2 lanes on a roundabout
Discussion
A roundabout near me has been redesigned and now on the approach road it divides into there are 2 lanes marked left/straight ahead and right.
The roundabout itself is quite awkwardly designed as it is fairly small with two narrow lanes marked.
To confuse it more the road that I would be turning right into has two lanes including a left hand turn shorty afterwards.
Twice in the last 2 weeks I used the right hand lane to turn right but someone behind moved in the left hand lane to undertake me on the roundabout. I think in both cases the drivers expected me to take the right hand lane on the exit onto the short dual carriageway.
Is is then wrong for me to move into the left hand lane off the roundabout if that driver is close behind me.
What lane should I use if I want to turn left off the next road?
It seems to have become accepted to use the left hand lane from the approach road to do this though it is marked to turn left or straight ahead.
The roundabout itself is quite awkwardly designed as it is fairly small with two narrow lanes marked.
To confuse it more the road that I would be turning right into has two lanes including a left hand turn shorty afterwards.
Twice in the last 2 weeks I used the right hand lane to turn right but someone behind moved in the left hand lane to undertake me on the roundabout. I think in both cases the drivers expected me to take the right hand lane on the exit onto the short dual carriageway.
Is is then wrong for me to move into the left hand lane off the roundabout if that driver is close behind me.
What lane should I use if I want to turn left off the next road?
It seems to have become accepted to use the left hand lane from the approach road to do this though it is marked to turn left or straight ahead.
Edited by mondeomk4 on Thursday 6th April 21:11
There could be helpful replies if you gave some relevant additional info. For instance, precisely what is written as lane markings on each of the approaching 2 lanes (individually). Similarly, what is written approaching the second exit, or/and the third (if any). This is a great place for answers to questions that contain all necessary info! HTH
This roundabout is not marked with lanes but it is sort of two lanes wide. The blue line is me, the orange line is somebody else who was not happy with me taking that blue line. My passenger (son passed his test more recently than me) agreed with orange line guy and said I should have been more careful.
I thought I was completely in the right but then a couple weeks later had the mirror image situation o the opposite side of the roundabout and felt I had been cut up. So who's right?
Funn3r said:
This roundabout is not marked with lanes but it is sort of two lanes wide. The blue line is me, the orange line is somebody else who was not happy with me taking that blue line. My passenger (son passed his test more recently than me) agreed with orange line guy and said I should have been more careful.
I thought I was completely in the right but then a couple weeks later had the mirror image situation o the opposite side of the roundabout and felt I had been cut up. So who's right?
This one is pretty easy: car on the roundabout, coming from the right of the orange car, has right of way. This isn't France. You shouldn't be indicating coming out the junction, but as you pass the first junction on the left, you should start indicating left.I thought I was completely in the right but then a couple weeks later had the mirror image situation o the opposite side of the roundabout and felt I had been cut up. So who's right?
On the other hand, if there are two lanes on the entry to the roundabout, and it's designated that the left lane goes left and straight, and the right lane goes right, then obviously you must stay completely left otherwise you risk cutting up a driver in the right-hand lane. In practise, there's a roundabout near me of this layout, but the central patch is far too wide (and kerbed), so people going straight will go in the left lane but drift over the middle most of the time; especially since the right-hand turn is rarely used (although is being used more and more as the houses it leads to are finished now).
Edit: I made some wrong assumptions after street-viewing this roundabout. This one is a little bit more tricky because none of the approach lanes in marked with directions, and some of the exits have two lanes. In theory, left lane should still be left (to either left lane) or straight on (to either lane, but do *not* cross into the right "lane" whilst on the roundabout), and right lane goes right.
IMO this is a pretty crap roundabout. We have a few just like it in Edinburgh, but they're only two-lanes on the major road (going straight), so it's pretty much assumed both lanes go to the corresponding lane on the other side. Wasn't helped when they added the bus lanes, mind.
Edited by ad13 on Thursday 11th May 07:38
Funn3r -
Suppose that you are in the car at botton of the photo, on the blue line, your position to the offside indicates that you are not taking the next exit, your position for the next exit, at that point, ought to be to the nearside and you need to think about giving a courteous left indicator breakaway signal for the benefit of others using the roundabout.
Move to the left after passing the exit before the one that you are taking, indicating as necessary for the benifit of other traffic.
Suppose that you are in the car at botton of the photo, on the blue line, your position to the offside indicates that you are not taking the next exit, your position for the next exit, at that point, ought to be to the nearside and you need to think about giving a courteous left indicator breakaway signal for the benefit of others using the roundabout.
Move to the left after passing the exit before the one that you are taking, indicating as necessary for the benifit of other traffic.
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