I had this on a trailer test I recently did. When you're turning right at a roundabout, you should approach in the right hand lane, except where signs indicate otherwise, then, after you have passed the exit before the one you intend to take, you should indicate left and move over to the nearside lane to exit the roundabout in the left lane.
All great in theory, except that I checked mirrors, indicated, checked mirrors again and started to move over, whereupon white van man decided he didn't want me in his road and started speeding past me on the inside. I had to very slightly swerve to get out of his way.
My examiner woke up from his doze, looked in his mirrors, smiled and marked something on his sheet. Luckily it was a minor, my lucky day.
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I was always taught that if you are going more than halfway round a roundabout you take the inside lane and begin to move across to the outside late (when safe) at the exit before the one you are using.
However, where I live there's a huge roundabout on which this is very difficult to do safely. The main reason is that there are six exits, all within three or four car lengths of each other, and incidents occur dozens of times a day as drivers suddenly find they cannot move across for their exit.
There are also numerous cases of drivers waiting to come out hitting the vehicle in front. Because the gaps in which to join the traffic flow are few and far between, second in line drivers tend to forget that there's a vehicle in front and put their foot down when a gap appears....:-(
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Stuartli - Is this the same roundabout (Kew) they have now effectively tried to reduce to one lane with hatching bordered with a solid white line? Its been a nightmare junction for as long as I can remember. I would agree that for most of the exits it is simply not feasible to change lanes prior to exiting when turning right, but with a bit of observation and some thought on the use of the indicators I've never had anyone pull out in front of me, but I've had a few people use the left lane to go past 12 o'clock.
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Quinny100
Got it in one...:-)
It's still two lanes but was "narrowed" to try and slow the traffic down.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Everything forward and trust in the Lord... foolproof approach to roundabouts! :-)
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We were coming home from work a while ago and the missus was driving.
We drove onto this small roundabout just the same as we have always done i.e. going straight across with no indications and got a 'what the hell' gesture from a car on the left waiting to come out.
Now i and the wife were taught that if coming to a roundabout and going left ,stay in the lefthand lane and indicate left.
If going straight across ,stay in the lefthand lane and there is no need to indicate.
If going beyond twelve o' clock then it is the right hand lane and indicate right until after the exit before yours, move over to the left whilst indicating such.
It would appear that new drivers are being taught to indicate left when exiting the roundabout even when going straight across.
Well bully for them but not a lot of cop when i or the missus come along and know nothing about their training and they get lairy with us.
If they are going to change the rules then how about letting everyone else know ?.
Yes i know we could buy the Highway code but how often do they change driver training ?.
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.. If they are going to change the rules then how about letting everyone else know ?.
afaik, rules have not changed. see www.highwaycode.gov.uk/17.htm - shows the rule as it has always applied afaik. it would seem you may have been taught wrong.
Yes i know we could buy the Highway code
no need, you can read it here www.highwaycode.gov.uk
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>> .. If they are going to change the rules then how about letting everyone else know ?. afaik, rules have not changed. see www.highwaycode.gov.uk/17.htm - shows the rule as it has always applied afaik. it would seem you may have been taught wrong.
Ok ,now count how many drivers indicate left when going straight across, and if that has always been the rule then howcome it has taken us 23 years to notice ?, no don't answer that one.
>> Yes i know we could buy the Highway code no need, you can read it here www.highwaycode.gov.uk
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indicate left when going straight across, and if that has always been the rule then
do not inidicate left until after passing the first exit, i.e. indicate left only before the exit you mean to take.
... howcome it has taken us 23 years to notice ?, no don't answer that one. ..
only you can answer that one.
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Yeah, well smart alec lets go over what i was saying.
The car in the left hand lane was annoyed that i had not indicated my intentions.
Well i cannot indicate left as they would have pulled out in front of me and i could not indicate right as the car coming towards me from straight across would have presumed i was going to cross in front of him , yeah i know that would have been the safe bet for him,and i was not going right but straight across.
So the best thing to have done would have been to not indicate until just before my exit but not before and that brings me back to where i started.
I am now off to peruse said highway code and sort out my long term stupidity whilst you all shout howls of derision at me.
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Ha !! i am back and am right, the little blue car on the highway code sites picture is not indicating until its straight ahead exit .
So yah boo sucks to the lairy driver.
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the little blue car on the highway code sites picture is not indicating until its straight ahead exit .
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which is the correct thing to do, contrary to what you said you had done (i.e. not indicated at all at any point):
....We drove onto this small roundabout just the same as we have always done i.e. going straight across with no indications and got a 'what the hell' gesture from a car on the left waiting to come out.
Now i and the wife were taught that if coming to a roundabout and going left ,stay in the lefthand lane and indicate left. If going straight across ,stay in the lefthand lane and there is no need to indicate.
If going beyond twelve o' clock then it is the right hand lane and indicate right until after the exit before yours, move over to the left whilst indicating such. ...
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Signal left on exit has always been the rule as far as I can remember.
The IAM used to have a more sensible approach in my opinion. They advocated no right signal at all on a roundabout, the indicator only being used when you were about to exit. The reasoning being that it should be assumed a driver was continuing to circle the roundabout until he indicated his intention to leave, so no right signal was ever nescessary.
This was changed in order to come into line with Department of Transport thinking.
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But then you get the "Clever" lane markings that IMO are illogical.
e.g. A243 at the Northern roundabout J9 of the M25
Going north under the M25 there are two lanes into the roundabout.
LH lane is marked M25 (only). The other lane is for straight across or right.
As soon as you enter the roundabout ( on the offside) instant lane markings say you should be in the nearside lane.
I have never seen a queue (for the M25 ) in the nearside lane.
I usually see an an empty nearside lane and a queue in the offside lane.
My logic says, when going straight over, it would be much safer ( no lane changing) to enter on the nearside lane and stay there til you exit. This would allow a much better, smoother traffic flow.
I suspect some office bound planner expected queues that have yet to appear.
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Everything forward and trust in the Lord... foolproof approach to roundabouts! :-)
Close your eyes and pray. Works for me.
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This was/is the recommended line of departure on Bikesafe - I'm appalled ! this is a very natural line for a M/cyclist to take saving steering effort, another reason I was given was to avoid diesel spills and general debris from Heavies as well as for overtaking the inevitably slower egg boxes on wheels . My edition of Roadcraft is rather vague on this, the pictogram shows the open face helmeted, be-gauntleded rider turning right and clearly going to the offside of a two lane road, no mention made of dual carriageways. I always do this when I'm four wheels as well, especially in the BMW as this rather nicely prepares the ground for a (very) rapid depart past all those slow things. Pedantic isn't the word !
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We have a very nasty driving habit coming into the 'norm' today - when planning to go straight ahead at a small/medium sized roundabout, (2 lanes in / one out) many motorists join in the nearside lane then neatly slice across the offside lane and depart as if nothing wrong had happened: of course the poor vehicle turning right and using the offside lane are either cursing the dent in their left front wing/door or trying to drive off the central flower beds!!! Please, can drivers make some slight effort to use the steering wheel the manufacturer gave you for times such as these!
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Frank,
Just clarify something.......1. you approached the roundabout in the offside lane ?
(If yes where there any markings on the road that contradicted this normal approach)
Presumably you were indicating right (if necessary) and then a breakaway lef tindication into the offiside lane (lane 2) of a dual carriageway and you were failed for not going into lane 1 ?
I have a reason for asking.
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The only roundabouts you don't need to indicate for a straight ahead exit are the mini-roundabout types that are just painted circles in the road. You should, however, make 'an attempt' to go around the painted circle.
Exit off a roundabout should always be in lane 1 unless markings or parked cars indicate otherwise. Making sure you get past the 'dawdling inferior' motorists isn't an excuse ;-)
Colleague at work's boyfriend got failed for being in lane 2 on a dual carriageway and being 'undertaken' by a car. My question was what logical reason did he have for being in lane 2 anyway? I would never have been brave enough to start overtaking other cars on a driving test :-)
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Edit: Although I have had to indicate and pull out nice and early to pass a stopping bus on a dual carriageway through Hillingdon Centre.
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'dawdling inferior' motorists isn't an excuse ;-)
Pettaw,
I can't argue with your logic really, I never thought of it like that, like the OP I was applying years of car driving experience to a driving test - which I shouldn't have, I was about to repond by saying that in Advanced driving circles placing your vehicle at positional advantage for making "Progress" would be a good thing......:-) - I don't view them as being inferior only that I enjoy accelerating away from roundabouts in the right place....probabaly makes me a bad person in some eyes :-(
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I failed my first driving test by doing something similar, approached the roundabout on the offside lane to turn right, i indicated right, drove round the roundabout but i straddled into the nearside lane without realising.
Apart from that i would have past my test.
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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They can also fail you for failing to "make progress" too :) You can be onto a loser either way,
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Correct and there were no markings to contradict a normal approach. I have always tried to enter and exit in the same lane if possible. I thought that changing lane on a roundabout was ill advised.
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>>I thought that changing lane on a roundabout was ill advised.>>
How on earth would you get off the roundabout then if you are on the inside lane?
The rule of thumb I was always given, as I stated earlier, was to take the inside lane if going more than half-way round a roundabout; that advice was from the ex-police driver who taught me to drive back in the early 1960s and, in fact, is the same as provided by the Highway Code. See:
www.highwaycode.gov.uk/17.htm#160
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