Fredbargate

Just over a year ago this thread was running on Traffic Islands with the usual splattering of missinformation and off topic posts.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=663383

The thread has been closed so here for anyone to read is information from a link I saw this morning on the mycadiz.biz forum

http://chiclana.es/fileadmin/user_up...sa/rotonda.pdf

JLFS

Fantastic, all sorted I just love section 5, last point

Which basically says, if you are on the inside lane, you must keep going round and round until it is safe to get out.

Dick Dasterdly

I've been known to go round and round several times before I eventually spot an exit that takes my fancy, then once more for good measure to get myself lined up for it.
Usually attracts quite a few strange looks from curious pedestrians who maybe think I've invented some strange new pastime of going round and round in ever decreasing circles until I disappear up my own jacksy.

JLFS

Just wondering if you bumped into Cricketman on you "turns" as he hasnt been on for a while, it is possible he is stuck in the middle lane on a busy roundabout somewhere.

Dick Dasterdly

Now you come to mention it I did just pass one roundabout which seemed to have attracted an unusual number of onlookers.........
.....maybe its catching.

On the other hand it's one of the few places in busy areas where you're pretty well guaranteed to keep moving,....once you've found your way into the magic circle or magic roundabout that is.

Now he wouldn't happen to look a little bit like Zebedee by any chance ?

Paul B

You need to try traffic islands in the Philippines if you want to see chaos. They are marked with 'give way' lines on the entrance road, and that is apparently the law, but the Filipino people seem to have collectively decided that traffic coming into the roundabout has right of way.

Now that is a wake up call when you first venture out on the road system here....indicate to turn off the roundabout, and cars coming screaming across your nose at 30mph.

Dick Dasterdly

Exactly,I suppose thats why the Spanish are taught to circulate in the outside lane til they reach their appropriate exit.
Meanwhile the inside ones are for those of us who are a little undecided so we can continue to circulate undisturbed for hours on end and complete a full recce before coming to a decision and chopping of someones nose.

Rosemary

There is no problem with Spanish roundabouts that closing eyes and ears will not cure.

Graham

fionamw

I only had a quick glance, so I remain to be corrected, but the only thing I could see that was possibly different from UK roundabout rules is the use of the indicator - which in the UK should be right hand indicator starting once you've passed the exit before the one you want. The Spanish one seemed to me to suggest merely indicating right in the quadrant of the circle where your exit appears ... which might explain why so many times going round a roundabout you are confused by people indicating when they aren't in fact leaving *quite* yet! Other than that, what's different? All the shading, red and blue lines, etc,seemed very similar to UK.

snikpoh

I think the big difference is that none of these rules seem to be followed by the Spanish.

They even teach different rules. I was watching an instructor tell his student to stay in the outside lane even though they were going to take the LAST exit which was almost a U turn from where they started - how dumb is that?

Paul B

Lanes? They have lanes? I assumed it was just a free-for-all of cross cutting, side swiping lunacy, from what I have seen so far.

They even take a shortcut between two adjacent exits, by cutting through the roundabout the wrong direction here.

fionamw

I think the big difference is that none of these rules seem to be followed by the Spanish.
They even teach different rules. I was watching an instructor tell his student to stay in the outside lane even though they were going to take the LAST exit which was almost a U turn from where they started - how dumb is that?

Possibly what I ought to be commenting on is that the driving tuition is cr*p - neither I nor anyone else can blame the Spanish drivers for getting their roundabout manoeuvres wrong (even if the rules are clear) IF they're being taught incorrectly!

Fredbargate

Taught ????

They just huddle en mass in the car whilst the " instructor" demonstrates how not to do it

fionamw

Kind of supports my comment, then

Rotor

It always amazes me when a country adopts sytem having seen it work in other countries....then fiddles with it to make it "their own" and then it all goes belly upvery third world