Some clarity on roundabout rules

On Oct. 21, I sent a letter to the editor that was printed in the Oct. 25 edition of The Telegram.

In that letter I described how I thought the Rawlin’s Cross roundabout was breaking provincial rules of the road. I copied that letter to our deputy mayor and my ward councillor, who forwarded it to city staff member, Garrett Donaher.

Mr. Donaher immediately emailed me with an explanation from the Highway Traffic Act (HTA): Yielding behaviour is different in different situations. Here is a quick rundown:

• Driver entering a roundabout — yield to any vehicle already in the intersection (HTA 100.1)

• Driver entering an intersection where there is a traffic control signal — covers a lot of territory but essentially yield to any vehicle already in the intersection (HTA 106)

• Driver entering other intersection — driver on left yields to driver on right if both arrive at same time (HTA 118)

• Driver turn left — yields to vehicles in the intersection or approaching that is an immediate hazard (HTA 119)

• Driver entering a road from a driveway — yields to vehicles approaching from left or right. (HTA 120)

• Approach of an emergency vehicle giving signal — driver must yield to emergency vehicle (HTA 121)

• Driver approaching crosswalk — must yield to any pedestrian in the crosswalk (HTA 125)

• Driver entering an intersection where a yield sign is posted — yield to any vehicle already in the intersection. In the context of Rawlin’s Cross this means yielding to vehicles approaching from the left as you wait to enter the circle. (HTA 136)

I accept Mr. Donaher’s explanation about roundabouts and yielding from the Highway Traffic Act. Obviously, the city is actually in compliance with Provincial Highway Traffic Act and I apologize for making that accusation.

John Reade St. John’s