Matt Mauzey, our reader from Lake Stevens who shared his pet peeve about signaling at roundabouts, clarifies that his concern is mainly about signaling before entering a roundabout — not just when preparing to exit a roundabout.
“(You) should approach a roundabout with an indicator on, unless you are going straight through — just like a four-way intersection, only this is even more important,” he said. “Clarification is definitely needed.”
I went to Brian Walsh, a traffic engineer with WSDOT and its resident roundabout expert, for that clarification.
Signaling before entry is not required, he said. “You can do that, but it’s not required.”
The state does follow the lead of other states in strongly encouraging signaling when exiting a roundabout. Doing so signals a driver’s intentions for those waiting to get into the roundabout “so they can take the gap. It’s what we’d call driver courtesy.”
But in terms of hard and fast rules, turn signals are not on the list.
“The legal piece is attached to the sign and the pavement markings,” Walsh said.
Each roundabout is unique and has its own signs showing which lanes are for which exits. Stripes and other markings on the pavement also show drivers what to do.
You can be ticketed for an improper lane change that goes against that signage — such as using the far left lane to go straight or using the right lane to make a left turn. You can also be ticketed for failing to yield to circulating traffic.
As our reader acknowledges, drivers are probably afraid to signal left on approach, thinking it could confuse drivers already in the roundabout who think there’s a wrong-way driver coming.
But there’s another excuse to skip it, too.
“You can’t signal a left turn when your car is turning to the right,” Walsh said.
Have a question? Email us at streetsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your name and city of residence. Look for updates on our Street Smarts blog.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
