Which lane should be used here?

[dash23]

Hi all,

Although I consider myself a fairly advanced driver (don't we all? ), this one has me stumped.

I regularly drive along a pretty new stretch of road in Dunstable, which forms part of a gyratory system. Here's a satellite view of it:



The car park area on the left is part of the industrial estate, Dunstable is off the bottom of the picture and Luton is off the top.

Before we reach the gyratory system, there's a sign under the busway bridge, at which point the road is two lanes wide, which looks like this:



Just after that bridge, as the road bends towards the left, the road opens out into three lanes. There appears to be no clear marking that shows which lane opens into two — the markings are for two lanes on one side of the pedestrian crossing and three lanes on the other side. That's sort of visible in this picture:



Now, for me logic dictates (as does the sign) that for the industrial estate I want to be in the left lane (green line in image below), and towards Luton is undoubtedly the right-most lane (blue line). The red line is the journey I take, and I do so in the right-hand lane approaching the gyratory, the middle one when it opens into three, thereby ending up on the left of the remaining two lanes once the left of three lanes has veered off towards the industrial estate:



However, at least half the cars I encounter end up starting in the left-most lane, then veering across into the centre lane when it opens into three.

What's the correct way to position my car in order to take the red route I've marked?

For those who'd prefer to navigate Google Maps themselves, the route is from A505 Church Street at the junction with Station Road, and exiting A505 in a NNW direction towards Porz Avenue.

Any help much appreciated!

[Pica-Pica]

To me, both signs say you swing left, but the left hand further identifies itself as retail park. So I would say RH arrow. As we all know, local traffic flows do not always run how the sign-installers imagined, so due observation is needed.

[JM]

Both lanes for Luton, Dunstable and Ind Est.
Left only for Retail Park.

Fastest to the middle lane wins.

[TooMany2cvs]

dash23 said:

Before we reach the gyratory system, there's a sign under the busway bridge, at which point the road is two lanes wide, which looks like this:

Both lanes for A505 and Ind Est.
Left lane only for Retail Park.

dash23 said:

Now, for me logic dictates (as does the sign) that for the industrial estate I want to be in the left lane (green line in image below), and towards Luton is undoubtedly the right-most lane (blue line). The red line is the journey I take, and I do so in the right-hand lane approaching the gyratory, the middle one when it opens into three, thereby ending up on the left of the remaining two lanes once the left of three lanes has veered off towards the industrial estate:

Think of it as two junctions.

The first is left (green) to retail, right (red/blue) for everywhere else.
The second is left (red) to ind est, right (blue) for everywhere else.

So, for red, I'd be in L1 at the first junction.

[waremark]

I was there this evening, but taking the blue line towards Luton - as the majority of the traffic does.

For your exit I'd be happy to be in either lane entering the left turn, looking for the middle lane after that left turn, while being aware that I may have to fit in with traffic from the other lane who also want that middle lane.

[seriousrikk]

What do the lane markings on the road do?

[dash23]

seriousrikk said:

What do the lane markings on the road do?

Nothing. Three lanes before the crossing, then two lanes after. No indication as to which lanes become which.

[Superleg48]

TooMany2cvs said:

Think of it as two junctions.

The first is left (green) to retail, right (red/blue) for everywhere else.
The second is left (red) to ind est, right (blue) for everywhere else.

So, for red, I'd be in L1 at the first junction.

I agree with this.