Roundabouts
A roundabout is a circular intersection where two or more roads meet. Traffic circulates through them counter-clockwise, to the right of a centre island. All entering vehicles must yield to traffic already in the roundabout. These tips will help you understand how to drive through a roundabout.
Benefits of Roundabouts
Roundabouts have a number of benefits over traditional intersections, including:
- Safety: lower speeds and fewer points of conflict between vehicles reduces the potential for serious crashes and injury
- Lower speeds: all vehicles need to slow down to use a roundabout, reducing the likelihood of a serious crash
- Fewer stops and shorter delays: yielding at the entry of a roundabout takes less time than waiting for a gap in traffic at a stop sign
- Less idling and air pollution: fewer delays reduces fuel consumption and improves air quality by reducing emissions
- Aesthetically pleasing: there is an area for landscaping in the central island of a roundabout
Approaching the roundabout
- Slow down
- Keep to the right of the splitter island
- Pay special attention to pedestrians or cyclists who may be crossing the roadway
- Yield to cyclists and traffic already driving through the roundabout
- Enter when there is a safe gap in traffic
Driving in the roundabout
- Keep to the right of the centre island and drive in a counter-clockwise direction until you reach your exit
- Don’t stop inside the roundabout, except to avoid a collision
Leaving the roundabout
- Use your right-turn signal
- If you miss your exit, continue around the roundabout again and then exit