Traffic Circles, How To Deal With

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It amuses me how some motorists simply hate traffic circles (or roundabouts, as they are called in some places, or rotaries, the term used in some New England localities).  In Traffic Engineering school, these constructions are --justifiably-- taught as being the solution of choice for low-traffic intersections.

A traffic circle usually replaces a traffic light.  Now, people are most annoyed with changes in the routes they most often take, either to work or from work, because it interferes with established driving habits.  I'm willing to bet that the people most upset by traffic circles are those who have been in the habit of making a right-on-red, which requires hardly any waiting, obviously.  The poor fellows who have to go straight through the intersection might not be quite as displeased to have the traffic light replaced with the Circle, unless they have miraculously gotten a green light every single time!  Ironically, a traffic circle simply makes every intersection and every turn effectively a right turn, which should make everyone happy.  There's no accounting for either tastes or logic.

The procedure for dealing with a traffic circle is simple, and it is the same for those who want to take a right as for those who want to go straight through:

Enter the circle when there's an interruption in traffic.  Don't signal; what's the point?  Everyone knows you're merging into the circle.  There's really no need to look both ways, because very few idiots would risk going the wrong way in a circle.  Just check by looking left, and slide in.  (Oncoming cars ought to indicate that they're leaving the circle, so you know when there's a clear spot.)

Signal when you're about to leave the circle, and leave.  Signaling tells any nervous motorists waiting to merge into the circle that they're welcome to merge.  There can't possibly be any traffic in your way leaving the circle, just like an off-ramp.  It's beautiful.

Going round the circle takes a little bit of steering, a slight problem for those who have specialized in highway driving.

The only bit of unusual etiquette is the signaling when you're about to quit the circle.  In our town we have a chain of circles, and sometimes I get lazy to signal each time I leave one circle, and go down the straight to the next one.  But there is usually no one around, so it does no harm.  When I approach a turnoff that I'm about to take and I see someone nervously waiting to merge into the circle, I signal my turn, so that they know I won't be running into them.  (Most of my good manners are triggered by the expectations of people in my vicinity, which is probably not a good thing, because Jesus is watching, I know).

Let's see.  Who wants a diagram?

OK, here you are: