Do you need to signal in a traffic circle if you are continuing on the same road or only if you are turning left or right?

The simple answer is YES. This is one of those traffic rules that seems to create far more confusion than it should. When entering a roundabout, you generally do not need to signal simply because you are entering. You are joining the circulating roadway and continuing around it. Before entering, your responsibility is to slow down, choose the proper lane, yield to vehicles already in the roundabout, and enter only when there is a safe gap. Exiting is different. Once you are travelling within the roundabout, continuing around is effectively your existing path of travel. When you decide to leave the roundabout, you are communicating a change in what you intend to do. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is very clear about this. Its Driver’s Handbook instructs drivers to **signal their exit** and says that once you have passed the exit immediately before the one you intend to take, you should activate your **right-turn signal**. Why does the signal matter? Turn signals are not just about complying with a rule. They are a way of communicating with everyone around you. Vehicles already circulating within the roundabout have the right-of-way over vehicles waiting to enter. That means a driver sitting at the yield line is watching approaching traffic and trying to determine whether there is a safe opportunity to enter. If the approaching driver signals right, it communicates: “I am leaving the roundabout at this exit.” If there is no signal, the waiting driver should assume that vehicle may continue around the circle. Without that communication, drivers are forced to guess. That creates hesitation, confusion and potentially unsafe decisions. What does the Highway Traffic Act say? Section 142(1) of Ontario's Highway Traffic Act contains the general requirement for signalling. It requires a driver to signal before turning left or right, changing lanes or leaving the roadway when another vehicle may be affected by that movement. There is not a special section of the HTA that simply says, "Drivers must signal when exiting a roundabout." Instead, the general signalling requirements apply, and the Ministry of Transportation specifically tells Ontario drivers how to apply them at a roundabout. When should you signal? Do not turn on your right signal too early. The MTO says to wait until you have "passed the exit immediately before the exit you want", then activate your right-turn signal. That avoids telling another driver that you are taking an earlier exit than you actually intend to use. The simple way to remember it: Entering the roundabout? Yield and enter when safe. Continuing around? Stay in your lane. Leaving the roundabout? Signal right. If you did not exit, you could simply continue circulating around the roundabout. Your signal tells everyone else that you intend to leave that circulating path. Good driving is not only about knowing where you are going. It is about clearly communicating your intentions so everyone around you can make safer decisions. Signal your exit. Don't make other drivers guess.