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Cape Townians are not used to
traffic circles (or roundabouts
as they are known in the USA and
UK) – that much is obvious
when observing the way most
drivers negotiate the circles
along Grand National Boulevard.
The Traffic Department kindly
supplied us with these “Rules of
the Road” regarding Traffic
Circles. |
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1. |
Slow down when approaching the
circle – your speed should be
down to 10-15kph, so that you
can safely stop for pedestrians
or if vehicles are
approaching from your right. |
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2. |
Yield to traffic coming from
your right. This everyone seems
to know, but many people still
arrive at a circle too fast to
stop when they see another
vehicle and then take a chance
and speed up to enter the circle
in front of the other vehicle. |
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3. |
Yield to pedestrians.
We have pedestrian crossings at
some of our circles, and traffic
must yield to pedestrians if the
pedestrian is approaching the
crossing on the left side, or
halfway across from the opposite
side. Pedestrians on the
crossings have right of way not
only when you enter the circle,
but also when you exit it. There
are Yield for Pedestrian signs
at these crossings. |
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4. |
Signal your intentions.
This one nobody seems to bother
about, and it causes
considerable irritation. Use
your indicator on approaching
the circle to signal whether you
are going to turn left or right
at the circle. |
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5. |
To turn left (taking the
first exit):
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Signal left and approach in the
left lane in a double lane road.
• Keep to
the left in the circle and
continue signalling to
leave the circle. |
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6. |
To go straight on
(taking the second exit):
• Select the appropriate marked
lane, if no markings approach
the circle in left lane.
• Do
not signal when approaching
circle.
• In a double lane
circle you can use either the
left (outside) or right (inside)
lane.
• Signal left after you
have passed the exit before the
one you want. |
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7. |
To turn right (taking
the third or last exit):
• Signal right and approach in
the right-hand lane in double
lane road.
• Keep to the
right in the circle, taking the
right or inside lane until you
have to exit the circle.
•
Signal left after you have
passed the exit before the one
you want.
• Watch for traffic
in the outside lane before you
cross it to exit circle. |
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Turning left |
Going straight on (2
options) |
Turning right |
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But we also notice that
pedestrians are not making it
easier for vehicles. An
extremely dangerous practice is
that people often take a ‘short
cut’ and walk directly across a
circle instead of using the
pavement round the circle.
Drivers cannot see them on the
other side of the circle and
there has been some near
accidents. |
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The Traffic Department also
mentioned that even at a
pedestrian crossing, pedestrians
must take care. Vehicles cannot
stop immediately and pedestrians
must not step onto the crossing
unless a vehicle is a
considerable distance away. The
best is to wait at the side of
the crossing until the vehicle
has stopped before crossing.
Remember that while the law
states that the vehicle must
stop for you, you cannot rely on
all drivers to obey the law. |
