You ran a news article about roundabouts, or as they were called in Edmonton in the 1960s and ’70s, “traffic circles”. ICBC director Shabnem Afzal said in your article that roundabouts only arrived in Canada in 2000, however, I grew up with multi-lane traffic circles or roundabouts in Edmonton in the 1960s and they had many around the city well into the 1970s.
Being that they were common to drivers in and around Edmonton, we never found them overly complex or bewildering. The ICBC rules for using them sound complex to me as they use the term that drivers who want to turn right use the right lane and those people turning left use the left lane.
If you turn left entering a roundabout then you will be going the wrong way in traffic! Here is how I learned about roundabouts or traffic circles in Alberta and how they do it in Europe. Approach a roundabout judging your speed carefully to be able to yield then merge without having to stop whenever possible. Always yield to traffic already in the roundabout. When entering a multi-lane roundabout if you plan to leave the roundabout at the next exit stay in the outside lane. If you plan on leaving the roundabout at the second or later exit always use the inner or centre lane.
If everybody follows these simple rules it is nearly impossible to have a collision in a roundabout and very easy to navigate. The flow of traffic should be almost continuous.
I have driven in roundabouts or traffic circles throughout the world and these rules are universal. I hope this helps everyone here.
Leslie Leyh
Saanichton
