your head!

unkel

Jumpy wrote:

congested merging requires a zipper formation

Which works amazingly well in all other European countries I have driven. Not here a lot of the time...

Jumpy

CaptainSparrow wrote:

I know exactly what you mean, drives me mad too. Another thing you must have noticed is the lack of use of the indicator on roundabouts.

The best thing is to have an extra set of eyes in the back of your head!

Indeed.

"Ah to be sure.. the other guy..lovely feller that he is can surely read my mind, itll be grand"

Jumpy

unkel wrote:

Which works amazingly well in all other European countries I have driven. Not here a lot of the time...

Its because there is no public campaign.

Its a case of "Dont Drink and Drive" duh "Dont Speed" Double duh.

Where are the roundabout safety (and its safe-ty, not safeh-ty ya big farmers ) awareness ads, or motorway safety ads.

The current ads are just adding shock value to something everybody already knows.

BrianD3

My head hurts after reading that But I think I know what you mean. An example of this is if you're driving west along the N4 near palmerstown and wish to turn onto the Northbound m50. For you, this is the third exit. For traffic heading east along the N4, it is the 1st exit.

Actually, IME drivers are not too bad when it comes to letting people in and doing the "zipper" thing at this location.

Even if drivers are reluctant to let people merge in, who can blame them. They can't be sure whether the merging car is someone like yourself or is someone who has come from the same direction as themselves and is illegally using the middle lane to jump the queue/barge in. Instead of queuing up in the correct (left) lane. Hope that makes sense!

BrianD3

GoneShootin

Jumpy wrote:

not safeh-ty ya big farmers )

Now why did you bring that up? Thats a dialect issue, not directly associated with farmers - of which some are quite small in stature.

Anyway - I point something like this out in my Blog

Jumpy

BrianD3 wrote:

Even if drivers are reluctant to let people merge in, who can blame them. They can't be sure whether the merging car is someone like yourself or is someone who has come from the same direction as themselves and is illegally using the middle lane to jump the queue/barge in. Instead of queuing up in the correct (left) lane. Hope that makes sense!

BrianD3

It is illegal for starters. More than two cars and the central lane is also blocked.

I even had one guy tell me to merge on the roundabout. Idiot.

Its not up to them to decide where I have come from. Its up to them to allow me passage according to the law.

BrianD3

Where in the rules of the road does it say that a merging vehicle must be allowed merge? Nowhere, AFAIK. If you are merging into another lane, then it's up to you to give way to traffic already in that lane. It is good driving and good courtesy to let merging traffic in in a zipper formation however it depends on the circumstances. I'll let someone merge if I can see they haven't done anything illegal to put themselves in the position of needing to merge. OTOH, if someone in a car has just zoomed up a 24/7 bus lane and is attempting to merge into traffic as the bus lane ends, then he's not getting in.

BrianD3

Jumpy

BrianD3 wrote:

Where in the rules of the road does it say that a merging vehcile must be allowed merge? Nowhere, AFAIK. If you are merging into another lane, then it's up to you to give way to traffic already in that lane. It is good driving and godo courtesy to let merging traffic in in a zipper formation however it depends on the circumstances. I'll let somone merge if I can see they haven't done anything illegal to put themselevs in the position of needing to merge. OTOH, if somoene in a car has just zoomed up a 24/7 bus lane and is attempting to merge into traffic as the bus lane ends, then he's not getting in.

BrianD3

As arrogant as the wanker is that did this is, it isnt up to you to put them in an unsafe position. It also isnt up to you to judge their circumstances. ie. if the passenger that is sufferring a stroke didnt make it to the hospital, because 'the driver pissed you off'.
Ok, so maybe it isnt law in this country, I would have assumed it was, however not having a copy of the rules I cant prove yes/no.
But courtesy doesnt swing two ways, if you let them in, you think you are being nice, if you dont because you think they dont deserve it - thats called a power trip.

Balfa

First of all, always let people merge. It doesn't matter why someone needs to merge, or what kind of person they are... if you don't let him merge, you're not only causing him an inconvenience, but also lots of other people, like those stuck behind him.

Secondly, roundybouts are just stupid Especially multi-lane ones. And even more especially the tiny "roundadots". Definitely invented by a short farmer who you can't understand on account of the way he says "safety".

Here, they don't use them. There are four-way stop signs instead. First car to stop at the junction gets right of way. And in my experience, these work FAR better. Granted, they're used on junctions with less traffic, and if traffic at the junction increases, they put lights on it.

Roundabouts should be treated like yellow boxes, and thus you shouldn't enter it if you can't see your way out of it.

I bet you if they put lights at the north end of the M11 (loughlinstown), and just treated it like a regular crossroads, you'd get a lot less congestion during rush hour, too. They should try it out and get statistics.