Could you stay in the roundabout indefinitely?
Like... is there any law against it?
Like... is there any law against it?
So you're texting while driving, uh?
We should all report you, but we're too curious to know the source of perpetual motion that's been powering you since May!
What do you mean perpetual motion? You guys don't hire other drivers to fuel you while on the roundabout like they fuel planes while flying? I thought everybody had one of those in case they accidentaly entered a roundabout.
In Germany:
When using vehicles, unnecessary noise and avoidable exhaust pollution are prohibited. In particular, it is prohibited to run vehicle engines unnecessarily and to close vehicle doors excessively loudly. Unnecessary driving to and fro within built-up areas is prohibited if it causes a nuisance to others.
§30 (1), StVO
Noise is a public nusince. I definitely wouldn't want my neighbours constantly slamming their doors at night. I doubt you are going to get fined if you are slamming your door occasionally or in the middle of the woods.
Laws exist to ensure that we can all live peacefully together. I think most people agree that excessive noise is more of a negative than a positive. Most places have similar curfew laws where excessive noise at night is not allowed.
Yes, if you slam your doors every day at 3am you will be fined. Is there anything wrong with that?
I guess I've just never even heard of that situation happening in real life so it's weird seeing it explicitly written in a law
Some laws are reactionary and some are preemptory. Laws are, most simply, a codified agreement on how we live.
You'd need to refuel at some point and I expect that refuelling whilst in motion would probably hit some legal issues.
And then, assuming that you overcame that, in the UK at least, you'd need at MOT test at some point, which would have to be at an approved test centre, so 3 years at the absolute max - although I expect tyres etc would need attention before that.
If jets can refuel mid-flight, I'd think a similar solution should be even easier for a much-slower car.
I'm hearing that there's a need for gas / petrol / whatever stations in more roundabouts. Maybe even a rest stop or extended stay hotel.
Where do you live, OP?
In Denmark it goes in the same category as not driving when the light is green or keeping to the left on the highway.
While you seldomly see someone get fined for it, taking more than two turns in the roundabout is considered an obstruction of traffic, and therefore illegal.
Depending on the definition, you're not obscuring traffic if you're driving 60kmh in the fastlane either, or if only you manage to get over the green light because of your tardiness, as traffic is still flowing, just very, very slow.
Either way, you'll be slowing down traffic and get in the way of other drivers, unless you are the only person on the road.
The point of a roundabout is specifically that one must not stop, that is their design. A circle of perpetual motion. Certainly stopping in a roundabout would qualify as obstruction. I do not see how, even on a crowded day, making more than two passes in a roundabout while remaining in motion qualifies as "obstruction."
You know to get on a roundabout they can't just phase through your car? If you don't exit in a timely manner you're taking up space people need to get into the roundabout and let it work. So staying is obstructing traffic.
In Norway, there's a specific "law" against causing dangerous situations by being inattentive, unpredictable, inconsiderate or reckless. Needless to say, it goes unenforced a lot, but if you wanted to nail someone for driving like a dipshit, it'd be a decent catch-all.
In Sweden, we have a classic joke that Norwegian roundabouts have the sign "Maximum 3 rounds".
In my country you are only allowed three rounds max. But I have not heard of any case where someone was fined for such a "crime".
They teach it to you in driving school. No need for signs since it counts for every roundabout.
Illegal in my country, as you are disturbing traffic. Potentially even preventing emergency services to operate. Might be fine if you are alone though
i mean, if everyone was staying on the roundabout.... but if you have one guy goin round and round, there should be plenty of interleave for everyone else. how would it be disruptive?
im an ignorant american, just curious
During rush hour, it will definitely have an impact on the flow of traffic with most roundabouts, which are usually not very big (in France anyway).
It'd be called 'obstructing traffic'. Police sometimes grab boy-racers along the sea-front near my home for it. There's no specific law saying you can't wait at a T-junction indefinitely, and i usually get stuck behind the ones that do. :-(
"Boy-racer" is a term I wish I had known years ago to refer to some acquaintances. Seems much less offensive than what I was using.
Obviously it’s all going to be dependent on local laws, and depending on their vagueness the attitude of the cop that eventually has to deal with you. Here we have a catch-all ticket for “wasting finite resources” for cops to use when they don’t know what else to ticket you for. Originally it was to stop cruising, but I’m pretty sure no one has gone cruising since gas was $0.25 a gallon. Also I’m wondering if I could fight such a ticket if I can prove I charge my car with 100% solar.
Your current gas prices are about at the level where a lot of people used to cruise at where I live. Haven't really seen it much since it rose to about 2€ per liter (7.57€ or $8.29 per gallon).
Omg... How can anyone afford those prices? Last time I filled up I think it was $2.73 per gallon.
It depends how many tickets your mum bought. Even then, the owner is bound to close up at some point to go home.
Maybe have a go on the swings in the meantime?
Probably there are many places with no specific provisions against that but surely that would count for authorities as some sort of disruption of traffic, which are intentionally vaguely defined to cover such ambiguous eventualities.
A shame, I think it would be neat.
In major cities in America, just as an example, there is often a statue against "cruising" which is usually defined as passing by the same point more than X number of times in Y span of time. These laws are ostensibly aimed at harassing the (black) "car culture" people while they're showing off their customized vehicles in the 'hood. It's kind of like the vehicular version of anti-loitering laws. But you could probably apply it to OP's case if you were twisted enough.
No mention of roundabout or traffic circles in Ontario's Highway Traffic Act, but the rule that governs are the yield signs around the outside that stipulate that traffic in the roundabout has right of way.
Keep moving: Once you are in the roundabout, do not stop except to avoid a collision; you have the right-of-way over entering traffic. Do not change lanes while in the roundabout. If in the inside lane and you miss your exit, you must continue around until you meet your exit again.
This suggests, in Ontario at least, you could stay in the roundabout forever without breaking the rules.
Edit: If you're not bothering anyone doing that, then it should be alright, but if your perpetual roundabout traversing is getting in the way of other people trying to use the roundabout, then it could be considered careless driving:
Careless driving
130 (1) Every person is guilty of the offence of driving carelessly who drives a vehicle or street car on a highway without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway. 2017, c. 26, Sched. 4, s. 17.
I don't see why not. I often joke about doing so, and have once or twice gone around and around, but the thrill quickly wears off after two or three passes.
I would love to watch someone commit to the bit and keep on until the authorities take issue.
You could probably stay on the magic roundabout until you ran out of fuel.
But I doubt you could go all the way around a mini roundabout .
The UK Highway Code is focussed on good behaviour when using one. There doesn't seem to be a rule.
I would definitely try at least a couple of loops around that little guy. Just look at it! How could you resist!?
I encountered the magic roundabout 25 years ago, just as a passenger, and I'm still mentally scarred.
Yes, there is a law. It says, misuse of public roads is forbidden. In the case of a roundabout, misuse starts with your second full circle.
I suspect that when your car runs out of gas and stalls in the middle of the suicide circle you could get a ticket for blocking traffic or something.
