I Think We've Sussed It.....

[gness]

....but there will be an accident....

In January I posted about my amazement at a number of cars driving through a red light onto the Hamburger Roundabout in Kettering....I held my breath waiting for a crash....

Today I collected Dave to do our stint at the Eisteddfod and approached this roundabout...lights on red and we were at the back of two lanes of waiting traffic when.....
The first car in the lefthand lane went straight ahead.....against our lights....
Then, slowly......about five or six other cars from both lanes followed.....

We figured that the first car was so far forward the driver couldn't see our lights but was watching a set further onto the island....they go green to allow the traffic from our right to move. forward and around the island, keeping it clear.....

Now, he/she made two errors....being too far forward to see our lights (we think) and watching the wrong lights but it was the all cars that just followed on against our clearly red lights that stunned us......driving onto a busy roundabout......again we waited for the inevitable but luckily, early on a Saturday traffic leaving Kettering was light and aware it seems.......

Isn't it odd that all those cars made the decision to follow the one making the mistake....as I said before.....herd mentality?
You wouldn't follow a car through a red traffic light.....would you?.... ;-)

[fiction-factory]

I find multiple sets of lights on some roundabouts very confusing. I recently wanted to do almost a 360 degree turn at a very large roundabout and stopped at five sets of red lights only 30 metres apart on the way round and some cars were clearly confused and kept on going. And the lane markings are very confusing too

[gness]

I do understand that, FF.......and I know how alert you have to be in those situations, especially at the head of waiting traffic....but it's the going against the obvious red light off the country lane here that has me twittering on.....
If a driver's over the line I can see how it happens....but all the cars following against a very obvious stop light is puzzling....x

[ABerrant]

It is not just a roundabout though.

Here is a demonstration of a hamburger roundabout in action.

[H1432R]

I salute the British & Irish for your use of roundabouts! I don't think Americans could handle them because we tend to be pushy & egotistical, especially behind the wheel. Not all the time and not all drivers, but it only takes one idiot to cause a wreck...

[gness]

Thanks, Aberrant.....I didn't know hamburger was a common name and looking at this I'm even more surprised that we haven't seen an accident yet.......the curve from our right isn't very clear to view from either road so vehicles from both lanes can meet on the roundabout quite suddenly....x

[Jahulaye]

“Isn't it odd that all those cars made the decision to follow the one making the mistake....as I said before.....herd mentality”

Yes herd mentality=sheeple otherwise know as “Lemming syndrome” where common sense, situational awareness and lack of research can lead to many problems.

[Tilly2]