Rules of the road - Roundabouts. Am I right on this one?

[Biscuit]

The one that gets me is people who are going strait across the roundabout yet feel the need to signal before getting onto the roundabout.

... although its not technically incorrect, as long as you indicate off the roundabout correctly which is the bit that i get annoyed about... as no-one does!

[Gerrard]

assuming theres no signs focing ONLY left from left or ONLY right from right lane..

if it's a dual carriageway input and a dual carriageway exit...
left lane straight over entry--- exit left lane
right lane straight over entry -- exit right lane


what you HAVE to watch when you're in the right lane (me every time) is the oblivious one who straightlines the two lanes around the roundabout and cuts across your bonnet.

I'm so used to it I can see if coming ... so it's no surprise any more. Not even worth a honk on the horn... I'd wear the horn out!

I've always followed these rules. However, it's not uncommon to see the left lane marked on the road as left only, which is great unless you don't know the area, there's standing traffic over the markings and you enter that lane thinking by default you can go straight over... I think it's getting better now as you normally see a signpost when this happen to get over that situation.

[ZaO]

... although its not technically incorrect, as long as you indicate off the roundabout correctly which is the bit that i get annoyed about... as no-one does!

Yeh you need to indicate round if you're going past 12 oclock. But sometimes people will indicate for a lane change while on a roundabout, which can cause a lot of confusion. Though it's definitely the people not indicating at all/in good timing for their exits that gets me the most! Imagine what a pain it is for people who come from a country that doesn't even have these monstrousities, to be faced with a roundabout for the first few times haha...

[Biscuit]

Yeh you need to indicate round if you're going past 12 oclock. But sometimes people will indicate for a lane change while on a roundabout, which can cause a lot of confusion. Though it's definitely the people not indicating at all/in good timing for their exits that gets me the most! Imagine what a pain it is for people who come from a country that doesn't even have these monstrousities, to be faced with a roundabout for the first few times haha...

But still, its not technically incorrect to indicate if you are going straight on, just kind of annoying.

With regards to drivers from other countries, if my experiences of being on the roads (not always driving, but in taxis and busses) in most other countries is anything to go by, they would be surprised we indicate at all.
Shanghai was bloody terrifying.

[abaxas]

There is no universal right and wrong here as roundabouts are not standarised in any way other than the knowledge of the local council's serious drugs habit.

[ZaO]

But still, its not technically incorrect to indicate if you are going straight on, just kind of annoying.

With regards to drivers from other countries, if my experiences of being on the roads (not always driving, but in taxis and busses) in most other countries is anything to go by, they would be surprised we indicate at all.
Shanghai was bloody terrifying.

You know, I was gonna say that my trip to Southeast Asia made me realise just how safe our roads are. It was so ridiculous out there... But, I didn't want to come accross as stereotyping anyone. So, thankyou for making the first move on that one lol..

[Biscuit]

You know, I was gonna say that my trip to Southeast Asia made me realise just how safe our roads are. It was so ridiculous out there... But, I didn't want to come accross as stereotyping anyone. So, thankyou for making the first move on that one lol..

The line between observation and stereotyping is somewhat thinner than I feel it should be... but in my experience
The Italians are noisy and aggressive, but dont take silly risks. Same as the French pretty much.

The Koreans are not much different from us with regards to etiquette... but they dont have round abouts really. Their roads do have a LOT of flashing lights and distracting signs though. In fairness the whole country is just like the gadgets it produces, everything flashes and beeps. (I do love it though)

I went to work at the F1 in Shanghai and the Taxi drivers were taking way more risks than I saw on the track.

The Filipinos laughed at me when I put my seatbelt on, when I suggested that alcohol can be dangerous if you are driving and when I said overtaking a motorcyclist (with 2 passengers and a huge stack of cargo on the back) round a blind corner is a bit risky.

In Finland the quality of driving is on another level

Germans, Belgians and Dutch are not much different from us. The autobahn in Germany is fairly interesting though.

Portugese and Spanish are much more relaxed than us.

But im getting off topic somewhat...

[BobF64]

But still, its not technically incorrect to indicate if you are going straight on, just kind of annoying.

Depends when you indicate, surely.

From what I remember, you should only indicate when theres no confusion about which turning youre making.

Such that on a roundabout you indicate after you pass any other exits, or when driving along a road, you indicate once yours is the next turning, ie you dont indicate left for half a mile down a road as you pass 5 other turnings.

[ZaO]

The line between observation and stereotyping is somewhat thinner than I feel it should be... but in my experience
The Italians are noisy and aggressive, but dont take silly risks. Same as the French pretty much.

The Koreans are not much different from us with regards to etiquette... but they dont have round abouts really. Their roads do have a LOT of flashing lights and distracting signs though. In fairness the whole country is just like the gadgets it produces, everything flashes and beeps. (I do love it though)

I went to work at the F1 in Shanghai and the Taxi drivers were taking way more risks than I saw on the track.

The Filipinos laughed at me when I put my seatbelt on, when I suggested that alcohol can be dangerous if you are driving and when I said overtaking a motorcyclist (with 2 passengers and a huge stack of cargo on the back) round a blind corner is a bit risky.

In Finland the quality of driving is on another level

Germans, Belgians and Dutch are not much different from us. The autobahn in Germany is fairly interesting though.

Portugese and Spanish are much more relaxed than us.

But im getting off topic somewhat...

Haha Driving certainly varies a lot from country to country! But sometimes, it's not necessarily a trait of the people, it's the road design. Like in Hong Kong, there was this crazy section going into a tunnel where you had about 20 lanes merge into about 6, or something like that.. It was a crazy sight! Yet, these people were so used to it, that I didn't actually see anyone's car get busted up. A couple little bumps and scrapes though lol... But it's just insane to design a road like that! People like myself who would just be polite and wait for their turn would be sat their all day with the people behind them getting very mad, and eventually stop being so nice about it and just start to push in a bit. So I can't really blame them sometimes..

[Cornholio]

There's one way to overcome this problem.

Buy something with enough power .

[Ttaskmaster]

Buy something with enough power .

How much is enough, though?
I can do 0-60 in 2.8 seconds... Is that enough?

From what I remember, you should only indicate when theres no confusion about which turning youre making.

If there's no confusion, why would you need to indicate?
As is, people don't know how (or don't bother) to use their indicators, which is what causes a lot of the confusion.

If you are going straight ahead on a roundabout, why would you indicate right?
If you are changing lanes, why would you not indicate?

Or to put it another way - Why should I give my life to save you the inconvenience of flipping a switch?

[kalniel]

If there's no confusion, why would you need to indicate?

He means where indicating would create confusion. For example indicating left before you had passed the previous exit.

[Butcher]

... although its not technically incorrect, as long as you indicate off the roundabout correctly which is the bit that i get annoyed about... as no-one does!

Well the highway code does say: "When taking any intermediate exit, unless signs or markings indicate otherwise ... you should not normally need to signal on approach."
So signalling for a straight over is incorrect on that basis.

[PowStu]

I use a roundabout daily, single carriageway, 2 lanes to enter with 2 exits. You would think that this would be straightforward. LH lane for the left exit, RH lane for the right exit. I always turn right so am in the right lane but I always need to check over my left shoulder for the people who want to go right but are in the left lane and are following in my blindspot then blocking my exit making me fell in the wrong lane

[ZaO]

I use a roundabout daily, single carriageway, 2 lanes to enter with 2 exits. You would think that this would be straightforward. LH lane for the left exit, RH lane for the right exit. I always turn right so am in the right lane but I always need to check over my left shoulder for the people who want to go right but are in the left lane and are following in my blindspot then blocking my exit making me fell in the wrong lane

This is the thing - sometimes people are making genuine mistakes because they're not sure what's right/unfamiliar with the road. But sometimes they're just doing cheap tactics to try and get ahead. There's a roundabout in a town not far from me. It's quite a busy one at times. One exit has two lanes which murge into one. The right is an overflow lane, which is supposed to be used by those who are sat on the roundabout and blocking other exits, so that they don't have to continue blocking those exits when the traffic has temporarily stopped. But, sure enough, some people just go straight onto that overflow lane by default when it's not at all necessary, and charge up it so that they can push in and get a few cars ahead. Sometimes when they do it, you'll just get a bunch of cars drive close together so that they can't get in, then their plan backfires. It feels like sweet, sweet justice when that happens haha

[PowStu]

You have to take your victories wherever you can these days