Golf cart & Auto Drivers
 

We have lived in TV for 5yrs. and have never seen the level of bad
and dangerous driving that is taking place this winter.

In the last couple of months we have seen, twice golf carts coming off
the bridge southbound that instead of making the right to LSL
go straight around the white pole that says "no carts"and bounce over the
landscape rocks to try to get to Sweet Bay.

Every day numerous cars going all the way around the roundabouts
in the right hand lane. People please go to the Villages office on
Wedgewood Dr. they have a great pamphlet put out by the local police
that explains the correct way to drive the roundabouts

Drivers stopping to allow golf carts to cross. Golf carts have the stop signs
you may think you are being courteous but you are breaking the law plus
giving golf cart drivers the impression that they have the right of way when
they don't.

Twice cars driving on the golf cart paths. Today there was a women in
a maroon car driving north towards the bridge on Morse Blvd. She had been
stopped by 2 golf carts. She also must have driven around the white pole
and some shrubbery to get where she was.

TV needs to do a better job of educating "birds" "renters" & new residents
on driving around here or someone is going to be killed.:rant-rave:

:agree:I don't think that it is all a matter of education. There are just some real stupid people that should not be driving anything!
I would love to see the motorcycle cops come out in force and start nailing some of them.
p.s........I agree with your post.

Another item you missed was that people driving around the town squares have the right away. Numerous, numerous times, especially at Spanish Springs Town Square, I have seen people driving around the square stop at the corners and wave on vehicles entering the square and people entering the town square drive right on thru the stop signs like they aren't even there. :mad:

More enforcement does seem in order. How many accidents will it take.

Total Insanity
 

Grandparents allowing children to drive their carts is insane. I would love the Sun to write a page one article on what you stand to lose should you allow a child to drive your cart. Besides the risk of death there is the threat of losing everything you've worked for in your lifetime. :shrug:

You are so right...as are all of the posters on this thread. It is danged scary.

You are all SOOOOOOO RIGHT.

Sadly, you will see, by reading some of the threads on this forum, there are people in the Villages, who go on record, as saying, "I don't care."

That's why some people go where they want, do what they want and ignore normal civil behavior. The larger the community becomes, the more of this stuff you will see, but you already know that.

Where do some of these people come from?? I'm getting hinky about driving around here. My latest peeve is when they back out of a parking place at the supermarket and then turn and look for oncoming cars when they're in the middle of the lane. Then they'll look at you like you're to blame for not seeing them back out.

dominick, please expain what is hinky....gn

I paid attention in the round-abouts today, and I think part of the problem is that as you enter the round-about, both lanes have straight ahead arrows, which implies to me that you could use either lane if you want to leave the round-about and keep going straight.

If that's not the case, why do they clearly mark the round-abouts with straight through arrows in both lanes?

http://sumtercountyfl.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=77
Above link from Sumter County Sheriff will help with the roundabouts.
:beer3:

Maybe these incidents aren't 100% the result of mean spirited people or those of limited intelligence but rather people with dimishing physical and mental abilties. We have an aging population in TV and one of the last vestages of independence is the ability to be mobile. I don't have an answer to the problem but we need to address it somehow.

Roundabout
 

Thanks:super::super:
for
the
link
L&L

Roundabout
 

I think one of the big problems of the roundabout is people are afraid to take the inside lane because many times when you try to get over to the outside lane to exit it's worth your life. Especially when people entering the circle ignore the YIELD sign because they may have to slow down for 5 seconds. More enforcement is deffinatly needed.

Thanks for the link. I have a LSV starting tomorrow (yeah!) and I was worried about this.

MargaretR

If you take the inside lane, you are supposed to exit from the inside lane. If you go three-quarters around you are supposed to use the inside lane. You are not supposed to change lanes within the roundabout or as you exit. Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Start calling the sherrif's office for your county.
 

Tell them of the problem and that you as a resident welcome the increased presence and increased ticketing to pay for it. I do quite regularly.

While al the above "cosiderations" do have an effect on the driving quality in TV the overwhelming violators are just out and out road hogs, selfish inconsiderates.

btk

Round about rules are really simple.

1. Always yield to cars already in the round about.
2. Going 90 degrees, always enter on the right and exit from the right.
3. Going 180 degrees, enter from either lane and exit from that same lane.
4. Going 270 degrees, always enter from the left and exit from the left.

If everyone followed those rules, there would be no accidents.

"Hinky" is a slang word to describe someone whose actions are nervously cautious, hesitant or reluctant.

:agree:
It seems that the requirement-- it is not an option-- to use the left lane for a 270 degree turn, may not be well understood. (I see many people improperly using the right lane for this maneuver.)

Accidents could also be avoided if people would properly use their right turn signal to indicate their exit, another habitually ignored rule.

It would help too if we would all drive defensively, not aggressively.:mornincoffee:

I agree with this but take great exception to those who think enforcement = more radar traps. Most of the problems that I see around here do NOT come as a result of speeding on the roadways (where radar traps are generally set up). For the most part, I see very little abuse of speed on the roadways. It would be a FAR better use of police power by taking these patrols and placing them at the roundabouts. This way they could kill 2 birds with one stone: ticket those who speed through the circles (yes, there is some of that) and most importantly those who violate the rules of roundabout navigation - which is the most common cause for accidents.

It seems that the police generally think that to increase highway safety all they need to do is catch speeders. However, if they would go to the spot of the most frequent violations, they would be considerably more effective in increasing safety around here. I suppose it is easier to rely on a machine to let them know that a law is being broken, but that is just lazy and ineffective police work if you ask me.

golf carts and cars
 

I agree with Blue, the round abouts are getting really, really dangerous. Snow birds (sorry guys, you need to learn rules) are not driving safely. I was near BonneyBrook circle and almost taken out by a driver entering from the right when I was clearly in the right lane already in the circle. The guy didn't even hesitate, just plowed in and never looked around!


Where are the police now????

And there would be no need to post a deputy sheriff at each roundabout. How silly is that idea?

A video on driving in a roundabout.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/CAE/des.../mpg_index.htm

Todays Daily Sun first page of local section, another article regarding golf cart safety.

Good Video
 

Good video maybe we could get the two villages movie Theaters to play it before to feature movie starts.. Again though the YIELD sign must be obeyed.

That video does not apply to the Villages Roundabouts. It is different here

What is different?

Skip
Wow, that's an excellent suggestion! I watched the video and thought the rules were the same as the rules for TV roundabouts. Talk Host, what did I miss?

Two lanes
 

I t hink there may be some roundabout that don't exit onto two lanes. That might be what he's talking about. Still don't think it would hurt though..

Learning to navigate roundabouts
 

Reading this thread has been very interesting... My opinion is that the reason folks don't know the proper driving procedures for navigating a roundabout is because they were never taught how. Who was required to navigate through a roundabout, when they took their driving test? How many questions are on the drivers exam, concerning roundabouts or who might or might not have the right of way ?? Exactly...no one! But, how many know the rule for a 4-way stop ???

I was in England, just before the holidays. Just getting out of Heathrow, I probably drove through 8 to 10 roundabouts to get to the M25.... Oh, by the way, you enter on the left side and go around clockwise. Many have 5 to 6 exits and anywhere from 3 to 5 lanes of traffic and they are very busy. I must tell you, it's an exciting adventure, if you have not driven on the left side of the road for a while!

Someone commented that the arrows for both lanes indicate straight. That would be a huge problem in a roundabout and hence, people wouldn't necessarily know which lane to be in to exit. In all the roundabouts I have been in, in Europe, the outside land is always marked with a right turn arrow. If there are 2 lanes to exit to, then the next inner lane has a straight/right turn arrow. I cannot remember the lane markings in TV, since it's been a couple years since I was there. However, the lane markings could have a big impact on how people drive in the roundabouts... If nothing else, most people know which lane to be in, given the markings. We did learn that in Drivers Education... :-) I have to believe people would do the right thing, if they knew what that was. As for the people not yielding, looking, stopping, etc. they would do that no matter a roundabout, 4-way stop, traffic light, blinking light, whatever... Some people are just plain bad drivers.

I'm planning to be there within about a year, so I hope you guys get this figured out and fixed, before I get there...

Just my 2 cents on roundabouts and I love 'em. They kinda get my Mario Andretti blood flowing!

Aint Gonna Happen
 

memason,

:a20: I can't believe in your lifetime that drivers will figure out round-a-bouts in TV. They have a tough enough time going straight in 3 lanes.

Notice the different marking on various rotaries in the Villages. They are different. Some direct you to stay on in inside lane, others direct you to exit immediately, others have broken lines indicating that you may pass.

The Washington State Video is for large circles where the traffic always exits at the first exit from the outside lane. Then the inside lane stays inside until the second exit or more.

Ours are different. This has been discussed here many times. Sheriff's officers have been quoted here as saying that the traffic patterns here are different.

hinky can also mean suspicious.

If you compare the traffic patterns in the video and the pamphlet posted on districtgov they are the same. So if the painted lines do not match the pamphlet how can the newbies get it right? I still belive, yield, right lane right turn and thru, left lane thru and left turn or u turn.....and you will never go wrong.

l2ridehd, I think you should make #1 Bold and Red, since it's the most important rule (imho). A visitor was complaining to me about always being cut off by other drivers in the roundabouts, and she said she really didn't understand how to prevent that from happening. From what I've learned from this forum, I told her that as long as she doesn't enter the roundabout when another car is coming, she'll be fine. She looked very shocked, and said, "You mean I have to wait until it's clear?"

Cars vs. Golf Carts
 

I agree! I was driving home from work yesterday down O'Dell Circle...traffic was quite heavy due to the beautiful weather (FINALLY!). Golf carts here, joggers there, cars everywhere! Not one, not two, but THREE golf carts in less than a mile stretch literally darted out onto O'Dell from the side streets BETWEEN two cars. Had those cars NOT slammed on their brakes, those carts and their drivers would have been flat as pancakes!:faint:
Patience is a virtue...:ohdear:

I think the contractors in The Villages are a bigger problem than snow birds. Yesterday I was caught off by a pick-up pulling a large trailer like yard guys use. I was in the left lane going straight and he was in the right lane. He completely disregarded me, and because he was so long, he cut me off for several seconds. Not only are they disregarding the rules, but they are generally speeding.

Drive around the entire Villages and you will see that the lane markings are different in different circles. I've taken the time to do that. It's confusing.

I grew up in Jersey and roundabouts where everywhere, but do to the increase in population and traffic, and with the amount of accidents, they are all being replaced with traffic lights. Its much safer.