Road Lane Discipline
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 14:42
In most countries the outside lane of a two lane road (in our case the right hand lane) is used only for overtaking. After this manoeuvre has been completed, the vehicle is expected to return to the inner (left) lane. If not overtaking the motorist is required to remain in the inner lane.
The reasons for this are sensible and obvious. When a vehicle is cruising in the outer lame, the only way to pass it is on the inside but this is the very area where most vehicles have a 'blind spot.'
This morning I was traveling west along Shamrock Road towards Grand Harbour roundabout. I was in the left lane but 10 feet ahead of me in the right lane was a SUV, the driver of which suddenly decided to take the slip road before the roundabout to go along the coast. He veered across into my lane to do so. I only just avoided a collision but the outcome could easily have been catastrophic.
Drivers tootling along in the right hand lane at 25-30 mph forcing other motorists to "undertake" them is a common occurrence here. It should stop.
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Comments
Just to add a moan.
Just to add a moan. Signalling!
Always use your signal/indicator first when turning, even before you start braking.
The number of times a car just stops in front of me for apparently no reason, then after coming to a full stop the signal light suddenly comes on like an after thought.
After a survey I counted one in twenty people in Cayman use their signals correctly. That's 5% of people, which is awful
This post doesn't make sense
This post doesn't make sense to me where it is talking about passing in what I assume is a straightaway on a 4 lane road (or there wouldn't be any "outside lane"). I will assume that the poster is correct that the lane by the shoulder "the outside lane" is for passing, but it seems odd to me. The rest of this sounds great and I'm sure everyone has got it right but how do you expect a tourist from a non-roundabout country to know how to do this. In thirty years I've never seen a pamphlet on the rules of the road. It ought to be handed out with every car rental. You sure can't figure it out by watching the other drivers.
he very obviously means two
he very obviously means two lanes on each side of the road.
the inner lane is the left one, the outer lane is the one on the right.
You should always use the left hand lane normally (the one next to the shoulder) and use the right hand lane (ie the one next to central reservation for overtaking)
Even people form the US with no roundabouts know this, it has nothing to do with roundabouts, just how to drive on a dual carriageway
Exactly the opposite of what
Exactly the opposite of what the post in fact says. No wonder there is confusion.
My wish is simpler...
I have to agree that some mayhem happens at 2-lane roundabout exits, where [say] the driver on the inside lane of the roundabout cuts off the driver on the outside, even though both are exiting into two lanes where a merge process should normally occur.
Heck, I'd just be happy if more drivers could learn to drive in their lane while IN a 2 lane roundabout.
I've seen many an aftermath to the following 2-lane roundabout scenario:
(Let's use the Butterfield roundabout near ALT as an example)
1) two vehicles, passing ALT, enter from the south, intending to go north along the Esterly Tibbets.
2) Under normal circumstances, with proper signaling, both would exit circle alongside each other and merge down to one lane... BUT
3) one vehicle broadsides other mid-circuit (not at the exit!) because that driver seemingly cannot drive in his/her lane without wandering.
And we're not talking just a few inches of wobble here... I actually witnessed an SUV get bumped by a smaller vehicle at the Red Bay roundabout, pushing the SUV up unto the center of the roundabout. And this was two lanes in, two lanes out, going East...
Having personally avoided that fate numerous times by panic braking (one time being cut off by a wandering police car), I don't think I'm asking for much:
STAY IN YOUR %$#&@! LANE!!!
I couldn't agree more with
I couldn't agree more with the original poster and the other commentators here. I drive along the bypass twice each day and it is obvious that a large number of drivers think that both lanes are equal and they can use whichever one they please. You can flash your lights at slow drivers in the fast lane but they clearly have no idea what you're getting at (if they notice you at all).
At roundabouts the driving is much more dangerous. Everyday I see cars in the outside lane driving past exits and cars in the inside lane cutting across the outside lane to exit without warning or indicating. I'd say I've seen at least a dozen accidents caused by one or the other or both and narrowly avoided several thousand myself.
It's the same at the lights. Usually 2 or 3 cars scream through after the lights go red.
And giving way is NOT giving in. Many drivers seem to think that, in when entering traffic, you can advance 6 inches further out for every car you give way to. Once the cars can no longer swerve around you it is your turn to go. That's not how it's meant to work people.
One final thing I would love to get to the bottom of: can anybody explain to me why, on the bypass between Britannia and Cost U Less, there is a roundabout with no intersection, and an intersection with no roundabout? Did they put the roundabout in the wrong place?
As with many things on Cayman
As with many things on Cayman any and all good drivers must be aware that there are many drivers on the road that do not have the ability to follow rules even if it kills them and or you. Drive as if the person behind and to the side of you is an is both blind and in a hurry and you will live longer.
Telling and expecting these people to follow the rules is just not going to save you from them.
And here is the main problem
And here is the main problem of driving in Cayman. Its not the lack of rules, its the lack of the capacity to follow them by a great percentage of drivers in Cayman. How to fix that? Can't be done. Like you said drive as if those around you are three year olds. In Cayman expecting incompetance is a way of life.
When I passed my driving test
When I passed my driving test my teacher taught me a simple rule for whatever you do on the roads:
Mirror, signal, manouvre.
However, all I seem to see here is manouvre, or signal manouvre if lucky. The only thing the mirror seems to get used for is applying make-up and checking hair!
Hey 13.59 Geuss all you guy's
Hey 13.59
Geuss all you guy's then, must be faffin wit ya make up and hair ! oh, and cell phones.
Nah sweetie. Female and use
Nah sweetie. Female and use the bus. Just tryin to be honest. Get plenty time to sit and watch drivers on my way in and out of town each day. OK, yeah, not much men doin the mirror thing. As for the cellies, you know. Man and woman equally guilty on that count.
As far as I am aware, basic
As far as I am aware, basic rules for navigating a roundabout are:
1. Get in the proper lane BEFORE entering the roundabout
(How difficult would it be for the Roads Authority to post signs saying "Get in Lane Now" like other countries do?)
2. If it is your intention to leave the roundabout at the first or second exit, you should ideally be in the left hand lane. If it is your intention to leave the roundabout at the third, fourth, fifth etc. exit, you MUST be in the right hand lane. The exception is that a person driving straight through a roundabout, (i.e. to an exit directly opposite their point of entry, which usually tends to be the second exit, like at the Hurley's roundabout if you're coming from First Baptist School and going east to Bodden Town) can use either lane.
3. Always indicate your intentions
(This might mean indicating RIGHT if you're going all the way around the roundabout to the third or fourth exit, then indicating LEFT as you prepare to leave the roundabout. if you are leaving the roundabout at an exit directly opposite your point of entry, i.e. straight ahead, do not indicate until you are preparing to leave the roundabout otherwise it can be confusing to other drivers).
4. No overtaking on the roundabout
It's those people coming all the way around in the left hand lane heading for the third or fourth exit that are causing kaos on the roundabouts. As someone who spends a good part of each day on the road, I can tell you that my observation is that these are the same people who pass me doing 60 to 65 miles an hour bumping and weaving their way between the three roundabouts (Hurley's to Ocean Club)
A good description except for
A good description except for your "straight through" reference, I feel. A person going "straight" still needs to indicate RIGHT until they get to the exit before the one they are taking, when they should indicate LEFT. Remember that "straight" could be the 3rd exit and the drivers at the entrances passed need to know what the driver is doing. Everyone must be indicating one way or the other.
I feel that the indicator instructions need to be simpler. For example: if taking the 1st exit then indicate LEFT when entering, driving on, & exiting the roundabout; all other exits indicate RIGHT when entering & driving on the roundabout, then indicate LEFT as you pass the exit before the one you wish to take.
This works on single & dual lane roundabouts. Then all a driver has to do is select the correct lane if it is dual lane junction.
The original poster was
The original poster was correct about what to do when going straight ahead. Indicating right is for going right only. Check the Highway Code.
I absolutely agree with the
I absolutely agree with the original poster, and have made similar comments myself before here on CNS regarding Shamrock Road. I travel Shamrock every day on the bus and all too often we all get strung up in queues of traffic behind slow drivers in both lanes (more often than not they turn out to be chatting on their mobile phone and oblivious to the queues of traffic building up behind them).
I also notice appalling driving on the roundabouts each and every single day - its like nobody knows how to sensibly use them at all and they'd rather almost cause a collision than learn.
What I'd really like to see
What I'd really like to see is drivers learning how a traffic circle works.
I do have sympathy for the confusion though. In the XXX insurance office there is a sign that blames as bad drivers people who "think the inner lane of a traffic circle is the exit lane". Of course, going straight through a circle "right lane in to inner lane around to right lane out" is perfectly proper, and yes you are exiting from the inner lane. Turning right in a circle REQUIRES that you to exit from the inner lane.
The sign in the insurance office teaches people the wrong rules, inviting accidents.
If the insurance companies can't even get the rules right God help the drivers, or for that matter the police.
I cannot see how the two lane
I cannot see how the two lane rule applies in sections of interconnected highways linked by circles/roundabouts one's primary concern would be to be in the correct lane to enter the circle given the planned exit from the circle.
If a driver has moved into
If a driver has moved into the outer lane in order to take the third exit from a roundabout, he/she should be indicating a right turn and so there is no problem or danger at all in any other vehicle passing on the inside.
The point remains valid:- only enter the outer lane if overtaking or turning right at a roundabout.
Check the Highway Code or
Check the Highway Code or Graham Walkers book, folks. The diagrams are all there and very clear. I can't see why Roads Authority can't paint guide lines on the roundabouts for a few years until people get used to them.
Mr. Walker's book is wrong
Mr. Walker's book is wrong about indicating right when you enter a roundabout to go straight ahead.
The Highway Code is right.
The Highway Code is right. The local guide is wrong. The Highway Code says that when going straight ahead one needs only indicate upon exiting. Indicating right when entering a roundabout should signal an intention to go to the third or more exit.
It seems that drivers forget
It seems that drivers forget the first rule of roundabouts, "give right of way to traffic on your right" if this rule is observed throughout the traffic flow when entering and exiting a round about there will be no confusion. Traffic on the inner lane has the right to exit off of the roundabout because he is on the right side of the person on the outer lane. That means that traffic going on to the round about must let the traffic already on the circle go pass before getting on, no matter what lane they are in. The right lane is to be used primerily for the first exit and sometimes the second at your own risk. If there is a car on the circle and turning to exit he must me given the right of way. There should be no overtaking on the roundabout as a second rule either. Ive had people almost run into my left side as I turn from the inside lane to exit and they blow their horns like its my fault. These two rules are a matter of common sense and would go a long way to prevent crashes on our road.
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