Which lane should you be in, M4 Kilcock exit

twin_beacon

This has been bugging me for a while.
To explain the map, you are traveling west bound on the M4, and getting off at exit 8, Kilcock. You are traveling up the the exit ramp, in the direction of the arrow.
Exit A: Clane
Exit B: Return to the M4 West bound
Exit C: Enfield
Exit Kilcock
Exit E: M4 East bound.

You want to get off at the exit for Enfield (exit C). Looking at the sign on the exit ramp (the green X in the map), Exit B does not have a destination assigned to it, i.e. Sligo/Westport/Galway. It also doesn't have an "arrow". The probably logic being, that if a driver left the M4 west bound, they are not going to get back onto the same road (thats probably true 99.9% of the time).
As a result, in this scenario, does Exit C for Enfield become the second exit, meaning you should be in the left (outside) lane? Without seeing the sign, I would assume that the Enfield turnoff would be the third exit, and you should be in the right (inside) lane when entering the roundabout.

I drive this road most evenings, and there is probably a 50/50 split of people that are in the left or right lane for the Enfield (Exit C) exit, the result is a lot of people merging into the outside lane between Exit B and Exit C, I've seen a few close calls of people forcing their way in, and people not letting people in.

Map:


Sign:

chocksaway

I would be in the right hand lane

mirrorwall14

I find most Enfield are either in the left lane or switch to the left lane on the bridge before the junction

chocksaway

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I find most Enfield are either in the left lane or switch to the left lane on the bridge before the junction

yeah that makes the most sense. plenty of time and space after Exit B to get into the left lane

nailer54321

If you want to get off at exit C you should be in the right hand lane, so many people do not know the rules of the road when they are entering a round about.

K.Flyer

I would approach this as you would any other roundabout.
Left lane for going left or straight on, right lane with right indicator on for exits after straight on.
Indicate left and move into left lane for Enfield after the straight on turn, Indicate left and move into left lane after Enfield turn for Kilcock.

shietpilot

I've driven on that bridge/roundabout hybrid thing and I would take the right lane and switch to the left lane after passing exit B.

twin_beacon

K.Flyer wrote: »

I would approach this as you would any other roundabout.
Left lane for going left or straight on, right lane with right indicator on for exits after straight on.
Indicate left and move into left lane for Enfield after the straight on turn, Indicate left and move into left lane after Enfield turn for Kilcock.

Thats exactly what I thought, until I seen the sign where the exit back onto the M4 was not marked on it got me questioning it

Senecio

You need to stop thinking about exit 1, 2 etc... They irrelevant. Anything up to 12 o'clock or straight on should use the left lane. any exit after that should use the right lane.

Simple

grogi

twin_beacon wrote: »

I drive this road most evenings, and there is probably a 50/50 split of people that are in the left or right lane for the Enfield (Exit C) exit, the result is a lot of people merging into the outside lane between Exit B and Exit C, I've seen a few close calls of people forcing their way in, and people not letting people in.

No hard rules, but I would get in right lane and switch to left lane on the bridge after passing exit B.

Conor03

I use this every day and always use the left lane. it is impossible to get into the left lane if starting position is the right lane

twin_beacon

Conor03 wrote: »

I use this every day and always use the left lane. it is impossible to get into the left lane if starting position is the right lane

Yep, I know exactly what you are talking about. Ive seen a lot of very close calls there. Lots of people in the left lane speed up as soon as they see an indicator from the car on the inside lane. I must keep the next few incidents I get on the dash cam actually.

neil_hosey

twin_beacon wrote: »

Yep, I know exactly what you are talking about. Ive seen a lot of very close calls there. Lots of people in the left lane speed up as soon as they see an indicator from the car on the inside lane. I must keep the next few incidents I get on the dash cam actually.

people are assholes, it happens to me regularly here..

im in the correct lane, and indicate, move in, then there is a car speeding right up behind me beeping/flashing

there should be signs all along the M4 warning people to stop acting like assholes.

Staph

Conor03 wrote: »

I use this every day and always use the left lane. it is impossible to get into the left lane if starting position is the right lane

In fairness,if people used the roundabout correctly there wouldn't be a problem getting in. You are contributing to the problem. I use this roundabout everyday day and use the right lane to enter and move left before the Enfield exit.

Conor03

I will continue to use the left lane as this issue will never be addressed and I am not missing my exit! The one time I did use the left lane the car behind sped up and nearly caused a crash. I will not be in that situation again

conf101

Conor03 wrote: »

I will continue to use the left lane as this issue will never be addressed and I am not missing my exit! The one time I did use the left lane the car behind sped up and nearly caused a crash. I will not be in that situation again

As has been said already, as long as people continue to drive incorrectly (i.e. what you're doing) then you're right, the issue will never be addressed.

The problem with Irish drivers is that so many of them drive in a way that suits their own individual needs, rather than driving according to the rules of the road.

Staph

So you are going to continue to cause problems for the other drivers using the roundabout correctly.... well done.

grogi

conf101 wrote: »

As has been said already, as long as people continue to drive incorrectly (i.e. what you're doing) then you're right, the issue will never be addressed.

The problem with Irish drivers is that so many of them drive in a way that suits their own individual needs, rather than driving according to the rules of the road.

But he is not wrong per se. Such behaviour might be antisocial, but not breaking the law.

conf101

He is wrong. That's not the correct way to drive on a roundabout.

grogi

conf101 wrote: »

He is wrong. That's not the correct way to drive on a roundabout.

Another myth (the first is diesel-bad-for-city) live here... THERE IS NO CORRECT WAY... The rules promoted by RSA are focused on improving the efficiency and throughput of roundabouts, which in result would reduce the congestion.

You can take left lane and go around - and you'll be doing nothing wrong but being an ass.

Conor03

If that's what it takes to get me home then yeah ill keep doing it even if it makes me an ass:P
I aint the only one doing it and Im sure theres some on here doing it but afraid to say it!!

ironclaw

Its amazing to think that 15 mins with a line painting crew would literally solve most, if not all, of Ireland's roundabout problems. It would also be a slap on the back and a big thumbs up to how stupid a nation we are becoming that we need to be told what lane to be in.

Btw Conor, if you cause an accident, you will likely be a fault for being in the incorrect lane. You are also acting in a manner than another driver should not have to contend with i.e. At that point i don't expect (Although there always will because idiots) a driver to be to my left. Proceed with caution.

shane b

I use this junction every evening and take the kilcock/trim (D) exit. I always take the right lane on approach to the roundabout. I see a lot of cars changing lanes to go to Enfield but the issue is when the outside lane is busy. Someone almost stopped their car on the roundabout in front of me last week waiting to change lanes.
The thing that bugs me is that people hold the middle of the slip way until the marking close to the roundabout divides the slip in two (like the photo below) and then decide lane they are going to use. Granted the slip isn t the widest but there is enough space for 2 lanes of cars to queue up to the roundabout and considering how busy this slip is I think it s a bit odd. For me I know I m taking the inside lane so once on the slipway I tend to move my car to the right as I move up towards the roundabout.
Getting away from the M4 Junction I found this diagram while doing an image search that I thought was interesting..
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Getting away from the M4 Junction I found this diagram while doing an image search that I thought was interesting.

grogi

ironclaw wrote: »

Btw Conor, if you cause an accident, you will likely be a fault for being in the incorrect lane.

"If you cause accident, you'll be at fault" - that's self explanatory, isn't it?

You are also acting in a manner than another driver should not have to contend with i.e. At that point i don't expect (Although there always will because idiots) a driver to be to my left. Proceed with caution.

If one is changing a lane (from right to left in this case) and assume there is nobody there, he is doing it wrong. You must yield to the traffic in the lane you are changing to, regardless where they entered that lane or where they are going to.

twin_beacon

ironclaw wrote: »

Btw Conor, if you cause an accident, you will likely be a fault for being in the incorrect lane. You are also acting in a manner than another driver should not have to contend with i.e. At that point i don't expect (Although there always will because idiots) a driver to be to my left. Proceed with caution.

If everyone drove correctly onto this roundabout, then traffic entering from Clane (exit a in the diagram) would in the left lane.

grogi

twin_beacon wrote: »

If everyone drove correctly onto this roundabout, then traffic entering from Clane (exit a in the diagram) would in the left lane.

Wait for the "these cars should give way to the cars already on the roundabout" argument...

Advbrd

Conor03 wrote: »

I will continue to use the left lane as this issue will never be addressed and I am not missing my exit! The one time I did use the left lane the car behind sped up and nearly caused a crash. I will not be in that situation again

You will continue to be in the wrong and will continue to contribute to the problem in addition to blocking entry to traffic from Clane. Well done.

Isambard

what's needed is for the left lane to be marked Enfield approaching the roundabout. Then it could be used as people are. As it is, the correct lane is the right lane.

flazio

Would it be fair to say that the majority of cars coming off the motorway at that junction are heading for the Enfield road? If so then that could cause a bit of a queue to form at peak times that could end up on the motorway, if I remember the layout correctly then this could be solved by having two lanes on the Enfield exit as far as the old junction for Kilcock and then a zip merge. That way both left and right lanes can be used.

grogi

Isambard wrote: »

what's needed is for the left lane to be marked Enfield approaching the roundabout. Then it could be used as people are. As it is, the correct lane is the right lane.

What should happen is the left lane disapearing after exit B (and E), right becoming left and new lane appearing in the centre. Add mild lane barriers, such as slightly raised lines - and ambiguity disappears.

But Irish road engineers keep using the archaic design of a roundabout - and we see the results. Confusion and ambiguity.

twin_beacon

flazio wrote: »

Would it be fair to say that the majority of cars coming off the motorway at that junction are heading for the Enfield road? If so then that could cause a bit of a queue to form at peak times that could end up on the motorway, if I remember the layout correctly then this could be solved by having two lanes on the Enfield exit as far as the old junction for Kilcock and then a zip merge. That way both left and right lanes can be used.

If everyone used the current setup correctly, then there would indeed be a line of cars down the hard shoulder of the M4.
I don't think 2 lanes for enfield would actually work, as then anybody exiting the M4 East bound would have an extra lane of traffic to contend with.

I think have the having the left lane assigned to Clane, M4 West bound, and Enfield, and the right lane assigned to Kilcock and M4 East bound could be a workable option. There would need to be a large gantry sign to clear things up. OR, have the facility for both lanes to exit at the Enfield exit, and have them merge further down towards the old N4. This would reduce a large tailback on the M4 for exiting traffic, and greatly reduce the chance of a collision as there should be a lot less lane changes.