Back in the day, left hand lane was used for either turning left, or going straight over. Right hand lane used for turning right.
However that seems to have been thrown out the window now. As many roundabout lanes prompt you to be in the right hand lane to go straight over.
Generally speaking, at a 4 point roundabout, in other words, 3 exits plus your entry, this is still true. If the exit you wish to use is at "12 0'clock" or less, then the left hand approach lane is the correct one. If the exit is "more" than
12 o'clock, use the right hand lane. However, if the 2nd (ahead) exit is two lanes wide, there's no reason why you shouldn't use the right hand lane on approach and exit. Alternatively, you could, if safe, move into the left hand lane to exit the roundabout. Another choice could be to use the right hand lane on approach to the 2nd exit even if there is only one lane on the exit, if you can make sufficient progress to create enough space to do this safely, although you may be raising the risk element significantly.
Which is all well and good till some feckwit in teh highways dept decides the lines are too confusing and has them all burnt off resulting in survival of the fastest/most aggressive
theres one about 3/4 a mile from home with 3 lanes into it (one to industrial estate, one to M62 westbound and the other towards snaith and m62 east (josh will know it)
i once ended up going "over" the roundabout on the abnormal load waiting area (centre of roundabout is "grasscrete" with dropped curbs at each end)
as some numpty got in the wrong lane and began to drift into the side of me (on my left) as i entered the roundabout as they got in the wrong lane after undertaking me on the approach
result of my short cut is i still got in front of them :devil:
here you go daz
red line to industrial estate
purple to motorway
yellow to snaith
green dots grasscrete area
3 lanes - 3 exits. Shouldn't really be a problem. Even my Mother-in-law can work that one out, and she's 84 and has never driven; which is a sad indictment of today's drivers.
think this attached the image.
you dont get that much of a clear view from this angle though but get an idea of the roundabout. Loads of crashes here though
the black line is where i got to and the dotted was where i was going. The green is the guy entering
Can't really see how many entry lanes there are in this, but should be a pretty
standard format.
even when going straight on you should indicate left once your passed the last exit before yours, some people indicate a wee bit too early and thus the guy might have thought he was going left.
.
With the exception of mini-roundabouts, a driver should signal left immediately
after passing the exit before the one the driver wants to take
are they the painted efforts that are put at random junctions just big enough for a mk1 mini to get round properly you mean?
Remember these are not necessarily designed as roundabouts per se; in other words you don't always have to go round them, as a larger vehicle would find it impossible, but they simply denote priority.
i dont always indicate when i class it may cause more confustion than clarifacation
Good point.
beeping at the lights is perfectly acceptable, it's just alerting the driver in front the lights are on green as it looks like theyve not noticed
um.... sounds to me you entered a roundabout while your exit was not clear.
Depending on the size of the roundabout it may not be possible to avoid entering the roundabout before checking the exits are clear, but it is fairly easy to stop, if held up by traffic, and still leave the entry onto the road clear
for other traffic.
We've started seeing roundabouts with spiral routes marked on them to help the retards - and they still cut you up, changing lanes way too early or right at the last minute. Heck, I even get retards driving into the bus lane - and they get really irate when I sound my horn frantically as I try to slow the bus enough to avoid an accident without throwing my passengers out of their seats!
Too many people seem to think they can wander across lanes as they wish without giving a thought to other drivers.
Just noticed one of the other links at the bottom of the page - roundabouts & learning to drive. See the advert for Red? full license for 3 years. If you are clueless as to the use of a roundabout, how are you going to teach someone?
BTW people, If you see a bus or lorry in the right hand approach lane indicating left, there is a pretty good chance they are actually turning left. If you try to get past on the inside, there is a pretty good chance your car will get damaged.
If said vehicle is in the left hand lane & indicating right, the above also applies - in other words, keep back until they have cleared the turning - unless the roundabout is huge enough for everyone to get round safely.
Spiral roundabouts are, on paper, a good idea; that is if drivers can understand the obviously really complicated principle of driving a car between two white lines, the difficulty of which shouldn't be underestimated. The Portwood Roundabout in Stockport just off the M60 which has 5 exits all controlled by traffic lights. The challenge there is to look at the right set of lights. Clue: If joining that and other roundabouts of its type, it's always a good idea to look right before entering, even if the lights are in your favour.
