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michael769 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 29, 2006 13:30IMHO this sign is a bit of anomaly as it really means "you can" rather than "you must", it's not really a mandatory sign. It would make more sense for it to be rectangular.
And, indeed, that is how it appears in the Worboys Report. One of the changes that were made when the new 1964 TSRGD was published, contrary to the committee's recommendations, was for "pass either side" to become circular.
It was almost certainly changed to a circle because new traffic bollards were all designed to use a moulded circle, really in most cases the simple plain face bollard serves the exact same purpose so I'm not even sure why it's still a sign to be honest.
That's true, but on encountering an island, it is intuitive to pass to its left. So it is a useful sign to indicate that it is allowable to pass to the right (i.e. won't be driving into oncoming traffic).
So I think it's useful, just to say, don't worry, you haven't ended up in the oncoming lane without realising it; you're in the correct lane and may happily pass to the right."
I can imagine occasions where, if you're aware that you will be needing to turn right not too far ahead, you might be tempted to pass to the left and then, shortly, be in the wrong lane.
Such as here, where you might think you should pass to the left, but know you will need the right-hand lane immediately afterwards (to go straight on into the city centre).
This internally illuminated one at the unusual configuration on the A13 in London separating lanes 2/3, which we have discussed before, has gone through iterations, which can be seen on Google, provided that it hasn't been broken off again when the camera car passed (something probably the fate of pass-either-side signs more than most).
I'll also add as I've just seen this. Was watching a video (https://youtu.be/FD1elrHZqus) about driving in Guernsey and spotted this bizarre usage at a Filter in turn.
I'm editing this as I've watched on and seen a few bizarre sign usages relevant to this article:
Firstly, this one uses a pass both sides sign when you can only pass one sign of the island. A very wrong usage.
Secondly, this one uses a keep left sign when there should be a pass both sides sign (according to Channel Islands usage) or no sign (according to TSRGD). Because you can in fact go to the left or to the right.
pjr10th wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 20:30
Firstly, this one uses a pass both sides sign when you can only pass one sign of the island. A very wrong usage.
It looks like this might be at a point where you can turn right? I suppose this fits a very loose interpretation of the sign - you might not be passing it to the immediate right when you make a right turn, but you're certainly not passing it to the left!
A 'pass either side' sign is used on the central reservation after a right turn lane ends, even though it would be illegal to drive up the wrong side of the dual carriageway.
I was about to post the example above from another thread. I'm not sure if in Jersey the "pass either side to reach the same destination" meaning applies but there are two more just ahead a well.