Highway code - going straight ahead at a roundabout

On my way home from work I have to go straight ahead at a particular roundabout. The road I'm on has only one lane each way. The roundabout itself has two lanes on it.

How I do it: I enter the roundabout when safe to do so, and stay in the left lane on the roundabout, signalling my intention to exit as soon as I pass the exit to the left.

How some (about half of) drivers do it: join the roundabout and immediately head to the right (innermost) lane, before crossing back to the left (outermost) lane as soon as they've passed the exit to the left.

I've been driving for quite a lot of years and obviously I think I'm doing it right, but I'm always keen to keep up to date with the rules, and I acknowledge the possibility I might be wrong.

So I looked it up in the highway code. It seems I'm right, IF the road approaching the roundabout has two lanes going that way. It doesn't seem clear for the scenario I've just described where it's one lane on approach and two on the roundabout. It tells you how to turn left, turn right, or go straight ahead on a road with two lanes on approach.

Does anyone know, and can point to actual official guidance on this scenario, or is it an official free for all?

 

As with all these things there might be a proper way of doing it but they a lways turn into a free for all when its busy.
You need eyes in the back of your head because someone will always want to be in front of you.

 

I'm not too worried about people getting in front of me. I'm more concerned about someone driving into the side of me. So I take the outermost/ left lane, and the guy behind me thinks I must be turning left and couldn't be bothered to indicate, so they pull across to the innermost lane and start to pass, and cut back across. Or I take the innermost lane and the guy behind thinks I must be turning right, and passes on the left just as I'm cutting back across.

No collision has happened as yet (to me at least) but it's something I think about, and I want to be sure that if the day does come when I have to make a statement to my insurance company, I'm not deemed to be at fault.

I should add that while it's something I've pondered for a long time, I'm only extra interested today because the car in front was a driving school car, and I think they did it wrong. My first thought was a driving instructor should know best, then I remembered that throughout life I've dealt with teachers, coaches, instructors of all kinds over all sorts of fields of expertise, and they're not always right.

 

I think the basis of it is, you dont overtake on a roundabout.
I think when I took my test in 1973 it was ok to be in either lane if you were taking the second exit.

 

It confused the hell out of me, all this left and right lane stuff, then I remembered that you go the wrong way round roundabouts over there Fortunately, I won't be driving in UK in the foreseeable future

 

That is how I do it and how any good driver does it. The Highway Code states:
167. DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users.
A roundabout is just that. I even keep to the left-hand side when there are no lane markings on a roundabout unless going past the 12 o'clock exit where I stay to the left.
I sat my test in 1967 and then again for the buses in 2005. On turning 70 I sat the IAM Road Smart Mature Driver's assessment and was graded Excellent. I take great pride in my driving.
What I would recommend to any driver today is to fit a dashcam (I have one front and rear). Some insurance companies give a discount if your vehicle is so fitted but even if they don't footage of any incident carries a lot of weight with both the police and insurers.

 

I've always thought the left hand lane is used for turning left or going straight on at a roundabout, unless of course road markings state otherwise. If there's a third exit or more, or the need to go all the way round then the right hand lane should be used.

 

I tend to think that the size of the round about has some bearing, as has been said, large roundabouts usually have lane markings before the roundabout .
If it's a single lane on approach I'm guessing it's a small one.

 

I think years ago our cars were like tanks and could stand a knock or two.
We had proper bumpers, these days a slight shunt and it's a write-off.

 

They have a habit of putting roundabouts at the ends of all the new housing developments that they are chucking up around here, where they join the main roads.

They seem to like these off centre type things that if you going in one direction you can pretty much just go straight on but if you are coming from the other direction you have to go right round it.
Result is the traffic moving in the straight on direction hardly lowers their speed.

 

Modern drivers are now in such a rush. I don't mean speed, just life in general. What doesn't help is the lack of enforcement of traffic law (well, the law in general). The police cannot cope with crime never mind reprimanding bad drivers.

This is the roundabout I have to negotiate most times I go out. It is great if you stick to your lane but a nightmare due to the drivers who don't (probably because they don't know what one to be in). It has traffic lights all around it and that is great, except for the selfish drivers who continue to enter on the amber and then block the traffic trying to join on the green.
Don't know how they managed to get that image. It is choked 24/7.



There are plans to replace it with an overbridge for the city bypass and small roundabouts on either side for local traffic.