by Jack
Contrary to popular belief drivers traveling through roundabouts in Chico must actually use the turn system and yield right of way to the driver who arrives before them. For example when traveling on Manzanita Rd. heading either north or south, it’s not okay to form a long caravan of cars and force motorists from opposing directions to wait until your train has passed. This would be rude and you would breaking the law by violating another driver’s right-of-way. This could lead to road rage, being run off the road, jerked through the window of your stupid little car and severely beaten about the head and shoulders. So please…wait your turn, those 4 way yield signs at roundabouts are not just for decoration, it’s the law! And remember, the life you save may be your own.
This is precisely why I hate those ill conceived circles and avoid them whenever possible. They are the scatter- brain child of local Europhiles trying to demonstrate how Eurohip they are.
http://www.westburlingtoncity.com/media/RoundJamWeb.jpg
I once accidentally took the wrong exit on an incomplete circle and it was blocked. I realized I would have to either get out and remove two barriers (exit and entrance), hang a U-turn in the compacted gravel, and replace the barriers or just back up.
I was completely out of the circle, not blocking traffic and was patiently waiting for traffic to clear before backing up when a woman driving in the circle came to a full stop in the circle (not behind me in the blocked exit but in the circle), and blasted her horn at me for about 20 seconds.
I think she was a bit confused too.
The only road rage I would like to see is someone negotiating a D8 Caterpillar through the durn things and tossing up a few stop signs.
Wow. It really isn’t that freaking hard to figure out. Traffic inside the circle has the right of way. That’s all there is to know. Really! That’s why it works: when you enter the circle, look left. Traffic in the circle? If someone’s there, they have the right of way. If not, go.
It is Very Very Simple. If you can be bothered to write a long rant about circles then you’ve got all the time you need to learn how to drive in one. It could not be any freaking simpler. Traffic in the circle has the right of way. One rule. ONE. Is that too freaking complicated for you?
Sam actually there are two rules. One obviously is having the right-of-way once you are in the circle and two is when several vehicles approach from different directions it’s then just like any intersection or 4 way stop and of course then you yield to the car on your right.
You really want to have some fun? Try driving in Great Britain (on the left) into a multiple-lane roundie-round and try to make your exit on the first time around.
Good Luck!
Been there done that…thankfully I was young enough to keep it straight in my head – today I am not so sure I could! lol As a practical joke I almost posted this UK video how to use a roundabout for right hand drivers. If people are confused now they would have been dizzy after watching that video! I was.
Evidently Jack’s point was so Very Very Simple that Sam completely missed it. Sometimes cars enter from one direction (forming a train) without yielding before entry.
Get it?
Pie… good comment. I’ll log this under, he who laughs last….
Actually, I find driving through town to the Mall area is much nicer and smoother now than before. I used to drive that way before when i was volunteering at Windchime retirement center, and the traffic was horrendous. Now it is a pleasure to drive that way.
As for yielding the right away, what is the problem. Unless you are in a funeral procession, it makes for everything work great. I must admit I was dubious about their design, but after they finished I have become a converted promoter of the roundabouts.
Now I am still not a supporter of the real small ones that seem to nothing more than an expensive form of speed bumps to slow traffic down.
I am still looking forward to the road to be extended to Lassen, or Eaton as they will eventually do. Then going to the mall area will be quicker via the back way than taking the freeway.