x-Sonia-x wrote:When I was learning to drive my instructor told me not to worry about markings on road at mini roundabouts, as long as you give way to right you can drive straight over them. Since passing my test I have been informed that it is illegal and you can incur 3 points on your licence for it.
x-Sonia-x wrote:same instructor as me - he told her same, to trundle straight over them
Gareth wrote:x-Sonia-x wrote:When I was learning to drive my instructor told me not to worry about markings on road at mini roundabouts, as long as you give way to right you can drive straight over them. Since passing my test I have been informed that it is illegal and you can incur 3 points on your licence for it.
It used to be that the law said you should pass in the direction of the arrows, which left enough wriggle room for people to conclude that as long as priority was correctly observed, it was safe and other drivers wouldn't be confused then the paint could be ignored. I remember this interpretation being advised by a PC1 officer at the Reading RoSPA lectures in the early 90s.
At some point the wording was changed to how it is currently stated, with the idea that if you can go around then you must, however if it is impossible for your vehicle to avoid going over the paint then you won't be found to be at fault nor will you be penalised. I imagine that there was a perceived problem of drivers playing fast and loose with the second two criteria I mentioned above.
Gareth wrote:as long as priority was correctly observed, it was safe and other drivers wouldn't be confused then the paint could be ignored. I remember this interpretation being advised by a PC1 officer at the Reading RoSPA lectures in the early 90s.
martine wrote:How you confront the instructor in a diplomatic way is more of a problem...but I feel he does need to questioned as he's giving wrong advice.
Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:It's annoying that not only do you apparently look a fool to such people, but that in being legal, you have to spend half your time watching that they don't ram you
x-Sonia-x wrote:This is exactly what I was told by my ADi. When the wording was changed surely he should know about it ?
Gareth wrote:x-Sonia-x wrote:This is exactly what I was told by my ADi. When the wording was changed surely he should know about it ?
There's so many minor changes to wording that may or may not be significant that's it's probably very difficult for even an expert to be completely au fait with the laws as they stand today.
This particular change had passed me by even after I had notionally become an advanced driver. It's hard to have full knowledge unless you are particularly looking for it, but in this case I was. I'd previously had a discussion about this point, and had gone to the trouble of looking it up in the library of my nearest major city - you had to in those days - and when the topic came up again I had another look to find that it had changed.
Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:I was very nearly overtaken when turning right at a mini r/a today. The r/a in question requires a very significant deviation to the left in order to go round it, and the chap behind was in no mood to do anything of the sort. I cut the roundabout a little to make it clear to him that I was actually turning right, as per my signal, not going straight ahead as he seemed to assume from my initial swing to the left. It's annoying that not only do you apparently look a fool to such people, but that in being legal, you have to spend half your time watching that they don't ram you...
TripleS wrote:BTW, how do I put up a link to a google maps picture of a particular mini-roundabout? Not knowing how to do that, all I can say is that it is at the junction of Scalby Road and Stepney Road in Scarborough.
Gareth wrote:TripleS wrote:BTW, how do I put up a link to a google maps picture of a particular mini-roundabout? Not knowing how to do that, all I can say is that it is at the junction of Scalby Road and Stepney Road in Scarborough.
You mean here?
If you want to see how I did it, quote my message as if to reply and look for the opening and closing url tags, (enclosed in square brackets). Google Maps provides a link to the particular view and I copied and pasted it into the opening url tag.
Return to General Car Chat Forum
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 38 guests