The problem is that you have a large influx of people to TV in the winter. Many are here for the first time or are renters that simply will not take the time to learn the unique rules for negotiating roundabouts. And many of those may be from states that don’t have them.
So they rely on instinct or what they believe is common sense. When in the right lane, they’ll enter the outer right lane if it is clear of oncoming traffic even if there’s a vehicle approaching in the inner lane. That’s because they’ve been conditioned to do that whenever they enter a highway from an entrance ramp, so it seems natural to them.
Then you have the cautious, ‘senior’ drivers who know that their driving skills are diminishing. So they keep their speed down and always stay in the right lane except at an intersection to make a left hand turn. They fear the left lane and probably feel they’re being courteous by staying out of the way of faster drivers, so you can talk to them until you’re blue in the face, but they’ll hug that right lane no matter what exit they intend to take.
Finally, there’s the lack of universality in roundabout rules. Russ, I hope you didn’t get too comfortable taking the left lane to go straight through the roundabouts in TV, because here in Massachusetts, that’s illegal.
And for those of you who feel you’ve mastered the rules and knack of negotiating roundabouts, I suggest you test those skills with a trip over to Swindon England where they have what’s called “The Magic Roundabout”. Back in the eighties, I had to negotiate this monstrosity every day for a month when I worked there. And because they drive on the left over there, you have to reverse everything you know about roundabouts. Worse still is the fact that the roundabouts in the outer circle move clockwise as they normally do in the UK, but the traffic around the inner roundabout, moves counter-clockwise like it does here in the US. Here’s a picture of it:
