Driving

Yesterday I went through something called a triple roundabout in Aylesbury. For the most part, these roundabouts seem like good ideas, and they seem smoother than traffic lights. This "triple roundabout" was a bit of an exception though. It was a mix of lights and of roundabouts.

I tried to find a picture / map of this online, but couldn't. Nevertheless, I did find a two page list of the Aylesburg driving test route. Friends from North America will appreciate how confusing this looks / sounds compared to anything we might have. Here's page two of the Aylesbury practical driver's test.

I'd say that it all looks OK until you hit about Tumfurlong Lane. Not sure exactly what a Gyratory system is. I don't recall one of these being on my driver's test.

It's not just the driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and the roundabouts that are different. They've got a whole different set of roadsigns here.

Here's a couple to consider:


This one apparently means "No Stopping". [ Español: Esta señal significa "NO PARE" ]

Well, yesterday we turned on to a motorway on-ramp and there were two of these signs ominsously standing guard over the entry way.

My first reaction was that this means "do not enter" and we thought we'd entered a motorway off-ramp (rather than on-ramp).
So, stop is exactly what we did, while we tried to figure out what to do. Fortunately, another car eventually came up and passed us from behind, so we just followed him along.

Then there is the Red Circle series of signs.



I have to be honest that a red circle with nothing in it doesn't mean a thing to me. It's tough to interpret. But the other two, I might guess are "pedestrians only" and "cars only (no trucks?)"

Well, I'd be wrong. Apparently the red circle means "not permitted". So an empty red circle would mean no traffic at all. A circle with a pedestian: no pedestrians, and a circle with a car, means no vehicles except for scooters and motorcycles.

What would be wrong with putting a slash though something to mean "not permitted"?

Español: Conduciendo...

Aquí en Inglaterra hay muchas glorietas, que parecen una excelente idea hasta que encontramos una triple-glorieta en Aylsbury. Scott encontró una lista del examen de conducción que incluye muchos términos que no conocemos, así que esperamos no tener que pasar uno de esos exámenes.
También las señales de transito son diferentes, esa señal de circulo azul y cruz roja quiere decir No Pare, nosotros pensábamos que era No pase y en efecto, paramos - hasta que vimos otro carro pasar. Las otras tres señales tampoco tienen mucho sentido, aparentemente circulo rojo quiere decir prohibido, así que la que tiene el circulo en rojo y es blanca, quiere decir "No transite", la del peatón es no transiten peatones y la del carro... No transiten carros.