During a trip to Funchal yesterday, it struck me again. Many foreigners – i.e. tourists – on the island are unaware of the Portuguese traffic rules regarding how to “take” a roundabout. This often leads to accidents, because they behave in a way that is not in line with how we pass a roundabout here.
No right of way
If you use the right-hand lane on a roundabout here, according to Portuguese rules, this means that you take the first exit. If you want to go straight ahead, you take the left-hand lane. You then move to the right as you approach your exit. You can do this safely, because any traffic that wants to enter the roundabout must give way to you because you are already on the roundabout. So “right of way for traffic from the right” does not apply on roundabouts.
Many tourists anxiously stay in the right-hand lane on roundabouts. That’s fine if you take the first exit, but not if you take the second or a later exit. Because then you will be “cut off” by traffic that needs to move to the right because they are leaving the roundabout. Tourists in the right-hand lane often get angry because “cutting in is not allowed”. But they themselves are in the wrong because they are not allowed to stay in the right-hand lane. It’s really very logical and straight forward, once you are familiar with the rules.
fines
The fines if you are caught in the wrong lane on a roundabout are quite high these days. For a long time, the police let it go if they saw you are a tourist. But because of the many accidents, they are actually enforcing the rules now. Not surprising, as the number of tourists has greatly increased since the Covid years. Anyway, you don’t want to add €300 or more to your holiday budget.
Complicated?
Actually, it’s all logical and simple. But for those who are still unclear about it, we found a short video. It´s a ‘short´ from the insurer Ageas, that explains everything clearly. Here it is.
Whilst there are no real problems in countries like Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France. Let me stop listing more countries. The problem is with drivers who are used to left hand traffic. They are getting their knickers in a twist. Own experience: Near Malaga, the Zimbabwean driver circulated the roundabout, twice. Asked why, he told me that’s what you need to do. – Admittedly, I don’t think Zimbabwe had any roundabouts at that time yet.
Thank you, Maurice. A bit in my own interest, seen the many tourists who only just failed to crash into us on roundabouts yesterday on the way to Funchal! 😀
Very useful post Peter.