On Fri, Feb 07, 2003 at 11:43:49PM -0800, Paul Johnson wrote:
> What *really* pisses me off is when I'm approaching a roundabout to go
> around it in the correct (anti-clockwise) direction, some asshole
> coming the other way or from the right thinks that they can cut off
> the roundabount clockwise to turn left at the junction instead of
> going around like anybody with a brain would do. I've now had five
> very near misses thanks to these idiots, three had Californian plates,
> one had British plates (and for that I'm giving leeway since British
> roundabouts move clockwise) and one idiot was on the phone.
WHAT??? You are joking? No, I don't think you are.
In Bedford there is a rather daft roundabout laid out like this:
| | Ashburnham Rd
| |
___/ \__________
__ /
Car __ O <- the roundabout
park \___________________
Midland Rd
People turning right from Midland Rd into Ashburnham Rd occasionally
do what you describe, but only ever in the middle of the night when
there are no other cars on the roads. I have never seen it done under
normal traffic conditions, nor have I seen it done on roundabouts
whose layout doesn't incite it so blatantly as the above example. I
think your British idiot must have been suffering from the usual
British problem of forgetting to drive on the other side of the road
when abroad.
The usual reaction of Bedford drivers to a roundabout is bafflement,
hesitation and indecision - faults of which a single instance would be
enough to make them fail their driving test - even when the roundabout
is one they encounter every day and should be thoroughly familiar
with. One roundabout was replaced with temporary traffic lights due to
roadworks. The effect of this on the traffic flow was such that when
the roadworks were finished, instead of reinstating the roundabout,
the temporary traffic lights were made permanent.
Pigeon
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