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Roundabout rules in Germany
I was wondering if any Germans or others familiar with German motoring rules could clarify what they are regarding roundabouts? Last week I was nearly knocked off my motorcycle on a local roundabout here in the UK by a German motorist who did not slowdown or look before entering the roundabout that I was already on forcing me to brake hard and take avoiding action, I assumed it was because they have different rules and had not bothered to find out what they are in the UK. Yesterday I was following another German motorist onto the same roundabout and they did the same to another motorist, this time a car causing them to do the same, was this just bad driving or not knowing the rules, which is another type of bad driving.
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Pretty sure it's because they are used to looking left, not right, when approaching a roundabout. :) Almost ate asphalt a couple times on a rental bike in NZ like that!
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Nearly got caught out like that in Almaty, where the rules (if there are any?) allow drivers to enter the roundabout without giving way. Naturally the entering traffic then blocks the exits so the entire roundabout clogs up. Fortunately, it seemed to be the only roundabout in the city!
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Mark, I'm sure that guy was so busy concentrating to drive on the correct side of the road that he oversaw the yield sign. In Germany the rules are that the vehicle inside the roundabout has right of way and the vehicle entering has to yield.
Good for you that you survived :thumbup1: |
My understanding is that there is an almost universal rule in Western & Central Europe that vehicles entering the roundabout must give way to vehicles that are already in the roundabout.
There are some rare exceptions to this in France, where a special sign is used to warn drivers that traffic entering the roundabout has right of way. See this writeup about this at the UK RAC website: Lesser-known French road rules you’ll need to follow on your trip. I'm going to guess that the German driver who cut you off in the UK was probably used to looking in the opposite direction (to the left, rather than to the right) to check and see if there was oncoming traffic already in the roundabout. There is also the possibility that if traffic was backed up both within the roundabout and at the approaches to the roundabout, the German driver was following the "zipper merge" protocol that is common in Germany. Michael |
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So I think that guy from the roundabout had maybe similar problems...:) In Germany roundabout rules are shown by EU right way signs. Normally when you want to enter a roundabout, you have to wait and to give way to drivers who are allready in. If these common rule is not valid you will find a massive amount of traffic sights in and around the roundabout. (Germans traffic authorities love to put massive amounts of signs for everything near the street). Zipper merge is a common rule in Germany when 2 lanes get to one. In that case you have the right to drive to the end of the ending lane and to zipper into the other lane. The driver on the other lane should give you by law the right of your way. But please be carefull with this because of the german driver mentalty. Be sure that you will meet a lot of drivers who doesn`t know or accept or ignore that rule because they are always willing to be the first or they drives a bigger, faster or expensive vehicle than you. |
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I was glad cameras don't take my tag but then I had been stopped a few times to explain why am I riding without license plate. |
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As a Canadian who has travelled extensively through all European countries (250,000 km last 20 years), my experience has been that drivers in Germany are the safest, best-trained, and most rule-abiding in the world. The Swiss are pretty good too, but scratch a Swiss and you find a German... :) Michael |
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