Understanding roundabout exits

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Postby spn221 » Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:21 pm


Hi

I have difficulty in understanding roundabout exits some times.
I know the exits are marked by thick or thin lines to indicate major and minor roads.
However, in this picture taken from "Know your traffic signs" (page 78) and also on some roads, what do the exits with arrow and the exits with a rectangle(no arrow) mean?
Do the arrow ones only mean exits and the rectangled ones (2 of them) not exits at all (i.e NO Entry roads from which traffic can only join the roundabout but I cant leave the roundabout at that exit?
Why are the names of the places not printed against the rectangle ones?
The arrowed one on the right leads to M43, but not the Rectangle one.
Thanks in advance for answering, also please point me to places in highway code/know your traffic signs to understand such signs.

Link to image is below.
[img]
http://s14.postimage.org/qs0zu1fo1/roundabout.jpg
[/img]
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Postby Big Err » Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:23 pm


Hi,

I'll try to avoid this turning into a sign design lesson, or I'd be here for days!

The thickness of the arms dictate the route status - thickest is a primary route (usually Trunk Road or Motorway), medium size is for non primary A and B roads, and the thinnest is for C and unclassified routes (C routes are not identified by their number on signs).

The "stubs" (arms with blunt ends) are used to identify entry points on the example you show (a grade seperate junction where the entry and exits to the these routes are some distance apart - the width of a motorway flyover and embankments), or may be used for unsigned exits such as a private access/exit on a roundabout.

The example you have shown has a medium thickness line for the entry arm and 12 o'clock arm, which signifies a non primary A or B road, and the background colour of the sign suggests the sign is located on an entry that is non primary. The blue panels suggest the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock arms lead onto Motorway.

If you're having trouble sleeping, have a look at Chapter 7 of The Traffic Signs Manual which is available as a pdf online.

Good luck :)
Last edited by Big Err on Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Ralge » Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:24 pm


The sign tells you (clockwise from 6 o'clock):
- you are entering a roundabout from 6, the bottom
- you have an option of going the first exit left that takes you to Medford on the M43
- "rectangle"
- you have a second exit available (straight ahead) to Debworth
- you have a third exit available (a right turn) towards London
- "rectangle".

The rectangles that seem to be confusing you are NOT exits that are available to you since they are the (one-way) slip roads coming off the m/way that lead into the same roundabout.
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Postby spn221 » Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:35 pm


BigErr and Ralge,

Thanks to you both for taking time and clarifying what I was assuming for the blunt rectangle.

I read on daily mail a couple of months back about a new driver, driving for 3 months who took one of the blunt rectangles and ended up on the wrong direction and had a head on collision and died.

I was thinking that these blunt rectangles should be marked by a "No Entry" Symbol, which is present on some roundabouts sign posts.

Why is that symbol missing in this picture for the flat rectangles, which is very very important?

I mean that symbols should help, not confuse people, the flat reactangles which are one ways and no entry points can be identified once we drive into the round about but at night and when there is no oncoming traffic from that road, it can be very easily be mistook for an exit.

Thanks for clarifying anyway, but I would have expected a No entry at the flat rectangles.

thanks again.
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Postby Big Err » Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:41 pm


spn221 wrote:I was thinking that these blunt rectangles should be marked by a "No Entry" Symbol, which is present on some roundabouts sign posts.

Why is that symbol missing in this picture for the flat rectangles, which is very very important?


The problem with symbols on signs is that it massively increases the sign area and makes the sign more complex. The more complex the sign the more difficult it is to understand - remember road users generally only have a few seconds to observe and understand a road sign.

The geometry of the junction and signing at the off ramps should be such that first it would take an effort to turn the wrong way, and secondly signs would be present at that point to further discourage you.
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Postby Gareth » Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:46 am


spn221 wrote:Why is that symbol missing in this picture for the flat rectangles, which is very very important?

The UK driving test requires new drivers to learn and understand how information is displayed on signs.

The example you cite is a case where someone didn't learn properly or didn't pay full attention to what they were doing.

I couldn't find your example in the Daily Mail from the last year, but three cases I did find werenone of which would have benefited from your suggested sign modification.


Edited to add: a bit more searching and I think I have found the case you were remembering. The driver appears to have passed two signs which already have the modification you propose, although maybe the signs have been changed since this incident.
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Postby Horse » Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:12 pm


One of my pet hates is where sign designers place two signs on the approach to a roundabout, the first just shows major exits "Ah, first exit, signal left" then the second sign shows the addtional first minor exit . . .
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Postby Big Err » Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:41 pm


Horse wrote:One of my pet hates is where sign designers place two signs on the approach to a roundabout, the first just shows major exits "Ah, first exit, signal left" then the second sign shows the addtional first minor exit . . .


In these cases both signs should show the same number of arms, but detailed as appropriate.
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Postby fungus » Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:54 pm


Big Err wrote:
Horse wrote:One of my pet hates is where sign designers place two signs on the approach to a roundabout, the first just shows major exits "Ah, first exit, signal left" then the second sign shows the addtional first minor exit . . .


In these cases both signs should show the same number of arms, but detailed as appropriate.


We have one near me on the entry to Wareham. The first sign shows Wareham as the first exit, when it is actually the second. The first exit goes into a Park Home development. The first sign also leads you to believe that Wareham is at 9 o' clock when it's actually between 10 & 11 o' clock :twisted: The second sign shows the exits correctly. The moral is "Look, look again". John Miles gives an example of this in his book Advanced Driving where the second exit looks as if it's at 12 o' clock, but it's actually at 2 o' clock. I have to agree with him that highways authorities like to engineer in confusion in order to slow drivers down :roll:.
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Postby Horse » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:53 pm


Big Err wrote:
Horse wrote:One of my pet hates is where sign designers place two signs on the approach to a roundabout, the first just shows major exits "Ah, first exit, signal left" then the second sign shows the addtional first minor exit . . .


In these cases both signs should show the same number of arms, but detailed as appropriate.


'Should' and what actually happems are often very different, to the point it seems deliberate.
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