Editorial: Drivers need to revisit rules

It seems a lot of people have no clue how to indicate their intentions, says Andrew Bonallack. Photo / File

A British motorist was fined more than $2200 this week and became the first person in the country to be convicted in court of hogging the middle lane of a motorway.

Of course, the concept of a frustrating, brain-dead and blind motorist being convicted for being a useless driver would be a dream come true for a lot of us.

Granted, the middle lane sin is more of a headache in Britain because motorists refrain from overtaking cars on the inside - it's sort of built into their psyche - whereas here, we don't worry about it too much.

You'll find out that's true if you sample Wellington's three-lane motorways.

I think the place where convictions are definitely warranted is the general public's struggle with roundabouts. It seems a lot of people have no clue how to indicate their intentions.

Leaving aside that indicators are a whole other sin, in terms of misuse, people think they have to indicate before getting to the roundabout when they are going straight-ahead. Wrong.

That's not signalling your intentions.

That's setting yourself up for a collision. If you're going left, signal left.

If you're going right, then signal right.

But if you're going straight through, wait until you're in the roundabout before signalling where you're getting off.

Most of us know the road code basics, but changes, including roundabouts and the give-way rules, have prompted people to fixate on a distortion of the rules, convinced they've got it right. Look it up.

You don't need to buy the Road Code - it's all online.

You might get a surprise - and you might find out why people end up shouting at you as you leave a roundabout.