[littlesten]

Hi i have a question that ive been wanting answered for a little while i have 2 pictures for you below.

I use both these roundabouts on a daily basis. Both of which are sign posted as right hand turns and are dual lanes joining and exiting (i have put arrows on where i come in and where i come off).

I am correct that i still use the right hand lane for both these roundabouts and come off in either the left or right lane depending on circumstances and shouldn't be using the left hand lane to join the roundabout like a lot of people do?

http://postimg.org/image/3nu9g6ax1/

http://postimg.org/image/qdte95u4l/

Thanks

[alan1302]

I'd use the left hand lane for both of these.

[Snowball]

I generally agree with Alan1302, definitely for the second picture. For the first picture, I would enter the RBT from Burdon Rd using the left hand lane, and stay in that lane with my R/H indicator on until I had passed the second exit, then indicate left to exit onto Doxford Park Way.

[littlesten]

Thanks for both replys i also asked on another forum which questions are answered by official ADI's and they way that the law states to do it is the way i do it, for anyone else who may of wanted to know. Any right hand turn is the right lane unless stated on road/sign markings.

[Santa]

The letter of the rules is one thing; local custom and practice is frequently different. Even when you follow the rules exactly and someone collides with you, the insurance company will decide 50/50 like as not.

You have to develop an awareness of what the other cars around you are doing and act accordingly. It's no good to be standing beside your wrecked car, saying "I had right of way". Far better to give way and avoid the collision.

I know that it's easy to preach, and I am far from perfect; but advanced drivers are taught to always allow themselves an escape route.

[littlesten]

Thanks for your post santa i was just finding out what the actual law was on these types of roundabouts.

It would be very hard to have an accident on these roundabouts if using your mirrors and blind spots which everyone should be due to common sense then if someone is beside you, you use the right hand lane to come off (Escape Route). I've never had any problems on these roundabouts when using the correct method.

I asked a few people about this and a few of them actually believed it to be the law to use the left hand lane for right turning on roundabouts. Quite scary if you ask me, hence why I put my last post on the thread for people who may think its not the law. :-)

[Snowball]

On the first RBT - entering from Burdon Rd, and taking 3rd exit onto Doxford Park Way - I would favour the inside lane because exits one and two appear to be too close for anyone to be cutting across from the outside lane to take either of these two exits.
Any vehicle entering the RBT from Mill Hill Rd, and behind you, would be taking the left hand lane almost immediately for exits one and two. If they were aiming for exit 3 (your exit, they would be moving across to the left lane somewhere behind you, to follow you into that exit. If you are in the r/h lane of the RBT, at some point you are likely to have vehicles on your left aiming for the same exit 3.
But we all know that many drivers hare around RBTS as fast as they possibly can (Oh, was a shame all RBTS are not compulsorily required to obey a 50kph - 30 mph - maximum as they are in France), and will weave between lanes to do just that. This is where total attentiveness and being prepared to evade the unexpected becomes essential.
Personally, I always circumnavigate RBTS at what I consider to be the appropriate speed, and am always ready to give way to any headstrong driver determined to rush through the RBT.

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by littlesten

Thanks for both replys i also asked on another forum which questions are answered by official ADI's and they way that the law states to do it is the way i do it, for anyone else who may of wanted to know. Any right hand turn is the right lane unless stated on road/sign markings.

That is not the law: there is no relevant law. However, it is what the Highway Code tells us and if you ignore it you're likely to be held at fault if things go wrong.

Having said that, if everyone followed that rule in the second example then the LH lane would be redundant, which makes no sense. But then a roundabout with one exit makes no sense to begin with.

[Snowball]

In the RBT that has only one exit for onward travel (the second exit simply turning you back on yourself) is only of any use if it is to provide a convenient method of making a U-turn. I have occasionally come across a RBT where it appears that it was installed for some future road planning that did not eventually happen; the RBT then becoming nothing more than a fancy bend in the road.
On a route we occasionally travel, there is one such RBT that was once like this. It is just south out of Marlborough, Wiltshire on the A346. Then a spur was laid down, which became Blenheim Rd, and now feeds Marlborough Business Park and a Tesco Store.
So I suppose, if we wait long enough, any one of these senseless RBTS could become similarly active.