Poorly designed/labelled roundabout?

[Frocat]

So I've had the pleasure of using this roundabout a few times recently, and realised today I've been using the wrong lane.

The roundabout in question is bottom of this picture, where the A53 starts out of the north side of Shrewsbury:


Coming from Shrewsbury with the intention of taking the A53 towards Market Drayton, you are first presented with this sign:


When learning to drive I was taught that usually left lane for first and second exits, right for final exit, but to use the layout diagram and lane markings for anything different. In this case, while I intend to take the third exit, the layout has positioned it at 12 o'clock to imply straight ahead, so potentially left lane.

Next sign:

Again implying A53 is straight on.

Finally, the lane markings:


I have been using the arrows alone and assumed that right was for final exit only, but as you can see in the faded lane markings A53 should also be right lane. Having the road number printed in the lane removes all doubt, but had it not been there I would be certain the left lane was correct. Are my assumptions about this correct or is there something I'm missing? Surely it would be more helpful if in the diagram the A53 appeared past 12 o'clock - as it does in reality?

[AnotherGareth]

Frocat said:

Are my assumptions about this correct or is there something I'm missing?

Assumptions are missing something useful - more below.

Frocat said:

Surely it would be more helpful if in the diagram the A53 appeared past 12 o'clock - as it does in reality?

If you use Google Maps to look at the overhead view you can see that the A53 is fairly close to straight ahead when coming on the road from Shrewsbury.

The context is that it would be relatively unusual for traffic heading NNE away from Shrewsbury to take an exit heading SSE, so the last exit should be considered a minor traffic flow, especially so when there are more direct routes available.

Next you need to think about how the lanes might be divided between major traffic flows. The right-most major traffic flow is for the A53, so without any further information you could have concluded that the right lane onto the roundabout would be used for this.

[DocJock]

AnotherGareth said:

Frocat said:

Are my assumptions about this correct or is there something I'm missing?

Assumptions are missing something useful - more below.

Frocat said:

Surely it would be more helpful if in the diagram the A53 appeared past 12 o'clock - as it does in reality?

If you use Google Maps to look at the overhead view you can see that the A53 is fairly close to straight ahead when coming on the road from Shrewsbury.

The context is that it would be relatively unusual for traffic heading NNE away from Shrewsbury to take an exit heading SSE, so the last exit should be considered a minor traffic flow, especially so when there are more direct routes available.

Next you need to think about how the lanes might be divided between major traffic flows. The right-most major traffic flow is for the A53, so without any further information you could have concluded that the right lane onto the roundabout would be used for this.

OP doesn't have the luxury of a G Map overhead view whilst approaching the junction. He is making his decisions based on the signage, which is misleading.

Without local knowledge he has no way of making a judgement on alternative 'direct routes' or 'major traffic flows'. The signage merely shows 4 exits, 3 major roads, two for the A49 and one for the A53 so your conclusion is contentious.

[AnotherGareth]

DocJock said:

He is making his decisions based on the signage, which is misleading.

Not sure it is especially misleading - A53 is close to straight ahead. By default I'd pick either lane for going straight ahead, and more likely to pick the right lane if there are more exits before the one going straight ahead than after.

DocJock said:

Without local knowledge he has no way of making a judgement on alternative 'direct routes' or 'major traffic flows'. The signage merely shows 4 exits, 3 major roads

As you say the sign tells us about the three major route exits, so we can discount the minor route exit since it is unlikely to be allocated sole use of a specific lane onto the roundabout.

In general people have some idea about where they are and where they are going, so for the most part it isn't a stretch to have enough local knowledge to discount the right-turn A49 as being a significant exit.

If people aren't familiar with the area and are following a satnav the clue about the south-bound A49 will be available to them on the display.

The only time, therefore, when this might be a problem is when someone is following written instructions "follow the old A49 out of town then take the A53".

Edited by AnotherGareth on Sunday 1st September 11:04

Edited by AnotherGareth on Sunday 1st September 11:05

[Glosphil]

AnotherGareth said:

As you say the sign tells us about the three major route exits, so we can discount the minor route exit since it is unlikely to be allocated sole use of a specific lane onto the roundabout.

In general people have some idea about where they are and where they are going, so for the most part it isn't a stretch to have enough local knowledge to discount the right-turn A49 as being a significant exit.

If people aren't familiar with the area and are following a satnav the clue about the south-bound A49 will be available to them on the display.

The only time, therefore, when this might be a problem is when someone is following written instructions "follow the old A49 out of town then take the A53".

Edited by AnotherGareth on Sunday 1st September 11:04

Edited by AnotherGareth on Sunday 1st September 11:05

You assume that a sat-nav user will look at the sat-nav screen as they approach the roundabout. I never look at my sat-nav screen when driving; my view of the road and surroundings is far more important to me; I rely on the voice information. My sat-nav is mounted where I cannot see the screen, or in front of the passenger if they wish to assist with navigation.

[AnotherGareth]

Glosphil said:

You assume that a sat-nav user will look at the sat-nav screen as they approach the roundabout. I never look at my sat-nav screen when driving

Interesting. While I hardly bother with a satnav these days I used to find the verbal directions were sometimes misleading and a much better appreciation of approaching junctions was gained by glancing at the display. Because of this I often turned the voice off and enabled an alert 'boing'.

A second point I'd forgotten is that most people use a satnav in 2D or 3D head-up mode whereas I only ever use north-up. I guess this really is an indication that most people have no sense of direction and can't readily relate a map to how things are laid out on the ground.

[Hooli]

AnotherGareth said:

Interesting. While I hardly bother with a satnav these days I used to find the verbal directions were sometimes misleading and a much better appreciation of approaching junctions was gained by glancing at the display. Because of this I often turned the voice off and enabled an alert 'boing'.

Snap.

I find the voices irritating & totally useless for directions.