Red car:

Explanation

It must give way to the blue car travelling on the circular carriageway.

The round blue sign above the entry — the "roundabout" sign with its circular arrows — settles the matter: this junction is a roundabout, and at the entry to a roundabout the driver entering must give way to vehicles already circulating on the ring. The blue car is already inside the roundabout and circulating, so the red car, which has only just reached the entry line, must stop.

The functional and safety reason for this rule is simple: if priority belonged to the entries, the ring would fill up and lock; cars trapped inside the circle would block the exits and the whole junction would come to a standstill. Beyond that, stopping at the entry line is safe because the driver brakes in a straight line with a clear view, whereas a sudden stop inside the curve of the ring means a rear-end impact and loss of control. The main trap is precisely the other option, which extends the "right-hand rule" to a roundabout. At a roundabout carrying the "roundabout" sign, that rule is set aside and gives way to the rule "whoever is in the circle has priority".

Worth memorising: as long as you can see the round blue roundabout sign, you are the newcomer and whoever is circulating owns the road; enter only when the gap is genuinely safe, not in the hope that someone else will brake for you.

• This option extends the right-hand rule to a roundabout; at a roundabout carrying the "roundabout" sign that rule does not apply, and the vehicle circulating on the ring has priority.

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