right of way at a mini roundabout

[NY]

Unless two people decide simultaneously (to within some tolerance) to set off at the same time: mini roundabouts are so small that in the time it takes to set off, recognise that someone else has also done so and is blocking your path, and braking to a halt, a collision has occurred.

I think that is the situation that the OP was referring to: everyone waits for someone else, then when no-one moves, more than one person thinks "sod this, if no-one's moving, I'll go first", and you have a collision.

This problem can happen in a communications network when two devices try to talk at the same time and "hear" each other. Fortunately there is a way of resolving this: "back off, wait a *random* time, and retry" - the crucial thing being the random element so both don't try to talk again at the same time.

[Steve Walker]

Not at all. If everyone has come to a stop, when setting off, you'd all be going slowly and cautiously, just in case, so stopping is easy enough.

I've found it more of a problem at a crossroads with give-ways on each arm. At the worst it has been a case of stop-start-stop-start again - mildly irritating, but no real danger.

I did contact the council about this junction. It is a simple crossroads, with a no-entry on the North arm. Originally, there were give-ways on the East and West. Apparently there were problems with people coming from the South, not noticing the no-entry signs and going straight ahead to the North, so the council decided that a give-way on the North and South would cause them to slow and look more. The residents to the West didn't want to lose the East-West give-ways, as they thought it slowed traffic, so the council made it a 4-way give-way. I pointed out that a simple bollard with no-entry on it blocking the left side of the North arm would have been far more reliable and would have prevented the stop-start problems, but councils have their own weird ideas.

Which is basically what drivers do - but hopefully as pre-collision detection, rather than collision detection :)

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

The C&U regulations are not toothless, it is simply that they are overruled by EU legislation that requires us to accept any vehicle type approved anywhere in the EU.

Definitely.

Definitely the case with some, but not all, mk2 Sierras. An excellent design.

Agreed. More importantly though is that unlit lights coming on are a lot more obvious than sidelights getting brighter - even more so when the fog-lights are already on.

Paired is definitely better - not only does it help with distance, but it works for driving abroad and gives redundancy if one bulb should fail.

That seems to be common these days. When I was checking that all the lights worked on my wife's Matiz, I thought that one reversing and one fog light had failed, 'til I checked and found no wiring or holder in the unlit ones.

I have been known to do that.

SteveW

[Chris J Dixon]

Or turn on the hazards.

Chris