Multi-lane roundabouts

[EddyCurrent]

Does anyone else have trouble with these multi-lane roundabout ? I got a phobia before lock down but now it's worse.

So, you're in an unfamiliar area, the traffic is intense and you are approaching a multi-lane roundabout.
You need to go right (3/4 round) but didn't know in advance that there were four lanes.
You get into what seems the best lane but at this stage it's unclear, the traffic is nose to tail and you can't see the information written on the road surface bacause cars in front are obscuring it.
The way is clear and everyone sets off, you get to the required junction but there are cars to the left, you indicate but they won't let you in, you stop but cars behind start blowing their horns, you try to move into the left lane but cars in that lane start blowing their horns, you go ballistic and fall out with the wife, "f_$% off the lot of you" you shout as you take the wrong exit.

Anyone else suffer from this ? and what is the answer ?

 

[MikeK]

Go around and try again. You'll know which lane you have to be in the second (or third) time around. Since you're already in the roundabout, you have the right of way.

 

[Trevanion]

 

[DBT85]

As Mike says just go around again. I'm fine with all driving and there are still times you need to do it as its not always clear what lane you need to be in and there are often people in the way when you realise.

 

[Chris152]

I think it'd depend on the speed of the traffic - if it's all slow and there's no danger of causing an accident, I'd indicate and wait til someone let me cross into the correct lane, ignore the horns knowing you did all you reasonably could. But some of those roundabouts have fairly quick moving traffic and if I got into the wrong (fast moving lane) lane and couldn't get into the correct, slow moving lane I might go round again, as Mike says.
Maybe the bigger issue is getting in a pickle over it - i find it best just to take my time and not worry about making people wait a little while I get it right. And a sat nav telling me which lane to get in when i'm in a strange place helps, too.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Go around again. Or else do what most people seem to do - stay in the left lane regardless which exit you're taking. There was a roundabout in Plymouth many years ago where if you didn't stick in the left lane you could go around a dozen times before you had to take your life in your hands and force your way off it.

 

[Glynne]

M42 Junction 10. Known locally as the Magic Roundabout.
Whichever lane you choose is always the wrong one.

 

[Rorschach]

Go around again. I have had to do it on several occasions and once had to go round 2 times I think as I was only able to move 1 lane each revolution. I normally find on particularly complex roundabouts that people are a bit more forgiving.
I admit it is not a pleasant thing to do and probably the bit I worry about most on a journey to a new area.

If you can before you go, use google maps to work out which lane you need to be in. Has helped me many times when staying at hotels on motorway junctions which are terrible for confusing multi lane systems.

 

[Suffolkboy]

Go around again?

Stopping on a roundabout because you chose the wrong lane to start with is bloody inconsiderate.

 

[NickM]

There are some strange roundabouts out there. There's one off junction 6 of the M3 into Basingstoke which is one of those "hamburger" roundabouts - some lanes go straight through the roundabout and others go around. If you're coming off the M3 and want to turn right onto the A30, you need to be in the left lane :shock:

Overall its introduction has improved the traffic flow there, but I do see the odd prang there and I'm pretty sure people have been driving around Basingstoke for days trying to get onto the A30 :lol:

Generally it's best to treat lane lines like the centre line on a runway. If you straddle them :wink: perfectly you've got two lanes covered and will have doubled your chance of being in the right one.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

It seems to me some roundabouts are designed better than others. I live not far from Milton Keynes, so know what I'm talking about where roundabouts are concerned :lol:

Some have lanes that spiral outwards so if you are in the right lane on approach, everything else just follows - just have faith and stay in lane. Of course there is the problem that the correct lane can be hard to identify when the road markings are beneath cars.

Other roundabouts in MK are much worse - often, but not always, where there are two lanes on approach, to go straight you want the right one, the left lane is left only. The lanes are concentric, not spiralling - if marked at all. So, going straight ahead in the right lane as instructed will often result in a car popping out of the road to the left onto the left lane, making your exit difficult if you noticed them pop out, or messy if you didn't. Terrible planning IMHO. Of course the locals know the roads, and seem terribly impatient with those that don't !

 

[HappyHacker]

It would help if there were signs on the road or roadside giving an indication of which lane you need to be in further away than a few feet before the junction. I have found if you join the longest queue you are usually in the right lane, but there is always some clever local who knows that they can go in the wrong lane to avoid the queue as someone will always let them in.

I would also help if there was some degree of standardisation, a local roundabout uses the left hand lane to turn left or right (no straight on), the right hand lane is for a second right, a little country lane and there are no signs, which are on the road, until you are a few feet away from the roundabout.

 

[whatknot]

If its a route I have not taken before and know in advance I need to go that way I do a virtual trip on google maps, I have found that helps immeasurably as you can see landmarks and study signs to see where you need to be

Works most of the time for me not that I venture out *that* much these days ;-)

But when I do it helps

 

[transatlantic]

People get into the wrong lane all the time. If you don't know the area, it's bound to happen. What's important, is that if you do make a mistake, and you're trying to correct it, you make your intentions clear! ... too many people start drifting to get into the correct lane without indicating. Whenever I am on a roundabout, I just assume the guy infront will pull out at anytime. Makes life more predictable.

As has already been mentioned, go around again if possible. Much less hassle, probably quicker, and you're not annoying people.

While we're on the subject of roundabouts. What's been really annoying me lately is the way people drive directly over them when "turning right". I obviously mean the kind of roundabouts that only exist as road markings. Some times it's so bad that they don't even drive over them, but literally turn directly right.

 

[sammy.se]

I sympathise with the OP. Roads are so badly marked in this country when it comes to being in the correct lane. When I drove in the US, you know well in advance which lane is 'right turn only' or 'straight ahead only' or whatever. The signs are repeated enough for everyone to see.

And you can't always go around again, e.g. when you end up in a right turn only lane, or a slip road on the left.

Better signing is needed.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[Nigel Burden]

If the roundabout is conventional it can help to approach in the right hand lane with a right signal on and go round whilst working out your exit, this is what lorry drivers do. I got into the right hand lane a few years ago in Milton Keynes whilst taking my son to the MK Bowl, I'm not local to the area. The LH lane was choked, and it wasn't until I got to the roundabout that I realised that I needed the LH lane. My wife said to put the indicator on and wait for someone to let me in, which wasn't going to happen. I drove up to the roundabout as if going right but just continued round to my exit.

If the roundabout is a busy multi lane, with vehicles moving at a reasonable pace as I presume is the case with the original post, then sometimes it's safer to follow the lane that you're in and find a way back, it's certainly quicker than having a shunt. If the traffic is basically gridlocked, then sitting with a signal on will often work.

So many roundabouts are poorly signed with directions painted on the road and sign posts covered with foliage that strangers to the area don't have a hope, but then, Highways Authorities like to design in confusion, as in their mistaken minds it slows down traffic , but it also causes drivers to act impulsively, which is of course dangerous.

Don't get me started on hamburger junctions. We have one here in Dorset on the A31 Ferndown/Wimborne bypass. Drivers are always getting in the wrong lane cutting across other drivers, or blatantly going through red lights.

Nigel.

 

[woodhutt]

I remember when they opened this one in Hemel Hempstead back in the 70's. One of those mini-roundabout affairs where you took the shortest route to your exit. I think the first of these was in Colchester but that only had three or four feeder roads.
On the first day it started operating, there was a raised platform in the centre with a young guy (from the Transport Agency?) on top with a clipboard monitoring the antics of the drivers. He was clinging to the platform guardrail and almost wetting himself with laughter. :lol:

Pete

 

[Distinterior]

The one in Colchester has 5 feeder roads and I use it practically every day. Its known as a " Magic Roundabout"...Its basically 5 mini roundabouts surrounding 1 large roundabout. You can go around it in either direction, whichever is the shortest route to the exit you require.
It does work really well,......As long as the deadheads dont block the mini roundabouts, which does tend to happen far too often.

It's still a vast Improvement on what was there before they converted it into what it is today.

 

[Trevanion]

If proof was ever needed that it is actually extraterrestrials that are in charge of the Ministry of Transport, there it is! It's almost identical to a crop circle that I saw the buggers put down in a field with my own two eyes!

Aliens I tell you!

 

[woodhutt]

It's almost identical to a crop circle that I saw the pippers put down in a field with my own two eyes!

Aliens I tell you!

You would have worried me if you'd said you'd seen it with your own six eyes. :lol: