"They're appalling," said Andrea Hamilton-Vaughan, road safety officer for Orange City and Cabonne Shire councils.

Mrs Hamilton-Vaughan pointed to a number of chronic issues with drivers on roundabouts in Orange.

"I can't get over the speeding into roundabouts, and it's all age groups - it never ceases to amaze me," she said.

"If they get there first, that's the most important thing."

She said that roundabouts were designed so that the pace of the travelling vehicle and the angle of impact between cars meant less serious accidents, but warned that fatalities can still occur when a backseat passenger is t-boned by another vehicle moving at speed.

"The only consolation is that in the event of a collision on a roundabout it's not likely to be a fatality."

Mrs Hamilton-Vaughan said she was disturbed by the number of women she saw driving through roundabouts while texting, with children in their car.

"Fancy driving into a roundabout with all that precious cargo and you're on your mobile phone," she said.

"'What time are you getting home?' 'What are you doing?' Can you get some milk?' These text messages are so banal, and not worth dying over."

She also pointed to the inability of many drivers to stay within their own lane when two abreast in a two-lane roundabout.

A particular problem was the roundabout at Summer and Hill streets, she said.

"It's two lanes in and out [and then merging], but every time I'm on it people cut you off, and a lot of people will drift from their lane into your lane.

"It is terrible."

She said that although no age group was free of blunders, younger drivers were more likely to know the current laws regarding roundabouts.

Mayor Reg Kidd reckoned older drivers could do with sitting a test annually.

"If I asked eight of my friends this afternoon what are the rules, I'll get six different comments, including my own," he said.

"I think what will improve that is us all going back and doing our licences every 12 months.

"Young people have to go through it and I think us older people don't really understand the requirements coming into roundabouts.

"We need better driver education on roundabouts, there is nothing surer.

"They work marvellously, but we as motorists decrease their efficiency by not knowing the rules."

Federal MP Andrew Gee agreed: "Anecdotally there have been a lot of bingles at roundabouts in the CBD area, and I know because I've had a family member that was the victim of a bingle.

"Driver education would help a lot."

More information for drivers at facebook.com/orangeandcabonneroadsafety

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