Fault at roundabout

luaive

Nearly drove into a car today and I'd just like clarity of whether I was in the wrong lane, so I can amend my driving if so!! Car in left lane, I'm in the right (from our position there is an exit to the left of the other car they can turn as soon as they enter the roundabout (single lane) an exit at about 1o clock (single lane) and another exit at 4 o'clock (2 lanes) as if you had forgotten something and was returning to the start, but heading away from the roundabout so 3 exits in total. I always take the right hand lane, no markings, and then take the 1'oclock exit. Today its clear to my right, I'm first in the queue, I go to pull forward and suddenly theres a car on my left taking the inside of the roundabout. Had to slam on brakes as its not a large roundabout and they had pretty much cut into my lane, they exited at the 1 o'clock the same as I was. If I had hit them it would have been probably near the back door/wheel arch area. Have I been using the wrong lane?? 🤔 

[Deleted User]

Post the location via google maps so people can advise and get a dash cam

user1977

I would probably treat a second exit at one o'clock as "straight on", so either lane is legitimate. But sounds like the other driver was undertaking?

Flight3287462

I think you were correct since apart from return to start there are only two exits and the 1 o'clock is single lane so they guy on the left was just being a prat. BUT you need to keep your wits about as he will not be the the only one.

Car_54

luaive said:

Had to slam on brakes as its not a large roundabout and they had pretty much cut into my lane,

It doesn't matter which lane you were in, if he cut into it he is at fault. But what does "pretty much" mean?

Jaybee_16

If there are three exits and the one you are referring to is exit two, then either lane on approach is correct. 

Car_54

Jaybee_16 said:

If there are three exits and the one you are referring to is exit two, then either lane on approach is correct. 

No. The HC says
"When taking an exit to the right or going full circle, unless signs or markings indicate otherwise ... signal right and approach in the right-hand lane"

user1977

[Deleted User] said:

Jaybee_16 said:

If there are three exits and the one you are referring to is exit two, then either lane on approach is correct. 

No. The HC says
"When taking an exit to the right or going full circle, unless signs or markings indicate otherwise ... signal right and approach in the right-hand lane"

The HC isn't too prescriptive about where "right" starts - it does talk about "any intermediate exit", and in this sort of situation where the second exit is (roughly) straight on I think either lane is fine.

daveyjp

[Deleted User] said:

Jaybee_16 said:

If there are three exits and the one you are referring to is exit two, then either lane on approach is correct. 

No. The HC says
"When taking an exit to the right or going full circle, unless signs or markings indicate otherwise ... signal right and approach in the right-hand lane"

It does, but you also need to consider signage and road markings which may advise otherwise.

Near me I have a three lane approach roundabout.  Left lane for left and straight, middle for straight and right, right for right.  A number of motorway exits and interchanges also mark the road as left hand lane for turning right.

facade

The Highway Code is fine, but a significant minority of drivers have forgotten it/haven't read it since 1995/ignore it anyway.

Roundabouts are such a common place to crash that most insurers go 50/50 liability without bothering to find out what actually happened*.

As Car_54 says, in the absence of road markings/signs the general rule is "for an exit to the right of 12 o'clock use the right hand lane".  However, this means you will have to cut across the left lane to exit, or have to change into the left lane before the exit. Both of these potentially put you in conflict with drivers going (from their perspective) straight on using the left lane.

So it is a survival skill to keep a close watch on traffic you can potentially collide with and expect them to either cut across your path, or simply try to shove you sideways off the road.

(The "dashcam" approach, as seen on youtube, is to accelerate into the conflict, whilst blowing the horn and shouting "where the flip are you going" when it has been pretty obvious for a while)

So the short answer to the question is you weren't doing anything wrong, but you need to keep your wits about you on a roundabout.

Round here we have a few roundabouts with lovely tramlines to follow guiding you round perfectly, which is great if you are the only car on the road and can see the lettering, less good when the road is busy and you can't.

*happened to me once, I was going straight on and T-boned the car that pulled out literally under my wheels from the exit at the left. It went 50/50.  With the wisdom of many more years it was obviously 50% my fault, as I should have anticipated that the driver would stop, make eye contact, and then attempt to scoot across right in front of me even though the road was clear behind me- nowadays I expect this and slow down if the driver fits a certain stereotype that I won't share, but I've seen it enough times now

The_Unready

There's a similar roundabout near me that always causes me consternation:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2091535,-2.3150437,3a,75y,180h,90.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbfCcxP6OFI8FR3ZMlGUQtA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Note the green road sign on the approach, which shows exits at 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock. There is also an exit at 3 o'clock.

There are two lanes going into the roundabout but only one lane at both of the exits.

The 11 o'clock exit is straightforward - left hand lane. But the 1 o'clock exit is used by cars from both the LH and RH approach lanes, making it a bit of a free for all. As a previous poster said, you really need to have your wits about you!