MOTORISTS attempting to obey the letter of the law have been stumped by how best to negotiate the Wagga Bunnings entrance roundabout since the store opened its doors late last year. Already a tricky obstacle, the addition of an entrance directly off the roundabout has created confusion on how to signal when exiting onto Pearson Street while travelling northbound.Normally required to signal left when leaving a roundabout at any exit, the addition of the Bunnings entrance adjacent to the Pearson Street exit has created a dilemma with traffic attempting to leave the store unable to determine if cars will turn into the Bunnings carpark or continue past them to the exit.Wagga Highway Patrol supervisor Sergeant John Aichinger yesterday attempted to clear up the confusion and said the Bunnings roundabout was somewhat of an exception to the usual indicating rule."The road markings point straight ahead which means you go straight ahead and then you are usually required to indicate left as you exit," he said."However, the legislation says this is the case where practicable, and because there is a driveway on the roundabout it makes this impracticable."At most roundabouts it would be practicable to indicate as you exit but at that roundabout it certainly wouldn't be practicable."Sergeant Aichinger said most motorists had been approaching the roundabout with caution and as a result few incidents had arisen from the confusion.Despite a recent campaign by Wagga police to enforce the roundabout indication rule, Sergeant Aichinger said the Pearson Street exit in question would not be targeted due to the location of the Bunnings entrance."We haven't gone up and enforced it and we've only had reports that there has been one crash that has needed police intervention," he said."There may have been minor collisions where both cars have been able to drive away but in regards to major crashes which require vehicles to be towed there has been just one incident so far."How to negotiate the Bunnings roundabout:- Motorists are required to indicate left when exiting a roundabout, unless it is not practical to do so.- When approaching the Bunnings roundabout in a northbound direction the left indicator is required if turning into the store.- If passing straight through the roundabout in a northbound direction onto Pearson Street it is not necessary to indicate when exiting.
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