I hate traffic circles, wherever they may be. I have been told the rules are simple, but I just can't seem to get them to stick in my brain. People that have grown up with them all their lives seem to have a good understanding of them, but I still don't get them.
Now throw traffic circles into bustling Mexican cities, both one lane and two lanes (if you can even tell because of the lack of painted lines), and you've got problems. Especially for new drivers in Mexico such as me. Okay, I think I understand that if you are entering a two lane traffic circle, and you plan on making a right turn or going straight through, you should enter in the right lane. If you plan on circling around and exiting on one of the left streets, you should enter the circle in the left lane. Right?
Also in Cuernavaca, the people entering the traffic circle have the right of way. In Mexico City the people IN the traffic circle have the right of way. I'm not entirely sure about other cities like Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and Acapulco. I'll investigate and let you know about these, and other cities, at a future date.
As a final note, and not exactly on the topic of traffic circles, I just had to mention this little quip. My landlord, a wonderful source of information for me and these blogs, told me a story recently about a problem with a very busy street in Cuernavaca. I guess people were complaining to the Government that there was too much traffic on this one particular street. The Governor gave this matter some serious thought, and finally reached a solution.
He had the city crews get out some paint (I'm sure they had a lot of it) and repaint the lines on the street. Instead of three lanes, he had them paint three lines to create four lanes. He didn't widen the street or put in turn lanes or anything like that; they just painted in another lane. Everyone was happy. I love Mexico....
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