In message , NY
writes




As long as we don't get the STUPID IDIOTIC roundabout rules they have
in the Netherlands where traffic on the roundabout has to give way to
traffic that is joining, leading to roundabouts getting clogged with
traffic. Almost as absurd as France's (former?) priority to the right
rule where traffic on a major road at high speed has to give way to a
farm tractor pulling out of a farm track. Whose ill-conceived idea was that?

I'm not sure if European old-fashioned 'give way to the right' is still
used except on the relatively small roads. Most roundabouts are now
'sensible', and those which aren't usually have a sign saying "You do
not have priority".

However, I still have memories of being a new visitor to Europe, in the
early 70s, and being in a car driven at an alarming speed through the
grid-iron, narrow cobbled streets in Ostend. I thought the driver was a
lunatic, but he explained that all he had to do was to give way to the
right when the roads crossed (which they did frequently). If anyone hit
HIM from the left, it would be THEIR fault. The system seemed to work.

I also recall driving around (several times around!) the Place de la
Concorde (Arc de Triumphe) roundabout in Paris. That was (and probably
still is) one of the 'Hotel California' roundabouts, where you can enter
it any time you like, but you can never leave.




--
Ian