As the more devoted of our readers may recall, a comment thread on a recent post about roundabouts led to a perplexing question: Who has the right of way inside a two-lane roundabout?
It’s very clear who yields to whom in a normal roundabout — drivers entering the roundabout must always yield to drivers inside the roundabout. But what happens in those rare locations, such as the Lee Circle on Richmond’s Monument Ave., when there are two lanes of traffic around the circle? In particular, who has the right of way (this question will be obscure to non-Richmonders, but please bear with us) when a car in the left lane wants to exit onto Monument/West Franklin and a car in the right lane wants to continue in the circle to Allen?
Becky Dale took it upon herself to find out. Diligently, she worked her way through ranks of state and local officials who, shockingly, did not know the answer to this elementary question. But at last she identified a certain Sergeant John E. Bowman, of the Richmond Police, who seems to speak with authority. Bowman, she reports, pronounces as follows:
The car in the right-hand lane must yield to the car in the left lane because it would have to cross over the center divided line of the lanes in order to continue in the traffic circle. Because it is changing lanes, it must yield. If the lines were painted differently, if the center divided line went around in a circle too, there would be a different answer: the car in the left lane would be crossing the center divided line and would have to yield. The car changing lanes must yield to the car staying in its lane.
Got it? I think we can all be thankful that there are not more accidents at the Lee Monument.
As a final note, Becky adds for the general edification of the roundabout-phobes among you: “As you enter a roundabout, yield to any traffic in it. Once you’re in it, yield to traffic if you have to cross a lane divider. And keep your eyes open for drivers who don’t know what they’re supposed to do!”
(Photo credit: Americatravelling.net.)