Roundabout Help?

Dunjohn

Can somebody tell me if I'm doing something wrong here?

The Headford Road roundabout. Coming in off the Quintcentenial Bridge and heading for Tesco, which lane should I be in?

Fuctifino

Middle is your only option here methinks

fernandovargas

id go middle although its everyman for himself on that roundabout, what annoys me is when your on your way back onto the quincintennial from tesco side and cars keep crossing from left lane right out on front of ya into the middle lane, how hard could it be to stay inside the white lines

Xiney

supposed to be right-most lane.

if you enter in the middle the farthest "around" you should go is the exit just before tesco. Tesco is past 12 o'clock.

The Highwayman

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

The link is from the rsa website.

I would be in the right lane I would also have my indicator on (turning right)
keep indicator on till exit before mine, indicate left have a look at blind spot and you should be fine

SeanPuddin

Bloody useless, no wonder there's accidents there everyday.

You are taking the third exit, so it's the right lane. When you pass the second exit, you make for the left most lane for Tesco. If anyone does any different they are in the wrong.

gaeilgegrinds1

Right lane, I go cracked everytime I'm cut off on that roundabout, my OH has had two accidents on that roundabout, both times people ploughing into the side of him. I really think signs should be put up, people have no idea on that one. Admirable of you to care enough to ask OP.

biko

I'm fairly sure the markings from the bridge indicates to take the right lane (also Xiney is right, once you're going more than 12 o'clock you should be in the right lane). Then at the bottom of Sean Mulvoy Rd start indicating and making your way to the leftmost lane.
That RB is a mess though.

SeanPuddin

It's got to the point that everytime I'm traversing that route, I watch for the clown trying to cut me off. I now stop and wait for them to take the correct exit. Why the Guards don't sit there on a afternoon commute is beyond me. Surely one hour would teach most of Galway how to use this "magic" roundabout.

Xiney

It's actually a perfectly reasonable roundabout and is very easy to use once you get a couple of braincells together (or ask someone as the OP has done, fair play) and I say that as a foreigner who didn't even know roundabouts existed until a couple years back.

Wompa1

I'd go in the middle lane, if in doubt use the right lane and go in the other entrance for Tesco if traffic isn't bad. There's numptys on all the rounabouts. I haven't had any problems on the Magic Roundabout...yet, If your in the right lane wouldn't you have to switch two lanes to get over.

It was in my rules of the road book about roundabouts but it only had 2 lanes on it!!...left lane was to go straight or left and right to go right.

SeanPuddin

Wompa1 wrote: »

I'd go in the middle lane, if in doubt use the right lane and go in the other entrance for Tesco if traffic isn't bad. There's numptys on all the rounabouts. I haven't had any problems on the Magic Roundabout...yet, If your in the right lane wouldn't you have to switch two lanes to get over.

It was in my rules of the road book about roundabouts but it only had 2 lanes on it!!...left lane was to go straight or left and right to go right.

Only traffic in the right lane from the Qbridge is allowed into those three lanes. Good idea with heading for the other entrance, but all those lanes are only for you in the right lane.

sealgaire

I would go for the right most lane to save you cutting lanes before the SC exit

PopeBuckfastXVI

Grrr... The middle lane off the quincentennial is for the left hand lane on the sean mulvey road, if you try to proceed from that lane right around to tesco you will cut someone off who was in the right hand lane and taking the right hand lane up sean mulvey, causing an accident.

Stick in the right hand lane, and as you come to Sean mulvey instead of taking the right hand lane up Sean Mulvey you instead continue into the left most lane of the roundabout, and into tesco.

Xiney

The key is also in the roadmarkings upon your approach:

left lane = left turn arrow
middle lane = left turn arrow + straight on arrow
right lane = straight on arrow + right turn arrow

You're going more right than straight so you should take the lane for turning right.

Wompa1

I'll give it a go anymore but something tells me I'll be experiencing getting cut off like all you alot more. I'd rather be pissing people off rather then getting pissed off myself.

Xiney

Thing is, if you're "pissing people off" then any accident that occurs is your fault.

Better to be in the right (but drive defensively)

sealgaire

Sure isn't that the problem with Irish drivers . . . .:rolleyes:

KevR

Hope this helps:

PopeBuckfastXVI

KevR wrote: »

Hope this helps:

400 billion internets to you good sir.

Dunjohn

Okay, it seems I've been doing it right then. I asked because I need to cut across so many lanes to reach Tesco, which makes me nervous, and yesterday I got beeped out of it by someone coming off Sean Mulvoy Road despite having my indicator lit well in advance.

Thanks all!

hynesie

KevR wrote: »

Hope this helps:

What's wrong with doing this (purple line)?


That would be the same as coming from the middle lane from the Dunnes Stores side.
Not crossing across any lanes and if you look at the lane markings it seems to indicate that it is fine.

Xiney

nothing strictly wrong with the purple, but probably better practise to follow the blue.

onemorechance

KevR wrote: »

Hope this helps:

Should get the council to issue this pic with all tax discs!

Fozzie Bear

Xiney wrote: »

The key is also in the roadmarkings upon your approach:

left lane = left turn arrow
middle lane = left turn arrow + straight on arrow
right lane = straight on arrow + right turn arrow

You're going more right than straight so you should take the lane for turning right.

Oh God help me could the above be printed and stuck to the windscreens of the idiots in this city? Look at it! Its SO BLOODY SIMPLE you a$$clowns!

The amount of people who cut me up trying to take the 3rd/4th exit off a roundabout while using the outside lane is just mind boggling. And yes I know its not PC to say it but they are nearly always middle aged/older women.

I actually met a lady going around the roundabout at the Galway clinic in the wrong direction about 3 months ago. Yes, the wrong direction! People like this should have their license taken off them and be forced to take a set amount of lesson and re sit their driving tests before being allowed back on the roads.

kippy

Excellent way of explaining it KevR
That should be stuck up on a sign post from the bridge side and similiar signposts on all approaches.
Eventually people would learn.

Wompa1

Xiney wrote: »

Thing is, if you're "pissing people off" then any accident that occurs is your fault.

Better to be in the right (but drive defensively)

Yeah, key is drive defensively!

KevR

hynesie wrote: »

What's wrong with doing this (purple line)?


That would be the same as coming from the middle lane from the Dunnes Stores side.
Not crossing across any lanes and if you look at the lane markings it seems to indicate that it is fine.

You are correct, there is nothing wrong with that. And instead of turning into Tesco as indicated on my diagram, you could continue around the roundabout in that lane to the Headford Rd Inbound exit and exit the roundabout in the left lane.

I didn't want to make the diagram cluttered by including every possible scenario..

hynesie

Xiney wrote: »

nothing strictly wrong with the purple, but probably better practise to follow the blue.

The problem I find with following the blue is that people coming from the cathedral direction block the lane quite frequently if the traffic lights at the bottom of the picture are red. This is less of an issue with the purple route.

Head The Wall

People need to stop using the old "left lane for first and second exit" strategy. This is all well and good while we have standard roundabouts that exit every 90° but thats not the case anymore.

There's signs approaching every roundabout which shows you the angles of the exits and there's arrows on the lanes telling you which one to be in and you have to figure it out from there.

Sconsey

Dunjohn wrote: »

Okay, it seems I've been doing it right then. I asked because I need to cut across so many lanes to reach Tesco, which makes me nervous, and yesterday I got beeped out of it by someone coming off Sean Mulvoy Road despite having my indicator lit well in advance.

Thanks all!

I know what you mean, but if you do it right you won't really be crossing lanes at all, if you look at the diagram you are effectively heading for the second exit, and you don't turn onto your lane until it is on your right...don't start turning right, sticking to the inside of the roundabout, and then turning left just before your exit, then you would be crossing three lanes!

How anyone not familiar with this junction is supposed to correctly navigate it is beyond me though!

mink_man

where's this roundabout? its not the headford road one, the one that you can go into supermacs and the shopping centre no?

kippy

mink_man wrote: »

where's this roundabout? its not the headford road one, the one that you can go into supermacs and the shopping centre no?

Thats the one........

galah

what I don't get is - they've (for most roundabouts) painted arrows on the approach roads, clear, big fat white arrows to tell you which lane to take - yet people are STILL not capable of getting it.

(for example the roundabout at Fort Lorenzo, coming from Taylor's Hill/Salthill, you have to be in the RIGHT hand lane to go straight through down to Westside - the arrows say so. Yet people constantly get it wrong, and still think they're correct while circling the roundabout in the left-hand lane... Feckwits. what gets me even more is that these people don't even acknowledge that they mave have done something wrong...)

Fey!

KevR; great diagram. If only city hall would put it on a bis sign (which they won't do as it would be a form of admitting liability for them if there was an accident).

As for what I quote below

OSI wrote: »

I would aim to at least be in the middle lane...

Fuctifino wrote: »

Middle is your only option here methinks...

fernandovargas wrote: »

id go middle although its everyman for himself on that roundabout...

have any of you looked at the markings/arrows/white lines on the road and on the roundabout? If you take the middle lane for Tesco, then you're crossing lanes in the middle of a roundabout, which is a no-no!

The same goes for people who swap lanes exiting a roundabout (enter in the right lane but exiting in the left), cutting off traffic already in that lane and doing it properly!

Xiney

Fey! wrote: »

The same goes for people who swap lanes exiting a roundabout (enter in the right lane but exiting in the left), cutting off traffic already in that lane and doing it properly!

As long as you're not cutting someone off, it's actually fine to do this. Sometimes there are two lanes entering and one lane exiting so you have to, for example.

brianthebard

Fey! wrote: »

have any of you looked at the markings/arrows/white lines on the road and on the roundabout? If you take the middle lane for Tesco, then you're crossing lanes in the middle of a roundabout, which is a no-no!

The same goes for people who swap lanes exiting a roundabout (enter in the right lane but exiting in the left), cutting off traffic already in that lane and doing it properly!

The problem for a lot of drivers (apart from laziness and stupidity) is the way that roundabout splits into different lanes at different intervals, I've never seen another one like it. The middle lane would be a safe bet for any other roundabout to hit Tesco but not here. I suppose its because there are only three lanes but four exits, people get confused or surprised (although if you've been driving in Galway for a while it shouldn't be too difficult).

Dunjohn

Sconsey wrote: »

I know what you mean, but if you do it right you won't really be crossing lanes at all, if you look at the diagram you are effectively heading for the second exit, and you don't turn onto your lane until it is on your right...don't start turning right, sticking to the inside of the roundabout, and then turning left just before your exit, then you would be crossing three lanes!

How anyone not familiar with this junction is supposed to correctly navigate it is beyond me though!

Yeah, I may have been leaving it a little too late. I didn't want people on Sean Mulvoy to think that I was going out that road or they'd start pulling out in front of me.

PopeBuckfastXVI

Dunjohn wrote: »

Yeah, I may have been leaving it a little too late. I didn't want people on Sean Mulvoy to think that I was going out that road or they'd start pulling out in front of me.

They can't, there's a traffic light, and you should also be indicating right until you are halfway across Sean Mulvey road.

Fuinseog

Dunjohn wrote: »

Can somebody tell me if I'm doing something wrong here?

The Headford Road roundabout. Coming in off the Quintcentenial Bridge and heading for Tesco, which lane should I be in?

not only are you unsure, but so are quite a lot of other people using it. i grimace when I see people driving around it at speed in teh wrong lane.
that and the one beside dunnes are probably the two most dangerous roundabouts in the city.


BTW are cyclists allowed to use roundabouts? I used to cycle around them but at these two roundabouts I am shortening mylife considerably

Fuinseog

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

They can't, there's a traffic light, and you should also be indicating right until you are halfway across Sean Mulvey road.

those lights can be confusing.

Xiney

Fuinseog wrote: »

BTW are cyclists allowed to use roundabouts? I used to cycle around them but at these two roundabouts I am shortening mylife considerably

Yes. As a cyclist you are a vehicle - you use the same roads as cars apart from motorways.

mims_lally

Stick to the most right (3rd) lane coming off the bridge, and also onto the lights and once pass the lights heading towards tesco, then head into the left lane to go into the shopping centre

Fuinseog

Xiney wrote: »

Yes. As a cyclist you are a vehicle - you use the same roads as cars apart from motorways.

maybe but in Galway a cyclist is regarded as a nuisance, even when trying to obey the rules and is likely to be met with honking horns as cars fly around it. no matter how I cycle around I will end up going in front of fast moving cars. i just don't think cyclsits have been safely factored into roundabouts.

galah

or anywhere else, unfortunately...I still don't get why there are only so few cycle paths (and then the bloody cyclists who don't use those - like the one on Headford road - every morning, I see some cyclists on the road - with a perfectly good cycle path next to them, unused. One way of getting yourself killed for sure...)

And another prime road for a cycle path would be the coast road to Spideal. It's so dangerous (and annoying if you're stuck behind cyclists...).

Fuinseog

galah wrote: »

or anywhere else, unfortunately...I still don't get why there are only so few cycle paths (and then the bloody cyclists who don't use those - like the one on Headford road - every morning, I see some cyclists on the road - with a perfectly good cycle path next to them, unused. One way of getting yourself killed for sure...)

And another prime road for a cycle path would be the coast road to Spideal. It's so dangerous (and annoying if you're stuck behind cyclists...).

i would not call the cycle path there perfectly good. it was designed by someone who obviously never cycled. you wreck your wheel trying to get up onto it . you have to dismount every few metres which slows things up and it ends abruptly sweeping you in front of the traffic.in other words its quicker to be on the road. going over the new ridge is it easier.

i used to freak out when cars would be stuck in traffic and i should have been able o cycle through but for teh cars stopped right in at the kerb, forcing me to weave through the traffic. a lot of people do this because they do not expect cyclists to be coming through.

tolerance twoards cyclists in galway and to a certain extent L plate drivers (but at least they can afford a car and are semi worthy of using the road) is extremely low.

demonwhisperer

Wouldn't it be best to get rid of that Tesco exit altogether and signal the Curry's/Town one. Tesco/Headford Rd Shopping Center would have to improve their other entrance of course but it's the easiest way to make the roundabout more navigable.

I don't think roundabouts work well will more than 4 exits, especially one this small and busy. I mean, coming from the bridge to Tesco involves getting in lane in a space of 3 meters. It's not as simple as the nice diagram during busy hours.

How could you expect tourists to get along on it?

galah

Fuinseog wrote: »

i would not call the cycle path there perfectly good. it was designed by someone who obviously never cycled. you wreck your wheel trying to get up onto it . you have to dismount every few metres which slows things up and it ends abruptly sweeping you in front of the traffic.in other words its quicker to be on the road. going over the new ridge is it easier.

hm, sorry, I may have to be more specific - I meant the 'dual carriageway' stretch of the headford road (if that's what it's called at all) - the bit between the Terryland roundabout and the Tuam road roundabout. I can see why the bit between Tesco and Teryland would be a pain alright (I assume that's the bit your' talking about, right)...

I've heard of so many people being knocked off bikes here, it's put me off cycling for life....People just never check their mirrors, and the roads are too narrow...

Anyhoo, back to roundabouts....

brianthebard

galah wrote: »

or anywhere else, unfortunately...I still don't get why there are only so few cycle paths (and then the bloody cyclists who don't use those - like the one on Headford road - every morning, I see some cyclists on the road - with a perfectly good cycle path next to them, unused. One way of getting yourself killed for sure...)

And another prime road for a cycle path would be the coast road to Spideal. It's so dangerous (and annoying if you're stuck behind cyclists...).

Firstly cyclists are perfectly entitled to use the road. Secondly, the cycle paths that are provided are pathetically planned, have terrible surfaces, and always finish in a compromising position. Better and safer to just stick to the road, especially in the case of a dual carriageway where cars can pass you safely. If you don't believe me, cycle around town for a month.

galah

no, I believe you. it just seems mental that you'd have to use the road if there is a cycle path there (obviously, all I see from the car is a separate strech of cycle path, and then a cyclist in my car lane - which is irritating, as I always thought that you'd have to use a path if there is one provided).

But I understand that decision if the paths are that bad.

Fuinseog

some motorists believe cyclsits should not be on the dual carrageway. if they were practical and easy to use instead of being slow, awkward and potentially dangerous.

there are some workable cycle paths. south park and part of knocknacarra. a lot of people walk on them, which can be frustrating. zou wouldn't get awaz with that on the continent. the cyclists would run you over.


I am surprsied O Brolochain did nothing for cyclists during his term of office. I wonder would the Crowes be interested?