DRIVERS heading for Worcester’s hospital may be left in a spin by new roundabout markings, say motoring experts.

Traffic heading along Newtown Road towards Warndon Villages is now greeted at the Woodgreen Drive roundabout by a right-hand lane – which has an arrow directing traffic straight on.

The lane is – and always has been – for traffic bearing right to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, and is marked with the abbreviation ‘HOSP’ to make it clear.

The marking was changed during ongoing work for the Newtown bus lane.

Road chiefs at Worcestershire County Council say they have merely followed government guidance in removing the old right-hand turn arrow marking.

The reason given is it may confuse foreign drivers into immediately turning to the right, into oncoming traffic and causing crashes.

But driving experts and residents say at best the new markings will confuse and at worst could cause accidents.

The Department for Transport’s road markings guidance does state: “Right-turn arrows are best avoided... as they can mislead overseas drivers.”

However council figures show that in the last two years, just two crashes of this type caused any injuries, although there is no data recording bumps and near-misses.

David Wornham, chairman of the Worcestershire branch of the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), said he was amazed by the reasoning.

“What actually concerns me is civilian drivers driving to hospital with a casualty may be misled into going straight over at the roundabout.

"Or even worse, they go to head straight over but realise the hospital is to the right, try to steer and cause an accident.”

A frequent user of the roundabout, IAM branch member Nigel Woolard, said he saw the markings and “thought that someone had made a mistake.

“We’re changing road markings to suit foreign drivers – but when I’m driving in France I stick to their road rules.”

Andrew Wynn, county council works manager, said: “The markings follow the national guidelines for traffic markings which do not allow for right-turn arrows at roundabouts because they have been known to cause drivers to stop at the give way line and then turn right against the flow of traffic on the roundabout.

“New road layout signs are going up and we will monitor the changes.”

He said the new markings “serve the best interests of road users or we would not have implemented it.”

For a .pdf file of the rules click the link below and head to page 53.

trafficsignsmanualchapter5.pdf

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