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

  1. Slow down
  2. Keep to the right of the splitter island
  3. Pay special attention to pedestrians or cyclists who may be crossing the roadway
  4. Yield to cyclists and traffic already driving through the roundabout
  5. Enter when there is a safe gap in traffic

Driving in the roundabout

  1. Keep to the right of the centre island and drive in a counter-clockwise direction until you reach your exit
  2. Don’t stop inside the roundabout, except to avoid a collision

Leaving the roundabout

  1. Use your right-turn signal
  2. If you miss your exit, continue around the roundabout again and then exit