Driving In Britain

- GIVE WAY to the right (Right is Might)

You must GIVE WAY to the right - which is to say, YIELD to traffic approaching from your right.

Actually, that rule applies in North America, too, but we are so molly-coddled and smothered with signs that we rarely get to practice the rule and it is often forgotten. Not so in Britain. This rule of GIVE WAY TO THE RIGHT is what makes roundabouts work.

Like most rules, GIVE WAY TO THE RIGHT was made to be broken. For example, if you are travelling down a main road, and a wee country lane joins from the right, the main road has precedence. Usually there is a sign indicating who has priority, but mostly one must muddle through on the basis of common sense.

HOWEVER, at an uncontrolled or unmarked intersection - especially between roads of equal status - be prepared to yield to traffic entering from your right. In fact, don't even enter such an intersection unless you are SURE there is no traffic coming from your right and expecting YOU to play After you ,Alphonse!

BUT, here's the biggie, at the entrance to a roundabout traffic will always be coming from your right, so you must yield to traffic on the roundabout. A must GIVE WAY to B... for TWO reasons... B is already on the roundabout, and B is to A's right. C and D are both circulating on the roundabout, but D has signalled he wants to move left (probably to take the next exit). C must GIVE WAY to the right, and thus yield to D, allowing him to exit gracefully. See how the RIGHT IS MIGHT rule works its magic in a roundabout?

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