Roundabout road rage breaks out over new ICBC study

"People just don't have a clue": Roundabout road rage reactions breaks out over new ICBC study

Hayk_Shalunts/Shutterstock | ICBC

Do you feel confident that you know the right way to drive through a roundabout?

Only half of British Columbians surveyed said yes to that question, and that’s leading to a lot of reaction from their seemingly perfect fellow motorists.

The ICBC survey, conducted by Ipsos, found that confidence was lower in how to navigate a multi-lane roundabout than in navigating a single-lane one.

But while respondents might not feel confident, they can still figure it out to a certain degree, which is better than the 15% of people who said they couldn’t figure out who has the right of way when entering a roundabout.

ICBC.com

That annoys a lot of people, apparently.

The Ipsos survey found that “not yielding to the vehicle that has the right of way at roundabouts emerged as the most frustrating behaviour observed among other drivers when navigating a roundabout, followed closely by the lack of signalling when exiting a roundabout.”

Done properly, roundabouts are a safer option, ICBC says, as they reduce crashes thanks to drivers being forced to slow down through them.

But they aren’t as common in Canada compared to places in Europe. In the past two decades, ICBC says $5 million in investments have led to more than 90 new roundabouts in the province.

Traffic circle roundabout (nacroba/Shutterstock)

Is the rarity of roundabouts to blame for drivers not knowing how to navigate them?

One person on a recent Reddit thread believed so.

“Probably because we have so few of them! If we actually implemented a bunch of roundabouts, people would gain confidence in them pretty quickly. They’re so much better, by leaps and bounds, than stop signs… Of course it’s a catch 22, if you don’t use them, people don’t like them, so then you don’t use them…” they said.

That argument doesn’t hold up from a lot of other people’s perspectives.

“I constantly use the roundabouts in the Fraser Heights and Golden Ears Park area. People just don’t have a clue. Constantly coming to a complete stop to check traffic when there are no cars around,” one person said on Reddit, adding, “[A]nd from what I have seen of the material my kids have for taking their road tests, this is [definitely] not going to improve.”

Many made a similar argument: Why aren’t roundabouts a bigger part of the road test?

“These line markings indicate lane usage to drivers in advance of a roundabout,” Drive BC on Mt Lehman roundabouts on Highway 1 in Abbotsford. (Flikr.com)

“Sounds like we need to throw in a bunch of busy round abouts in driver examinations. but the problem is all the licenses given to people from abroad that have never seen a round about, or a stop sign, or any other piece of infrastructure. A colleague from China told me they don’t have stop signs in the major city they are from. no wonder I see so many atrocious drivers failing to stop at stop signs,” they argued.

Some roundabouts are apparently more confusing than others.

“The single lane roundabouts are extremely easy to navigate… But the double lane ones… Admittedly there is one on the UBC campus that glitches me lol,” that person said.

Warning: The below video contains bad language

Others say it’s easy to follow the directions.

“THERE ARE SIGNS TELLING YOU WHERE THE EFF TO GO!!!!” they seemingly yelled in the chat.

“If you can’t navigate a roundabout how are you even operating a vehicle,” another suggested.

“A whole bunch of Metro Vancouver drivers can’t even handle stop signs, traffic lights, solid lines, railway crossings and other BASIC driving skills.”

How do you enter a roundabout?

The general rules for a multiple-lane roundabout say that if you want to go left, use the left lane, if you want to go right, use the right lane. If you want to go straight, you can use either the left or right lane.

“Yield to any traffic already in the roundabout. Go around the roundabout in a counter-clockwise direction. You may not change lanes in a multi-lane roundabout. Don’t drive alongside large vehicles such as trucks and buses in roundabouts. They may need more than their lane to go through the roundabout,” ICBC says.

Adding a “Signal ‘right’ before you exit so that drivers waiting to enter and pedestrians waiting to cross know your intentions. Be prepared to yield to pedestrians or cyclists who may be in the crosswalk when you’re exiting.”

For more tips, head to ICBC’s website.

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Ipsos survey compiled responses from 800 people between January 2 to January 5. Those who did not have a valid BC driver’s licence and/or had never driven through a roundabout were screened out, ICBC said.