How do you know if a roundabout has two lanes?

Strider590

neilmcl wrote: »

care to explain what an illegal overtake is?

As defined by the myway code....

An illegal overtake is any form of overtaking where the overtakee did not wish to be overtaken by the overtaker.

Overtaking is a bit like freedom of speech, it's perfectly fine as long as you don't cause emotional distress to any snowflakes.

deaston

Strider590 wrote: »

OP I'm sorry, but I think your lying to yourself, there's no excuse for straight lining that roundabout other than laziness or wannabe racing driver syndrome.

I positively hate people straight lining roundabouts without checking their mirrors and I never do it full stop.

Oh dear, I've rattled the forum! How dare I drive like a human being rather than a robot.

I'm not saying I "straight line" the roundabout or drive without due care, but the roundabout is very tight when you have two vehicles trying to manoeuvre side-by-side. Yesterday I was turning right and felt I was very close to the roundabout itself so adjusted my line so as to avoid kerbing my alloys. A car going straight on was literally inches from my car so, as I corrected, I came very close indeed and got beeped.

This simply made me question, if I had hit him, who'd have been in the wrong? I entered the roundabout first (he was behind me on the approach road) so I'd argue he was overtaking on the inside on a roundabout which even doesn't appear to have two clearly defined lanes.

neilmcl

deaston wrote: »

Oh dear, I've rattled the forum! How dare I drive like a human being rather than a robot.

I'm not saying I "straight line" the roundabout or drive without due care, but the roundabout is very tight when you have two vehicles trying to manoeuvre side-by-side. Yesterday I was turning right and felt I was very close to the roundabout itself so adjusted my line so as to avoid kerbing my alloys. A car going straight on was literally inches from my car so, as I corrected, I came very close indeed and got beeped.

This simply made me question, if I had hit him, who'd have been in the wrong? I entered the roundabout first (he was behind me on the approach road) so I'd argue he was overtaking on the inside on a roundabout which even doesn't appear to have two clearly defined lanes.

So you did exactly the thing I suggested you shouldn't - "Similarly if you're taking the third exit (turning right) you should not be driving in a way that causes another driver to change his direction of travel". If you're think your too close the other car then ease off and allow them room rather than adjust your position suddenly.

He was not overtaking on the inside, he was passing you and for the record "overtaking" on the left is not in itself illegal.

Car_54

OP, you asked "... I wonder if actually there's only one lane?" and later "... the roundabout is very tight when you have two vehicles trying to manoeuvre side-by-side."

I think you've answered your own question.

There are many situations where you have to judge whether there is room for two cars to pass. The thing to remember is that, no matter how good you are at judging this, you have no idea about the ablity of the other driver(s), and so you need to err on the side of caution.

Strider590

This roundabout is just about wide enough for two cars at each entrance, but most people have learned to sit between the two lanes to avoid getting cut up by people straight lining the damn thing, it's a bit of a weird one.

deaston

Car_54 wrote: »

OP, you asked "... I wonder if actually there's only one lane?" and later "... the roundabout is very tight when you have two vehicles trying to manoeuvre side-by-side."

I think you've answered your own question.

There are many situations where you have to judge whether there is room for two cars to pass. The thing to remember is that, no matter how good you are at judging this, you have no idea about the ablity of the other driver(s), and so you need to err on the side of caution.

So I have to judge if a car is going to enter the roundabout after me and assume there are two lanes? Impossible. How am I supposed to err on the side of caution? Just never enter the roundabout?

neilmcl wrote: »

So you did exactly the thing I suggested you shouldn't - "Similarly if you're taking the third exit (turning right) you should not be driving in a way that causes another driver to change his direction of travel". If you're think your too close the other car then ease off and allow them room rather than adjust your position suddenly.

You're both so quick to jump on me, you're not actually reading what I've written.

I entered the roundabout FIRST and was turning RIGHT. I noticed I was too close to the roundabout itself and risked hitting it with my offside wheels. As I altered slightly to keep a safe distance from the centre of the roundabout, the car that had entered AFTER ME and had decided to occupy the space to my left, beeped as there were mere inches between us.

Are you suggesting I should have hit the island?

AdrianC

I know that roundabout reasonably well, although I've not used it for a few years. I certainly wouldn't treat it as two lanes...

deaston

AdrianC wrote: »

I know that roundabout reasonably well, although I've not used it for a few years. I certainly wouldn't treat it as two lanes...

So if I had hit the car yesterday, would they have been at fault? Surely I can't drive along a road and then decide to drive up the inside of the car in front of me just because there was "room for two cars"?

AdrianC

deaston wrote: »

So if I had hit the car yesterday, would they have been at fault? Surely I can't drive along a road and then decide to drive up the inside of the car in front of me just because there was "room for two cars"?

Depends entirely, but 50/50 would be entirely likely.

If somebody pulls onto the roundabout next to you, "blithely continuing round next to them" is not your only option, y'know.

neilmcl

deaston wrote: »

So I have to judge if a car is going to enter the roundabout after me and assume there are two lanes? Impossible. How am I supposed to err on the side of caution? Just never enter the roundabout?



You're both so quick to jump on me, you're not actually reading what I've written.

I entered the roundabout FIRST and was turning RIGHT. I noticed I was too close to the roundabout itself and risked hitting it with my offside wheels. As I altered slightly to keep a safe distance from the centre of the roundabout, the car that had entered AFTER ME and had decided to occupy the space to my left, beeped as there were mere inches between us.

Are you suggesting I should have hit the island?

Take the roundabout out of the equation for the moment. If you were on a straight road and were about to turn right and the car behind passed you on the left as he's fully entitled to do then suddenly you decided to deviate your course and take a wider berth hitting the other car who do you think would be at fault? There's very little difference here, you were turning right and the other car judged it was safe to pass you until you changed your path.

As above if you hot the other car I would say you would be at fault but the majority of roundabout impacts usually end in a 50/50.