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From: jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA (John Purbrick)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Re: Traffic Circles - Right of Way?
Message-ID: <2225@mit-hermes.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 10-Nov-84 17:15:37 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-herm.2225
Posted: Sat Nov 10 17:15:37 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 11-Nov-84 22:14:54 EST
References: <486@houxt.UUCP>, <445@tesla.UUCP> <994@houxz.UUCP>
Organization: The MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 16

> In Messachusetts, the right of way is to be yielded to those
> entering.  Perhaps the law is different there because Mass.
> doesn't have circles, but ROTARIES.  (Only semi :-) )

	Not true--the law used to be that way up here, but was changed a couple
of years ago. However, relying on that fact is a good way to meet charming
hospital personnel.
	What's especially bad is small circles, of which we have many in the
Boston area. You can regard them as circles (rotaries in New England, 
roundabouts in Britain) in which case entering traffic yields, or as just
some excrescence in the center of an intersection, in which case through
traffic has priority and "yield to vehicles on the right" applies. A safe
rotary is one in which the entering traffic has to slow down to a crawl in
order to make the right turn on entering, which makes the law easier to 
follow. Entering roads should *not* be tangent to the circle!