Spotlight on indicating and other driving ills: Wyn Drabble

We need another campaign to show the correct indication procedure at roundabouts, writes Wyn Drabble.

Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, writer, public speaker and musician. He is based in Hawke’s Bay.

The Automobile Association has recently republished the most common dangerous driving habits of Kiwis.

Surprise, surprise, they are the same as usual. They are rules we just can’t seem to follow: mobile phone use, red light running, tailgating and indicating at roundabouts.

The first sub-heading on the report I read was: “Phone use still rampant on our roads”. It sure is! And kids who ride bikes on the road, no hands on the handlebars and both thumbs texting, will unfortunately become the texting motorists of tomorrow.

An amber light does not mean speed up but that’s how many of us read it. Of course it means prepare to stop if it’s safe to do so.

Related to this is the number of people I see take off immediately the light changes to green, without any checking to the left or right for red light runners coming across their path. While green may mean you are entitled to go it doesn’t mean it is necessarily safe to go.

Tailgating leaves no room for error. The worst example I saw right beside me was a young lady tailgating on a 100km/h motorway out of Wellington but, wait for it, texting at the same time. It was a terrifying sight.

I know I’ve dealt with roundabout indication before but please allow me to revisit it because it is rife. There appear to be four kinds of people here: those who indicate correctly, those who indicate but incorrectly, those who don’t bother to indicate at all, and vegetarians. (Oops, sorry, that last one just slipped out automatically because I’ve become so used to offering options for all-comers.)

Graphic evidence of the indication malaise was provided recently by a car I was following for 18km. After five places where indication was required, its score was 0/5.

We need another nationwide TV ad campaign to show the correct indication procedure at roundabouts. I know that will cost big money but I’m willing to contribute. I’ll begin the fund-raising with a chook raffle (or, for vegetarians, a big bag of fresh carrots).

The finished ad will focus on the fact that those who don’t indicate correctly risk causing confusion and possible accidents for other motorists. It will use a simple four-point roundabout intersection to indicate the correct procedure.

If you intend to travel straight through, you will not indicate on entering the roundabout but you will indicate left once you have passed the first exit on your left. If you indicate left on entering the roundabout you must exit onto the first road on your left.

While that seems simple to many of us, it confuses others so let us try to get inside their heads and appreciate what they are reading here: If you are going straight through a roundabout intersection, you don’t need to move the stalk on entering but you should activate it once you’ve passed the first exit on your left, the exit you don’t intend to take – no, not that stalk! You’re driving a European car so that’s the window wipers and the indicator stalk is on the opposite side.

But now that your windscreen is spic and span let’s proceed to … oh, never mind, you’re through the roundabout now anyway. At the next roundabout, wash the windscreen again (right-hand stalk), think of a number between one and 10, calculate the hypotenuse, conjugate the verb “to be”, subtract the number you first thought of and head for home.

So, you can see I’ve got my work cut out for me here but if you’d like to contribute, you can buy your chook raffle ticket through this newspaper.

Please indicate if you would prefer the alternative vegetarian prize.