Imagine a roundabout where you need to drive over the island to negotiate it in the safest possible manner.
You know, driving to the conditions, as it were.
It does exist and those who live around Airds, Ruse and Kentlyn know it well.
It was built by the council more than 30 years ago as a substitute for a traditional T-section and there wasn’t much wrong with their thinking.
The aim was for the roundabout to get motorists approaching it from the three sides – Broughton Street in the west, Georges River Road in the east and Junction Road in the north – to slow down as they approached it.
Which is what roundabouts are all designed to do.
Unfortunately, this one does have flaws: travelling west to east there’s no way you can navigate past the large island without going over part of it.
Sure, it can be done, and I have tried it, but it frustrates all the other motorists waiting at Junction Road as I turn a hard left doing 4-5 kmh, come to a stop, do a hard right, and then another hard left to go straight out of the roundabout.
So, locals got used to it and started a “driving to conditions’’ approach.
No dramas there with the cops, until one of them came along and booked me on the day of the council elections last September.
Every local I told was shocked that I had been booked.
But everyone drives overt the island, was their response.
There was no way I was going to pay this stiff fine and lose two demerit points, so I challenged it in court.
But like any reasonable man I started having doubts, so I went back to the scene of my crime and watched motorists using this roundabout.
In about 45 minutes 30 cars or so went west-east and every single one went over the island.
Some just straight through without even pretending they were going around the island, as I do.
So today, His Honour at Campbelltown Local Court number 4 dismissed the charge, no conviction to be recorded against my name.
His Honour is obviously a much wiser man than the cop who wasted his, mine and the court’s time by booking me back in September, despite explaining the background of the roundabout to him.
However, His Honour, in his hurry to agree with me, did not give me sufficient time to complete my argument.
This was that if the local coppers are concerned with this roundabout and how 99 per cent of motorists drive over the island, they should take those concerns to their representative on the Campbelltown City Council’s local traffic committee.
I have no doubt that the committee and the council would agree to review the situation here at this roundabout and come up with a solution.
I drive over them
Good win Guv