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Tourist season is beginning again in Maine, and with it comes an abundance of people who can't comprehend simple directional signs at the various rotaries we have around the state.
If you can see the attachment, that is a sign very much like what you will see when approaching the rotaries in the downtown area of the state's capital. It's not rocket surgery; you need to be in the right lane to go right, the left lane to go left, and can take either lane to go straight ahead.
You wouldn't turn left across a straight-through lane anywhere else, so what on earth makes people think it is okay to do so in this particular instance?
There are a few traffic circles around here, but they are all single lane. I think I would try to go around on the outside to go left.. I'm not sure I would make the right call seeing that for the first time.
When it comes to 2-lane rotaries, you are never going to get everyone flowing through it seamlessly. You'll always have the person on the outside lane wanting to travel 3/4 of the way around while the person on the inside lane wants to get off 1/4 of the way around. That's when you run into accidents.
Personally, for me, the setup needs to take place well before the rotary. If you are going 1/2, 3/4 or all the way around, you need to be in the inside lane. If you are getting off at the first exit, set up in the right lane before the rotary. When the first set of cars dumps off at the first exit, the cars on the inside lane should move outwards if they are getting off at the next exit, otherwise stay inside.
Oh and if you miss your exit, don't come to a stop and try to get over. It's a circle, just drive around again!
Tourist season is beginning again in Maine, and with it comes an abundance of people who can't comprehend simple directional signs at the various rotaries we have around the state.
If you can see the attachment, that is a sign very much like what you will see when approaching the rotaries in the downtown area of the state's capital. It's not rocket surgery; you need to be in the right lane to go right, the left lane to go left, and can take either lane to go straight ahead.
You wouldn't turn left across a straight-through lane anywhere else, so what on earth makes people think it is okay to do so in this particular instance?
I'd never seen any sign like this, driven in a lot of cities and states but this is new to me. I would've not understood it, especially at a quick glance while driving and watching the road and other traffic as I try to decide where I need position myself to get where I want to go.
Took your description (bolded above) for me to understand that narrow vertical half line in the middle represented a lane divider.
Now, that said, It would have made sense by time I went through the roundabout once and would be familiar with it thereafter. But first approach, as a tourist, I might have very well ended up being one of those tourist folks you're complaining about.
Just a matter of familiarity I suppose. Where I'm at, we have both one way and two way service roads.
Whereas, on some stretches, service traffic is traveling in the same direction as that side of highway traffic, other stretches, service traffic is traveling both directions on both sides of higway. (This also means you are either yielding/merging with traffic or against it, depending). A lot of tourists to my area mention that as confusing. But for the locals, that isn't "rocket surgery" either.
*Edit* Just saw F5's sign, where the lanes are labeled. Now, that makes sense! Maybe this is a concern best taken up with your municipality and their posted signage.
Maybe in your location, not many people use that term in my area.
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