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PostPosted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 09:28 
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SafeSpeedv2 wrote:
Crossing these flows to do a right may often be easier to go left with the traffic, and then double back, but I can understand people never seem to like doing this.


Some of the older USA freeways are designed like that. All joining traffic has to turn right and then there is a break in the (very wide) divider to allow for a U turn.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 20:22 
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dcbwhaley wrote:
But. I think that Courtesy and Consideration should include waiving your priority occasionally to ease congestion. It is extremely frustrating waiting for several minutes to join a busy main road and that lack of C&C by every driver on the main road forces one to "bully" ones way on to the road

Ah but then we are talking about having the confidence to behave appropriately :) Being able to 'be ready to go' and to pull out takes a manner of appearance of 'ready to go' not I am stopped and thinking about it.
Some difficult slip ways and esp short one's can be hard to judge the speed and approach correctly especially when busy - and if traffic is in front then you have a balancing act to control. When this happens I'd leave more space in front of me, be int eh appropriate gear and then 'in the paused state' prepare - checking all lines of sight and gaps, traffic flow, movement flow and potential opportunities then with plan one can proceed and slip into the flowing traffic with least effort or upset to close moving traffic flow.
If this road is busy then I'd gauge and look and deliberately catch the eye of the traffic and even open the window and indicate ... a smile helps too :) - as does having all the appearance of ready for the agreed 'let in' sign ... :)

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 22:03 
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:yesyes: Echo all of that, Claire. 95% of communication on the road is car and driver body language, with horn and indicators filling in the gaps.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 22:40 
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Our local council has got into the habit of putting broken hatched boxes on some junctions where it was previously easy to join or exit a busy road by using the width of the road. Now although there is nothing to stop you using these broken hatched segments of the road as slipways as previously, many drivers now don't which results in much sudden braking and difficult road entering by some people...I'm sure it is all part of the big plan to slow traffic down, make driving more stressful and eventually warrant a congestion charge.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 23:26 
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What i'm now seeing is a lot of drivers using thre schools of thought on roundabouts-

1) - indicate left all the way round and let others guess which exit they're taking .
2) Approach the roundabout fast , braking at the last minute ,but car language says "I'm not going to stop unless forced to do so " -the sort of thing I call car bullying -hoping that those on the roundabout will fear the worst and stop to let them carry on ( and risk a tail ender from following traffic)
3) Approach roundabout in a more right hand lane , enter outside car in left lane ,then cut up car in left lane to get in front .

Find that 2 & 3 are happening more often -2 by the usual class of make driven by "fly boys" - 3 by the chav brigade .

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 08:33 
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You forgot
4) Drive up to the deserted roundabout with eyes firmly fixed to the front. Stop on the line and look carefully and slowly in both directions. Only if there is no vehicle within visible range in any directions join the roundabout and proceed at 15mph chuckling about the number of rear end shunts happening behind you

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 09:08 
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What about No. 5 for mini roundabouts. Drive up to roundabout check left and right. If traffic waiting on left, wait, they will then be waiting for you to make your move, you still don't go and stalemate.... I see it regularly.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 14:48 
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graball wrote:
What about No. 5 for mini roundabouts. Drive up to roundabout check left and right. If traffic waiting on left, wait, they will then be waiting for you to make your move, you still don't go and stalemate.... I see it regularly.


The problem with mini roundabouts is that they aren't really roundabouts. Conceptually they are more akin to the four-way stops which you find in North America. I think that there is a huge but unappreciated difference between roundabouts where you can see all the exits at the same time and roundabouts where you can't.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 22:23 
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dcbwhaley wrote:
You forgot
4) Drive up to the deserted roundabout with eyes firmly fixed to the front. Stop on the line and look carefully and slowly in both directions. Only if there is no vehicle within visible range in any directions join the roundabout and proceed at 15mph chuckling about the number of rear end shunts happening behind you


From my experience of those learning to drive ( oops sorry ,pass the test ) ,that's what the DSA teach (regularly pass a DSA office ,with dozens of learners/those on tests) -and what do I find - I've seen that it's safe ( or that there's no vehicles that I consider to be a hazard around ) -but learner traets it as a STOP .PERHAPS DSA might start to teach forward observation skills ( I remember being taught this in the 60's in Glasgow -simple things ,like -bus in front -there's bus stop ,with people waiting ,might be an idea to move into outer lane ).But then ,in those days driving was taught as an art ( or did I pick on of the few good driving schools),where one was taught the skills first and then the art of test passing later .

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 00:40 
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botach wrote:
From my experience of those learning to drive ( oops sorry ,pass the test ) ,that's what the DSA teach


My son, who passed his test two tears ago, assures me that he was not taught to stop at clear roundabouts. Mind you it did take me most of the first year to convince that overtaking was not, as he had been taught, a desperately dangerous manoeuvre only to be considered if the vehicle in front was going at less than ten mph.

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