"Don't get sloppy on roundabout rules!" - police

Monday 18 August 2014

Police are warning Jersey drivers to remember to indicate at roundabouts before a serious accident happens.

Honorary officers across the Island have noticed an increase in drivers failing to indicate at roundabouts and before manoeuvres and the police are keen to raise awareness of the problem.

Road Safety Officer Philip Blake said: “Failure to indicate at roundabouts can cause confusion and lead to near misses. We want to raise awareness of this before an accident happens.

“It is an issue honorary police around the Island have brought up. They are noticing more and more drivers are failing to indicate at roundabouts. We want to encourage people to use their signals and to take the guess work out of it for other road users.”

Drivers could be prosecuted under Road Traffic Law if they are involved in a collision and if it can be proved that they breached the requirements of the Highway Code by failing to indicate clearly and safely.

Mr Blake said: “It’s possible that in Jersey people are forgetting the importance of signaling or that they are less focused on driving because they tend to us the same roads everyday; people might be on autopilot.

“I am told that this is a particular problem in Jersey. In the UK where speeds are higher and where there are more major roundabouts people have to think more about indicating.

“When we were taught to drive the mantra ‘mirror, signal manoeuvre’ should have been drummed into us.  However, signalling seems to one of those things many motorists fail to remember to do and perhaps don’t attach much importance to.  It is important to signal your intentions to other road users in a clear and unambiguous way to help them to take appropriate decisions.”

Drivers can test their road safety knowledge on the Jersey Road Safety Panel website, http://jerseysaferoads.com