sick of people not knowing how to use roundabouts

stevoman

so i came off the motorway today to a large roundabout that has 2 lanes. a pulled uo to use the right lane i was was taking the 4 exit and a woman pulls up beside me and we both eneter the roundabout. Me in the right lane, her in the left. So we are side by side and we pass the first and second exit. after the third exit i indicate and start to move into the left lane so i can exit on the fourth exit of the roundabout. she hardly lets me in, starts beeping like a lunatic and then i see she's taking down my numberplate to report me to the guards for dangerous driving even though i am in the correct lane and have signalled to move in on good time. i presume i am doind the right thing as the rules of the road say clearly that is the way to do it, yet more crashes have nearly been had on that roundabout as people always stay on left lanes and move the whole way around. or maybe im completly wrong!! have you any experience with two lane roundabouts?

shoelaceface

no you are right. left lane for first and second exit, right lane for remaining exits!

Mitch Connor

You were in the right lane - but you shouldn't have been moving across if there wasn't the room to do so, even if she was acting the muppet for being there in the first place.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Tauren wrote: »

You were in the right lane - but you shouldn't have been moving across if there wasn't the room to do so, even if she was acting the muppet for being there in the first place.

Agreed. Even though she was in the wrong, you shouldnt have tried to push your way in!

jasonb

I've had the opposite, people in the right hand land 'overtaking' me on the roundabout and then going straight.

There is a serious lack of understanding of the rules of the road in this country, the fact that there are ads on TV telling people how to turn right etc. show this.

With a standard roundabout ( 4 exits ), the left lane is for turning left or going straight, the right lane is for turning right or going back the way you came. If there are more exits than 4, the left lane is for the first 2 exits, the right for any after that. Any directions painted on the road take priority over these rules.

What also drives me mad is people not knowing how to indicate on roundabouts, they're going straight, but they indicate right first, and then left, or don't indicate at all...

J.

Biro

It's painful alright. Although most people who don't do it right don't beep either, but there's nothing that pisses me off more than being beeped at for being in the right. Makes me feel like bringing the rules of the road book with me and waving it at them every time. Or better yet, stopping in front of them and getting out and asking if they'd kindly explain to me where they think I went wrong with reference to the rules of the road.

jasonb

Actually, not to hijack the thread, but what's in the rules of the road about beeping the car's horn ( if anything )? Is it only for warning someone etc? Cos anytime I've ever seen it being used was in anger at another driver, and I'm guessing that's not in the rule book!

J.

shoelaceface

Biro wrote: »

It's painful alright. Although most people who don't do it right don't beep either, but there's nothing that pisses me off more than being beeped at for being in the right. Makes me feel like bringing the rules of the road book with me and waving it at them every time. Or better yet, stopping in front of them and getting out and asking if they'd kindly explain to me where they think I went wrong with reference to the rules of the road.

what annoys me MOST is you are entering the roundabout and there is enough time to get onto it before the car comes.... and the oncoming car speeds up and then beeps at you for pulling out in front... and it is clear that they deliberately done it...

or lane hoppers where two lanes go into one and theres a que in one lane and everyone just drives on past and jumps in down the road before their lane ends DELIBERATLY!

I HATE CHEEKY DRIVERS!

Biro

shoelaceface wrote: »

what annoys me MOST is you are entering the roundabout and there is enough time to get onto it before the car comes.... and the oncoming car speeds up and then beeps at you for pulling out in front... and it is clear that they deliberately done it...

or lane hoppers where two lanes go into one and theres a que in one lane and everyone just drives on past and jumps in down the road before their lane ends DELIBERATLY!

I HATE CHEEKY DRIVERS!

If we could apply the GTA method to real world, people would change their habits very promptly!!

jasonb

Have to agree with Shoelaceface, lane hopping, of any kind, is very frustrating. Like the people in the queue are there for the good of their health...

To be honest, half of the time I don't know why I bother sticking to the rules ( speed limits, over taking, roundabouts etc ), as so many other people don't.

J.

nogoodnamesleft

Something similar happened to me in Cork on the Kinsale roundabout a short while ago, woman driving her little darlings and not paying attention to the road both outside lanes are used to go straight through the roundabout to head southbound on the ring road coming from the Jack LynchTunnel. Im heading straight through so using the inside lane out of the two and the people carrier the outside lane. I indicate to exit while keeping lane.next thing BEEP. She stops dead after missing the left hand side of the car by inches (she was using the ouside lane to skip traffic which had queued on the approach to the city).

Look in my rear view mirror as she continues to drive around the round about in the incorrect land and head to town.

shoelaceface

Biro wrote: »

If we could apply the GTA method to real world, people would change their habits very promptly!!

now there is an idea!!! .......

mcwhirter

How many times have we seen similar threads to these, drivers in the republic cannot use roundabouts fullstop, it's like joining a roundabout and going around it forever, these discussions. Without indicating either:pac:

stevoman

stevoman wrote: »

so i came off the motorway today to a large roundabout that has 2 lanes. a pulled uo to use the right lane i was was taking the 4 exit and a woman pulls up beside me and we both eneter the roundabout. Me in the right lane, her in the left. So we are side by side and we pass the first and second exit. after the third exit i indicate and start to move into the left lane so i can exit on the fourth exit of the roundabout. she hardly lets me in, starts beeping like a lunatic and then i see she's taking down my numberplate to report me to the guards for dangerous driving even though i am in the correct lane and have signalled to move in on good time. i presume i am doind the right thing as the rules of the road say clearly that is the way to do it, yet more crashes have nearly been had on that roundabout as people always stay on left lanes and move the whole way around. or maybe im completly wrong!! have you any experience with two lane roundabouts?

Wall. Of. Text.

Learn to use paragraphs man its much easier for those of us that may want to read your rant:)

kayos

shoelaceface wrote: »

no you are right. left lane for first and second exit, right lane for remaining exits!

Wrong

Jesus will people ever get this right. It has nothing to do with the exit being first or second. If the exit is before or at 12 o'clock you should be in the left lane unless road markings/signage says otherwise. If the exit you want to take is after 12 o'clock then you should be in the right lane.

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/junctions-roundabouts/roundabouts.html

If you read the above they never mention exit 1 or 2 they mention turning left, going straight ahead and then any exit later than straight ahead.

This is one of the basics and the way the rules of the road only ever deals with the "ideal" (four exit roundabout with the exits at 12,3,6 and 9) is partly to blame. But any decent driving instructor should have the cop to teach people the way to use a roundabout when its not the ideal that the rules of the road only ever show.

Sorry but being from Galway the city of roundabouts this is a personnal pet peeve.

jaggiebunnet

I was actually going to post about this earlier in the week after spending a week driving around scotland last week i was shocked coming back at the standard of driving on roundabouts...i must have been used to it before i went on hols.

no indicators
no lanes
no respect to oncoming traffic from the right

basically everything that you could do wrong on the roundabout (other than being an old woman going round it the wrong was in another thread ) I have dealt with this week in Cork.

cjt156

Nailed it there, kayos.

Its a left turn, straight ahead or a right turn. No matter what the layout or the number of exits, you need to think of it as one of those 3; indicate and position accordingly.

vibe666

i have a real bugbear about lanes on roundabouts (unnaturally so imho). not just that people don't know the rules of the road, but that people very obviously flaunt them to push past people moving with the flow of traffic and also because there's a lot of roundabouts where it's not at all clear by the road layout what the correct lane should be.

here's a great example. http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.414418,-6.364013&spn=0.001193,0.00339&t=h&z=18

this is the roundabout before the dolly heffernans roundabout (next to the texaco garage).

the SSW entrance/exit is a dual carriageway but every other entrance/exit is a single lane.

additionally, the first 2 exits (after the dual carr.) go directly into business parks and the 3rd is a blocked off immediate dead end. in fact the only exits that go directly onto a public highway are the dual carr one and the dolly heffernans one (NE), the last exit before you're back to a dual carriageway is also a business park.

afaik, the only reason for the roundabout even being there is to service the various business parks, so as it is there and there are exists you should treat it as a standard roundabout, counting all the (valid) exits equally, which means if you're coming from the SSW dual carr. exit going in the direction of dollys you should take the right hand lane, but every time I approach it (every week night on my way home) everyone seems to have a different idea of where to be and have no trouble imposing their will on others by honking horns or driving aggressively to cut people off.

tbh I've given up and just go with the majority most of the time if there's traffic i just judge where i think everyone else is going and act accordingly to 'fit in' as best i can, but it still pi$$es me off!

Slig

cjt156 wrote: »

Nailed it there, kayos.

Its a left turn, straight ahead or a right turn. No matter what the layout or the number of exits, you need to think of it as one of those 3; indicate and position accordingly.

I came to the same conclusion myself after posting on this subject a while back. The main problems with this are:
a) LAs painting arrows on the slip roads to the roundabouts that contradict the ROTR and are completely invisable if there is a car in front of you
b) large roundabouts where you cant see the exit you want to take, if it a general straight ahead it could be before or after 12:00 and unless there is a sign beforehand there is no way of knowing, happens alot in Galway

peanuthead

What you did seems okay, provided you had enough space to do it and were signalling in good time.

My dad went onto the roundabout outside our house the other day to be faced with a foreign guy flooring it around the roundabout IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!!!!

You would have to go completely out of your way to even do this!! haha

Slig

peanuthead wrote: »

What you did seems okay, provided you had enough space to do it and were signalling in good time.

My dad went onto the roundabout outside our house the other day to be faced with a foreign guy flooring it around the roundabout IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!!!!

You would have to go completely out of your way to even do this!! haha

Seen this meself with a foreign flooring company van. they went the wrong way around the roundabout, took the third exit and proceeded to drive on the wrong side of the road until he turned off to the right about half a mile down.

vibe666

i bet he was flooring it too!

AmyG

I find the roundabout at liffey valley in dublin the worst one for people chancing their arms on. yesterday i was comin on teh round about goign right and i was clear so went and some lets say PERSON pulled out in fornt from no where and nearly crashed into me and another woman...

people need to cop po

Heroditas

AmyG wrote: »

I find the roundabout at liffey valley in dublin the worst one for people chancing their arms on. yesterday i was comin on teh round about goign right and i was clear so went and some lets say PERSON pulled out in fornt from no where and nearly crashed into me and another woman...

people need to cop po

Which roundabout? There's quite a few of them. Are you referring to the one that also brings you up to Fonthill? I agree about that one - it's a nightmare but also the lack of road markings doesn't help.

AmyG

Heroditas wrote: »

Which roundabout? There's quite a few of them. Are you referring to the one that also brings you up to Fonthill? I agree about that one - it's a nightmare but also the lack of road markings doesn't help.

yup thats the one!!! its a pain the other one just before that where the test centre is just as bad too.

Jack Bauer999

AmyG wrote: »

I find the roundabout at liffey valley in dublin the worst one for people chancing their arms on. yesterday i was comin on teh round about goign right and i was clear so went and some lets say PERSON pulled out in fornt from no where and nearly crashed into me and another woman...

people need to cop po

in the case of a roundabout with two lanes entering and one lane coming off
who has right of way? entering at 6 o clock and existing at 12 o clock

bear in mind both lanes have arrows pointing to straight on, see attachment

AmyG

Jack Bauer999 wrote: »

in the case of a roundabout with two lanes entering and one lane coming off
who has right of way? entering at 6 o clock and existing at 12 o clock

bear in mind both lanes have arrows pointing to straight on, see attachment

i wasnt going straight i was going off at the third exist...

P.C.

shoelaceface wrote: »

or lane hoppers where two lanes go into one and theres a que in one lane and everyone just drives on past and jumps in down the road before their lane ends DELIBERATLY!

I HATE CHEEKY DRIVERS!

This used to bug the cr*p out of me, until I realized, there are two lanes - use both. If there is a que of cars in one, and they are too lazy to use both, that is their own fault.

Biro

Jack Bauer999 wrote: »

in the case of a roundabout with two lanes entering and one lane coming off
who has right of way? entering at 6 o clock and existing at 12 o clock

bear in mind both lanes have arrows pointing to straight on, see attachment

In my opinion the arrows on the road are wrong there, the ROTR should apply and keep to the left lane for straight ahead, but then you have to forgive people in the right lane cause they're only following the painted arrows.
A similar but worse example is the roundabout by Jury's Inn in Limerick, coming from the opposite side of the bridge. The road breaks into 3 lanes, left is painted for left only, middle is painted for straight only, and right is painted for straight or right, however there's only one lane exiting that roundabout on all exits. Therefore the rightmost lane shouldn't have the straight arrow painted on it. Luckily most people ignore it and use the middle for straight ahead.

Jack Bauer999

AmyG wrote: »

i wasnt going straight i was going off at the third exist...

sorry, it wasnt meant to be your seanario, just wondering about another general roundabout question.

AmyG

Jack Bauer999 wrote: »

sorry, it wasnt meant to be your seanario, just wondering about another general roundabout question.

oh ops sorry thought you were trying to say i was in the wrong...

Jack Bauer999

Biro wrote: »

In my opinion the arrows on the road are wrong there, the ROTR should apply and keep to the left lane for straight ahead, but then you have to forgive people in the right lane cause they're only following the painted arrows.
A similar but worse example is the roundabout by Jury's Inn in Limerick, coming from the opposite side of the bridge. The road breaks into 3 lanes, left is painted for left only, middle is painted for straight only, and right is painted for straight or right, however there's only one lane exiting that roundabout on all exits. Therefore the rightmost lane shouldn't have the straight arrow painted on it. Luckily most people ignore it and use the middle for straight ahead.

yeah the arrows on the road are confusing, you have people in the left lane thinking the people in the right lane are trying to skip ahead when the arrows in the right lane say you can go straight ahead and visa versa.

blackbox

P.C. wrote: »

This used to bug the cr*p out of me, until I realized, there are two lanes - use both. If there is a que of cars in one, and they are too lazy to use both, that is their own fault.

You need an extra wide car to use both. Most of us have to stick to just one:D

Noopti

I have seen 2 accidents on the roundabout after you take the northbound exit for Ballymun off the M50.
Basically, it is a two lane roundabout. And the Ballymun exit from the roundabout is the 3rd exit, with 2 lanes also. I always go up the slip road in the right lane, enter the roundabout and after the 2nd exit enter the left lane to exit into Ballymun. Fair enough.
Twice I have seen someone enter the roundabout in the left lane, continue around the roundabout in the left lane and the get hit by a car that was in the right lane and taking the Ballymun exit. Seeing as the exit road is also two lanes I assume it is fine for people to use both lanes on the roundabout to exit at this point. The problem is the people staying in the left lane all around the roundabout and taking the 4th exit!
On a side note, up until recently roadworks on the exit road of this roundabout limited it to one lane. But that didn't stop fools staying in the right lane and taking the exit, before trying to bully there way into the single lane exit. I would forgive this in cases where they didn't realise there was roadworks limiting the road to one lane, but most of the time it was obvious they knew well and were just trying to jump the queue. That is, they were flying around the roundabout to try and speed ahead of the line of cars and jump ahead.

Roundabouts seem to be a mystery to a lot of people.

Slig

Jack Bauer999 wrote: »

yeah the arrows on the road are confusing, you have people in the left lane thinking the people in the right lane are trying to skip ahead when the arrows in the right lane say you can go straight ahead and visa versa.

There is some thing similar in Carrick, coming in from Dublin the most popular exits are left and straight ahead, right just brings you into a housing estate and is hardly ever used so they decided to paint a couple of arrows on the road.
The left lane is for left turn only and the right lane is for straight ahead and third exit. If you were to come up to the roundabout and wanted to go straight ahead in the correct lane youd get mowed out of it.To add to that there is no signage except an arrow on the road so its usually chaos with people trying to switch lanes at the last minute.

ThOnda

If the drivers could use indicators, at least. And especially tractor drivers.
I hate f#ckin' tractors (=SUVs)!!!!

jimbling

there's a roundabout in Cork that people were so incapable of using correctly that they just painted in an extra lane on the outside :D
Now it's a completely farcical, but people at least aren't beeping each other. It's also handy for traffic skipping because nobody uses the inside lane :pac::pac: