Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

There’s no roundabout way of saying this - get your signals right! - Wyn Drabble

By Wyn Drabble
Hawkes Bay Today·
18 Jul, 2024 01:59 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Here, in plain language is the rule for travelling straight through a roundabout: “Don’t signal before entering the roundabout. Signal left when you pass the exit before the one you want.” Couldn’t be much simpler than that. Definitely don’t signal right, says Wyn Drabble.

Here, in plain language is the rule for travelling straight through a roundabout: “Don’t signal before entering the roundabout. Signal left when you pass the exit before the one you want.” Couldn’t be much simpler than that. Definitely don’t signal right, says Wyn Drabble.

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

Editor’s note: This opinion piece contains satire for humorous effect about how to navigate a roundabout. In real-life situations, we recommend following the official road code rather than Wyn’s advice.

OPINION

Mrs D would often point out at roundabouts that the plants in the centre – sometimes shrubs – were at times too tall because they blocked out motorists’ view of other cars’ indicators. You’d have to wait until a car had emerged from the shroud of shrubbery before you could sight their indication and know their intention.

She has since done a u-turn on that view, realising that it doesn’t really matter anyway because so many motorists don’t know how to indicate correctly at a roundabout. The best option is simply to wait and see what they actually do.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Wise as this choice may be, it can irritate impatient drivers behind you who might honk fiercely. In your rear vision mirror, you might even spot angry, rude gestures and lip-read bad words. Ignore them.

The biggest offenders are those who indicate right when they intend to go straight ahead through the intersection. I’ve seen commercial bus drivers do it! Yes, plural!

I can’t keep count of the number of times I have stopped at a roundabout because a car approaching from the other direction is indicating right. Then it goes straight through! Not a biggie you may say but irritating because the rule is so clear.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Here, in plain language is the rule for travelling straight through a roundabout: “Don’t signal before entering the roundabout. Signal left when you pass the exit before the one you want.” Couldn’t be much simpler than that. Definitely don’t signal right.

Wyn Drabble
Wyn Drabble

Probably the second biggest group of offenders is those who hardly ever indicate anyway. I suppose we need to have a little compassion here because they might have reasons:

  • They have a tired hand
  • Their hand is busy texting
  • They have a sore finger
  • They’ve had a really hard day
  • It’s not worth it
  • They forget
  • It expends too much energy.

I’m not claiming that this is a very scientific comparison but I believe it serves to illustrate my point. If it takes 10 ergojoules (not their real name) to lift a standard cup of tea to your mouth, it probably takes .01 ergojoules to flick an indicator. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a lot of ergojoules.

One solution might be a pre-roundabout fork in the road. One fork has a sign “Roundabout Ahead”, the other a sign “For Those Who Don’t Know How To Use A Roundabout”. Alas, the circuitous alternative route would be prohibitively expensive.

To try and help – in a roundabout sort of way – I thought I might suggest a rewrite of the current Road Code entry. My version goes as follows:

When you are approaching a roundabout, panic. No, sorry, I lost my head there. When you are approaching a roundabout, take some time to enjoy the outer polyanthus plantings and the central shrubbery.

If you have ergojoules aplenty, now is the time to signal left if you intend to take the first exit or right if you intend exiting to the right but this will require changing to a left indication as you pass the exit before the one you intend to take.

Those travelling straight through the intersection should not signal on entering the roundabout but signal left as they pass the exit before the one they are taking, subtract the number of exits they first thought of, wave cheerily at other motorists and proceed with all due care.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Whether you are going left, straight or right, do not under any circumstances take any notice of what other vehicles are indicating. Or not indicating. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Is my version an improvement? I suppose it’s all a matter of swings and roundabouts.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'Very technical': Moto trials in the mud a blast of fun

07 Jul 01:52 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Diesel spill closes Napier-Taupō Rd

06 Jul 11:27 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

06 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'Very technical': Moto trials in the mud a blast of fun

'Very technical': Moto trials in the mud a blast of fun

07 Jul 01:52 AM

Top moto trial riders competed in mud and rain across 24 stages over two days near Napier.

Diesel spill closes Napier-Taupō Rd

Diesel spill closes Napier-Taupō Rd

06 Jul 11:27 PM
‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Taradale and Pirate set sail for Hawke's Bay club rugby final

Taradale and Pirate set sail for Hawke's Bay club rugby final

05 Jul 11:55 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP