Roundabout advice

bugslet

Patrick05021989 wrote: »

Thank you Deaston,

Although I've never driven ( or even sat in ) an HGV, I can honestly appreciate that the turning circle can be a massive issue for such a long vehicle.

The fact that he was not indicating is probably worth as much as my opinion, since he will most likely say that he was and there are no witness's to prove otherwise.

What I am trying to understand though is whether they are allowed to use whichever lane/wherever "THEY" feel like?, or is there any particular guidance for doing so?
( Type of road, type of roundabout etc. ).



Many Thanks
Patrick

They are allowed to adopt the lane that will get them round the roundabout, though really should have had his indicators on. I don't know the roundabout well enough to comment on if he could have made a right turn comfortably from the right hand lane approaching the roundabout.

I don't think you could make any law on which roundabouts you could/could not approach from which lane, as they are all so different, it would be impossible.

Take junction 12 westbound on the M56, you drop down to the roundabout and trucks often take the left hand lane to turn right. As they get to the roundabout, the lanes are quite narrow and there's quite a sharp curve just before the give way lines. I know that for a driver that isn't familiar with that junction that the off side rear of the trailer is likely to swing out slightly and I always hang back. It's a bad piece of road design.

As I said before, I really do wish they would stick people in a truck for a couple of hours as part of learning to drive a car - that's a general thing, not a snipe at you OP:).

deaston

Patrick05021989 wrote: »

Thank you Deaston,

Although I've never driven ( or even sat in ) an HGV, I can honestly appreciate that the turning circle can be a massive issue for such a long vehicle.

The fact that he was not indicating is probably worth as much as my opinion, since he will most likely say that he was and there are no witness's to prove otherwise.

What I am trying to understand though is whether they are allowed to use whichever lane/wherever "THEY" feel like?, or is there any particular guidance for doing so?
( Type of road, type of roundabout etc. ).



Many Thanks
Patrick

Yes, I think they can - so long as they indicate their intentions and manoeuvre carefully. The highway code does often mention giving HGVs and buses benefit of the doubt.

deaston

bugslet wrote: »

As I said before, I really do wish they would stick people in a truck for a couple of hours as part of learning to drive a car - that's a general thing, not a snipe at you OP:).

I once saw a documentary about cyclist safety. They manages to place a massive amount of cycles around an HGV that were literally invisible from the cab.

Considering this HGV driver was also on the 'wrong' side of the cab, he would have been able to see next to nothing (unlike the OP in the car).

I think this was entirely avoidable by the OP by being more aware of the HGV and giving it a wide birth, but the HGV should definitely have been indicating.

bugslet

deaston wrote: »

I once saw a documentary about cyclist safety. They manages to place a massive amount of cycles around an HGV that were literally invisible from the cab.

Considering this HGV driver was also on the 'wrong' side of the cab, he would have been able to see next to nothing (unlike the OP in the car).

I think this was entirely avoidable by the OP by being more aware of the HGV and giving it a wide birth, but the HGV should definitely have been indicating.

Transport for London video. I do sort of like that video because it gives people a hint of the difficulties of blind spots, but on the other hand it's incorrect because it works only if you magically put the driver in the cab at that point and none of the cyclists move. In reality, you'd see most of them as they moved about, though whilst you are looking at anyone of your up to 8 mirrors, various camera feeds, it's easy to miss one, hence my advice to never cycle up the inside of a truck near a junction.

And the mirrors of the truck in the video were rubbish if I remember correctly.:D

Retrogamer

deaston wrote: »

I think this was entirely avoidable by the OP by being more aware of the HGV and giving it a wide birth, but the HGV should definitely have been indicating.

The OP seems to have clipped the truck when they cut across it's path to try and take the exit.

With this and the other thread having the same thing happening it makes me wonder if anyone checks their mirrors etc to make sure it's clear to exit the roundabout or do they just assume no one will be there and drive out without checking.

SuzieSue

Retrogamer wrote: »

The OP seems to have clipped the truck when they cut across it's path to try and take the exit.

With this and the other thread having the same thing happening it makes me wonder if anyone checks their mirrors etc to make sure it's clear to exit the roundabout or do they just assume no one will be there and drive out without checking.

Yes. I think the moral of the story is that if you don't want to check your mirrors then you should go round in the left lane if you are going straight ahead unless it is left turn only. You should also not ever turn right at a round about if you don't check your mirrors.

That is why I used to hate roundabouts when I was learning to drive. After 30 years of driving, I have no problem turning right at a roundabout with more than one lane but for the first few months after passing my test I used to be very scared of turning right.

ciderboy2009

Out of interest I know that, in Spain, any driver in the outside lane on a roundabout has priority over any driver in the inside lane & it's perfectly legal to go as far as you want (even if doing a u-turn) in the outside lane.

I wonder if Poland has a similar rule?

Patrick05021989

With this and the other thread having the same thing happening it makes me wonder if anyone checks their mirrors etc to make sure it's clear to exit the roundabout or do they just assume no one will be there and drive out without checking.

When exiting a roundabout at the same exit ( two lanes ) cars happen to be very close together during the duration of the maneuver, since they are entering a two lane road - side by side.
This doesn't allow much time for correction of the maneuver or to avoid a collision.

With the above in mind, I assume that so called "professional" HGV drivers should have the skills and experience that would not allow such collisions to happen.

All that this driver needed to do was to indicate his intention at the entrance to the roundabout, and certainly on the approach to first exit ( which by right HGV or not, he should have taken ). Should he have done that, in my mirror I would have seen a lorry that was telling me where it was going, not where the entrance route dictated his direction.

Retrogamer,
I am not sure if you are speaking from experience as an HGV driver, but you appear to be very defensive on this subject.
I don't see why ANY driver should be held responsible ( fully or partially ) for the negligence of a so called "professional" HGV drivers.

Patrick05021989

Yes. I think the moral of the story is that if you don't want to check your mirrors then you should go round in the left lane if you are going straight ahead unless it is left turn only. You should also not ever turn right at a round about if you don't check your mirrors.

That is why I used to hate roundabouts when I was learning to drive. After 30 years of driving, I have no problem turning right at a roundabout with more than one lane but for the first few months after passing my test I used to be very scared of turning right.

Patronizing. For the past 7 years I have been driving approx. 20-25k miles/year along various roads, and countries. Never had even a minor accident. With that in mind I dont see myself as an inexperience driver.

Out of interest I know that, in Spain, any driver in the outside lane on a roundabout has priority over any driver in the inside lane & it's perfectly legal to go as far as you want (even if doing a u-turn) in the outside lane.

I wonder if Poland has a similar rule?

Interesting and worth knowing, but quite frankly irrelevant since we are in the UK.

PasturesNew

I know many HGV drivers do follow a "different set of rules".... whereby if they're large and turning right many do take the left hand lane .... I'm wary of this, so I'd have either hung back to see where he was going, or booted it to make sure I was well out of the way if he did it.