Two-Lane Rotary at 5:15 With a Tailgater
It is 5:15 on a Thursday and you are northbound on a four-lane road approaching a two-lane rotary. At the entry there is a painted yield line and a YIELD sign; there is no stop sign. You need the third exit, roughly three-quarters of the way around. Circulating traffic is heavy and moving at about 25 mph. A box truck already inside the rotary's outer lane is passing directly across your entry point right now. In your mirror, the sedan behind you is following so closely that its headlights have disappeared below your rear window. The rotary itself has no lane lines painted inside the circle, and the pavement is damp.
1. The truck is in your way. Must you come to a full stop at the yield line, and who has the right of way here?
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A yield line is not a stop line, but it functions like one whenever traffic is there.
- Massachusetts gives the right of way to vehicles already circulating in the rotary. Entering traffic yields.
- The truck is circulating, so it goes first. You are not required to stop if the gap is genuinely clear, but with the truck crossing your entry point, the correct move is to stop and wait for it to clear your path.
- Once you are inside the circle, do not stop. Stopping in the circulating roadway is what causes rear-end and sideswipe crashes in rotaries. Pick a gap you can commit to and keep moving.
2. Which lane should you use to reach the third exit, and how do you leave the rotary safely?
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More than halfway around normally means the inner (left) lane, then a move to the outer lane after you pass the exit before yours. That default has to be adapted here:
- There are no lane lines inside this rotary, so 'which lane' is really 'which arc.' Enter wide enough to clear the truck, and track it in your mirrors rather than driving alongside it.
- Signal right after you pass the exit before the one you want - not at entry. A signal held from the moment you enter misleads the drivers waiting at every entry point.
- Before crossing the outer arc to exit, check your right mirror and blind spot for anyone who entered behind you and is now alongside.
- If you miss the exit, go around again. Never stop or reverse inside the circle.
3. The car behind you is tailgating. What should you change about how you drive this rotary?
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A tailgater converts every ordinary stop into a rear-end collision risk, and rotaries force you to slow or stop at entry.
- Do not brake-check or speed up to create distance ahead of them. Both make the crash more likely.
- Increase the space you keep ahead of your own car, so any braking you do can be gentle and early rather than sudden.
- Signal your exit earlier than usual so the tailgater has warning that you are slowing.
- If you cannot enter because of the truck and the car behind is closing fast, that is a reason to take the next lap rather than force a gap. A second circuit is free; a rushed entry is not.
- If the tailgater stays glued to you after you exit, pull over somewhere safe and let them pass.