Things you must know about London’s traffic circles…
HAVE YOU noticed all the new roundabouts in London and wondered how to enter them, who has the right of way and what the implications of getting in an accident would be? At MILLARS LAW, we want you to be informed, so you don’t fall victim to the negligence associated with this new road construction.
Most accidents occur as a result of users entering or changing lanes without yielding to others already inside the roundabout. Imagine yourself entering a roundabout, getting in an accident resulting in personal injuries and not knowing whether you were the one at fault? This tends to be the difficulty associated with roundabouts. Some are simple with one lane where users enter when clear and exit where desired…while others have multiple lanes, several exits and coincidentally, extremely busy.
Astonishingly enough, roundabouts have proven to reduce collisions and, in particular, T-bone and head-on collisions due to low speeds and eliminating any oncoming traffic.
The Benefits:
- No more stopping for long periods of time like at busy lights; especially where there are no advance green lights present;
- No idling; therefore, saves gas and the environment;
- Reduced chance of serious injury; and
- They look nice!
The Difficulties:
- Circulation speeds are much too high in busy traffic circles making it too difficult to enter;
- They take up too much space;
- People do not understand what a yield sign means – it means ‘BE PREPARED TO STOP,’ not merge! and
- Still new to Ontario.
In Ontario, the majority of roundabout collisions resulted in vehicles failing to yield. Courts have been reluctant in charging vehicle operators as liability continues to be problematic with these new road constructions. This means that in order for an injured person to be successful in a lawsuit, reconstruction engineers are necessary to prove how these collisions happened and who caused it. Until Ontarians become more familiar with roundabouts, lawsuit disbursements will be quite costly and injured persons don’t always get the compensation they deserve.
Tell us what you think: (519) 657-1Law or Info@ml-dev.thirdeyeinsights.ca
By Michael Johnson
