My pupil, Joe, was asked to follow signs for Shopping Centre and Freeport as he approached the roundabout below.
This is how it looks from above.
And this is how it looks on streetview.
When you see it from above, it's slightly off to the right. The signpost as you approach the roundabout clearly shows it as a right turn.
Unfortunately, Joe read it as a straight ahead. He kept left and didn't signal. He joined the roundabout safely, and affected no other road user adversely. As he passed his previous exit, he checked his mirrors and signalled left, keeping a good road position as he left the roundabout.
The examiner marked this as a serious fault (junctions, turning right)
Fair enough?
Well how about this roundabout?
Once again, it shows two views. In the first view, you'd be approaching from the right, and would take the second exit, towards the top left corner of the picture. This roundabout features in the independent driving sections of several of the test routes from Upton Test Centre. I've sat in the back and seen people deal with it as a straight ahead (keep left, don't signal on approach, apply left signal as Meols exit is passed) and I've seen them deal with it as a right turn (approach towards centre of road, apply right signal on approach, check to left, change to left signal, change road position to left as Meols exit is passed) and neither method has drawn even a minor fault.
Finally, here's a third roundabout...
On this one, if you were asked to follow the signs directing you towards the M53, how would you go about it?
It's signposted as the second exit, and it's off towards the right, yet almost anyone that uses it will treat it as a straight ahead.
To do so otherwise means putting in two wholly uneccessary lane changes on a busy roundabout.
Until yesterday, I'd taught people that as long as what they did was coherent (ie, they didn't position left and signal right for example), and didn't cause a problem to other road users, then it was acceptable.
Now I really am not sure how to proceed.
