Rules at Traffic Circles

Question

Could the rules around traffic circles please be clarified? When approaching a traffic circle should drivers be giving way to oncoming vehicles from the right? Circles should not be treated as four way stops unless there is the arrow in blue signage posted at the circle.

Answer

Vehicles approaching a roundabout must yield to all vehicles already in the roundabout that are approaching from the right and are close enough to represent a potential hazard.
• So, a vehicle already in the roundabout, in the inside lane, may check behind and to the left to see if it is safe to change lanes to the left. If safe, he may do so, irrespective of any vehicles approaching the roundabout from his left. However, keep an eye on vehicles approaching the roundabout in case they might take a chance and not comply with the yield rule (just as a pedestrian legally crossing at a pedestrian crossing should still check that it is safe and that an approaching motorist has in fact seen him and is stopping or has stopped).
• If checking to the left/behind shows that it is safe to change lanes to the left, the driver must then indicate left, then check again (to make sure it is still safe) before moving into the left lane to leave the roundabout at the required exit. This would require quick glances and alert driving at a speed that is safe for the circumstances.
• Sensible drivers in the outside lane who see a driver in the inside lane obviously wanting to change lane to the left (e.g. he is looking to the left) would not speed up, and would normally ease back to allow the driver to move into the outside lane. But … the onus remains on the driver changing lanes to make sure it is safe to do so.
• If it is not safe to change lane, then don’t indicate yet. Continue round the island and miss the desired exit and try again the next time round.
• No driver has the right to create a hazard for another driver, and lane changing should only be done if it is safe to do so (after checking mirrors and blind spots and signalling the intention to change lanes).
• In some other countries there are additional or different specific rules for driving within and exiting multi-lane roundabouts. In SA the rules given above apply.

There is nothing in the SA National Road Traffic Act/Regulations about this other than the basic roundabout rules, so this is my own personal assessment of how the existing rules should be applied to a multi-lane roundabout situation.

Also view:  “Driving at a traffic circle/ roundabout”