It wasn't that long ago that the law changed in France which is why roundabouts often had 'vous n'avez pas la priorité ' at every road joining the roundabout. You often used to get (older)drivers stopping on the roundabout to let cars join but it's got less and less over the years as those people become too old to be driving.
The only time I think it would happen (stopping on a roundabout) is if there's a traffic jam and joining traffic want to cross or in the case we had at the weekend coming back from the mountains where the bus with trailer couldn't stop in time for the roundabout. (or there are traffic lights)
There a roundabout in my village and 20m from it is a railway crossing on the main road. the idea of a roundabout is that you don't enter if you cannot leave it in order to allow the traffic that does not want to exit at the place with the rail crossing to continue to flow. Has in practices not worked a single time in the last six months. Every Swiss will drive bumper to bumper to make sure they don't unnecessarily let a person pass...
Oh and in addition, when it snows and the road is covered. I'm lead to believe, although of course it's open to confusion, that when the road markings can't be seen the right-before-left rule applies.
Nope. It happened all the time in France (in the late eighties and nineties) where a car would just stop dead on a roundabout to let a car join the roundabout when there was no other traffic around because the drivers had learned to drive at a time when cars joining a roundabout had priority.
Warning: This is "generally" true, but not entirely. A stop sign has a unique shape and is therefore even valid when the snow covers it. Triangular and round signs are not valid once you cannot read them and as you said does right before left apply.
I meant "would happen if people are otherwise following the rules".
The town I grew up in (in England) had no roundabouts and then they put one in. It had been a T junction. Many older folk would sit at the roundabout waiting for the road to be clear even though they now had the priority.
I usually stop slow down a lot and flash when a public bus is waiting to get in.
Assuming single lanes I'd say the roads entering the roundabaout will be blocked quickly anyway. Either cars don't enter and block those behind them, or they enter and get blocked soon thereafter by car in front of them. So the only difference is whether the roundabout is deserted or filled, but traffic stops flowing either way.
I usually slow down and stop every time I see pedestrians coming either from the right or from the left. Especially in central Zurich, because they all act like they own the road and get very angry with car drivers. Not as angry as with bicycle riders though. Often time I just leave those two parties being at loggerheads and off I drive minding my own business
Maybe the old lady was reaching the middle and you realized that if the driver in front of you didn't stop and you kept the good distance to the car in front, you would have to stop then you closed up the distance and got surprised by the driver in front of you stopping?
Maybe the actual reason he stopped was because you were too close to him? lol never know with only one side of the story
Maybe he will soon make a post saying how he hates people tailgating and how he likes to slam the brakes to wake them up.
Actually (and whatever the law says) if there is a younger child please stop. They are usually trained to wait on the pavement until cars on both sides of the crossing have stopped.
Actually the island (also known as a refuge), is a place of safety for pedestrians who need to cross a wider or busier road filled with BMW and Audi drivers who drive too fast, tailgate and generally are a danger to others.
There's a bit of a hint in the name - island or refuge.
If it has independent traffic lights on both lanes then it is designed to improve traffic flow - otherwise it is for pedestrian safety alone.
(Re: If you move to another country, get to know the traffic rules...)
...occasionally, when I've seen a driver doing a roll-stop up to a pedestrian crossing where a child is waiting hesitantly, I stop, stand beside the child, point to my eyes, do a 'the wheels on the bus go round and round' action with my hands, and then point to his front wheels which are still doing just that! The driver gets the message and the child no longer had to worry about whether to stick to the ruling taught at kindergarten and school or not. Gets me odds looks but who cares. Par for the course for me.
The 'island' crossings, although built for safety, seem 'complicated' for children. The concept of 'two roads' doesn't really wash with all of them, and perhaps doesn't help 'senior citizens' as much as it is intended to.
Although they're good when you've got your kids with you and you need to cross a busy road.
Additionally, they're often situated when there is no pedestrian crossing but the road crossing is still part of a commonly used walking route.
In this case they are definitely there for pedestrian safety.
Some cars even slow or stop here to let you pass even if they don't need to which is very considerate but seems to be the sort of thing that Treverus and others can't abide.
So instead of a roll stop we should continue to drive and then brake at the last moment in order to stop in the shortest time possible so that the pedestrian knows it's now ok to cross, although they should probably wait for the bang bang bang from the other cars too.