How to approach this Roundabout

pat_sconce

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120957209#Comment_120957209

I think you have the opposite exit. Click on the Google maps in the op and it links to the location

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120957582#Comment_120957582

Dont think so. If you click on OPs link and go back about 50 yds, you end up at my link.

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120957271#Comment_120957271

OP wasn't going to the village, he's heading out the N3. He has no need to be anywhere near roundabout, does he?

Qwerty27

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120957668#Comment_120957668

I turn in left towards the Bell pub as heading to Laurel Lodge so this is the only option. I think you have to use the "roundabout" too for access to the hospital.

Reason I approached in the left lane is that after the "roundabout" I'm taking a left less than 400 meters after exiting the roundabout/junction.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058308596/how-to-approach-this-roundabout

"the road marking have been repainted and now show left lane is for the first exit only heading towards the Navan Road"

I'm not sure why there is any discussion past this. He was going to his lane, not yours. If you continued around the N3 exit and had a bang, you'd be fault.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956317#Comment_120956317

The left lane / right lane rules only really apply for two lane roundabouts. when you deal with 3+ land roundabouts the left lane should not assume it can keep going. It would be able where road hierarchy made sense for it to be designed that way.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956945#Comment_120956945

Streetview should that the left lane and been left turn only for years. Possibly since it was complete.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956447#Comment_120956447

No quite. The "middle lane" you've highlighted is actually the inner lane at the point of the slip road junction. Doing that makes the driver cross extra lanes unnecessarily. Two lanes entering should usually be entering into the two outer lanes minimising the lanes being crossed.

Obviously the road markings show you exactly what you have to do, so OP hasn't a leg to stand one. But even without markings. It's pretty clear where the cars should be going based on the layout of the lanes. Although the markings could be better. But still, worrying the amount of people driving for years and still unsure what to do at roundabouts.

https://i.imgur.com/0uQFM8C.png

Duine_Eigin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960084#Comment_120960084

Entering either lane on the roundabout would be acceptable in my view. The middle lane is actually the safer option taking into account how many people refuse to obey the left turn only road markings entering the roundabout. By taking up the leftmost lane on the roundabout, you run the risk of colliding with anyone who has refused to obey the road markings entering the roundabout. The exact situation the OP found himself in and what started this discussion.

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960415#Comment_120960415

The issue is more there's no signage (or there wasn't) to say left lane is left turning only until you reach the top of the slip.

Even then it's only painted on the road so in heavy traffic you're not going to notice it as the car in front of you will cover it.

If there was a left turn arrow painted where the straight ahead arrow is painted on the left lane or at the entrance of the slip road it would allow people to get into the correct lane early.

As a generalisation I don't think the majority of people wilfully ignore road markings/signage. Yes there are cheeky pups that use the wrong lane if it's faster flowing then try to muscle in and merge at the top, I like to believe these are minority ar$eholes.

I think generally though,the average person just wants to get from a to b safely without the headache of hitting another car or bring hit, so will follow markings once the markings are clearly displayed.

But yeah I agree with you, I don't see why the left lane can't be both left turn and straight ahead.

Seve OB

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960415#Comment_120960415

There is no middle lane

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960885#Comment_120960885

It's bad practice to be getting drivers used to making 3 o'clock exits from roundabouts by entering them in the left lane going 270 degrees around them.

I totally agree with you on the signage issues, we seem to have an endemic of sticking signs on poles in urban areas but won't go to the trouble of properly signing junctions and higher speed roads. The reliance of paint on the carriageway is grand in the dead of night but useless when there is any kind of traffic.

Spook_ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956967#Comment_120956967

I don't think there is a route to Castlenock without taking the RaB, the earlier slip road takes you towards the shopping centre, Snugborough intergchange and N3, the left at the RaB entails turning left and then entering the road on the left to join the Dunsink lane and then to traverse the N3/Navan Road because there is no right turn at the lights for Auburn Ave from the N3/Navan Rd.

Sleeper12

I had to double check the date on the opening post.

The left lane has been left only for a lot longer than OP thinks. It's a lot more than "the last few weeks".

harmless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120962087#Comment_120962087

Google maps show it changed sometime between summer 2018 and summer 2019 and has stayed that way since.

Seve OB

RaB. 🤯 I swear the English language has gone to pot.

anyway, depends on where in the knock you are going, you can take slip and go round by the bell pub.

and again, major changes to the top of the slip there a few weeks ago. I only went up it once since and can’t remember exactly, but it was quite dramatic change

Flinty997

I used that lane a fair bit. When it's busy the lane is usually backed up. Easy not to see the markings on the road.

Since day one I've thought that roundabout was poorly designed. Not very intuitive. But after a while you get used it. Tbh it's very common in the UK for junctions like this to become complex over time. That's what happened to this one. Google maps is very useful for showing the correct lanes

I've ever liked the clock system on roundabouts. Also think we make multi lane roundabouts too small.

At the end of the day the op was wrong. Most important thing is not to hit anything and learn from it.

Flinty997

From a practical point of view that left lane moves off slower, I would always use the right lane going for the blanch exit.

It's a nightmare at peak though. A real bottleneck.

Duine_Eigin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120961080#Comment_120961080

We are talking about which lane to take when you get on the roundabout and are going towards Blanch. The roundabout opens up into three lanes after the exit for Castleknock. See post 37.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960885#Comment_120960885

There is new signage in place now showing the left lane is left turn only. Looks like it went in with the additional left turn only lane markings the whole way up the slip. No excuse now for people being in the wrong lane, even in heavy traffic.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960415#Comment_120960415

The lane you proposed is the inner lane not the middle lane. If lights stop the flow on the round about then the it's probably irrelevant. But if the lines were marked better it could actually word as a free flowing junction.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120962705#Comment_120962705

That (The Bell) would be going west from this roundabout, and in that case the previous slip is skips the roundabout. But the navan road exit OP sohuld have taken is going east and the slip road left turn/lane is the only way to go that way AFAIK.

Flinty997

You can't get to the bell on the slip that skips the roundabout.

Navan road exit takes forever, due to how awkward it is at the travel lodge. Slow light also. Which is why people go via the bell.

If it's at peak all these roads are jammed. None are freeflowing and all are queued back.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120964437#Comment_120964437

yep, as of april 2023 that sign did not exist. and as Flinty997 mentioned, in rush hour you had not a hope of seeing road markings till you were on top of them.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3842829,-6.36026,3a,75y,191.43h,82.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEL0AbpFtHlQg2TG_hkKTPg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

Flinty997

I never noticed the signage and I use it now and then. It's rare there isn't a car or two or a queue turning left. So that has almost always made me take the right lane.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975166#Comment_120975166

Yeah that’s right. I mixed where the exit to pub was, but the point was more about going east vrs west from the roundabout.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976134#Comment_120976134

People often don't go A to B due to traffic or slow lights. Often they go a counter intuitive route due to local knowledge and experience of the route.

Something you won't get from an off peak photo from Google maps.

JIdontknow

Don't mean to hijack the thread but what's the story with this roundabout (Carrignaore Roundabout Waterford). No markings on the roundabout but an exit to the left. there is traffic from both lanes merging into the single lane of the roundabout / second exit (first being at the start of the roundabout to the left).

52°15'32.6"N 7°10'56.5"W - Google Maps

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976712#Comment_120976712

The story is don't hit things. If in doubt let others go ahead out of your way.

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976712#Comment_120976712

I'd probably stay in the left lane for first and second exit. With no road markings you can guarantee people will be driving "in the middle"

Then obviously right lane for the final exit.

Or else you can take the walkinstown roundabout approach ..say a prayer close your eyes and hope for the best. 😂

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976438#Comment_120976438

No amount of local knowledge will make somebody take a route that goes in the opposite direction than they need to go.

Somebody said that there is a exit that bypasses the roundabout and you don’t need to take the roundabout for the Navan road as in the OP. Pointing out the OP exit goes in the opposite direction on the Navan Road

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120979351#Comment_120979351

But the OPs end objective isn't the Navan Road. It's Laurel Lodge. Which you can get to by going right or left. But right has two left turning filter lights and is shorter. Left is longer and more slow crossroads that back up due to short light cycles.

The early exit that bypasses the roundabout brings you on huge circular loop and adds 10-15 mins to get to the same place. It also backs up half way down the M50 to on a bad day. It also is crammed getting onto the M3. You avoid much if that going right on the roundabout and left at the Bell filter.

That's why the OP goes that way. Left lane avoids the traffic that uses the right lane onto the roundabout to bypass the traffic on the early exit.

I'd be 50:50 on which lane on the roundabout is quicker. However (legally) you've no choice now since they changed the markings on the left lane.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120979444#Comment_120979444

It wasn't in related to OP's destination. Somebody asked why the left turn at the rounabout exists as there is a left exit for the N3/Navan road before the roundabout. I'm pointing out that left exit goes west, the left at the slip road goes east. I'm not sure I can make the reason it exists any clearer.

If OP's logic route was right at the roundabout, that's fine. But they were in the wrong lane. The fact the left lane avoids the traffic doing the right thing is not relevant. They have not just now changed it. It's been changed years, google images show the left lane was for the City/R147 since 2016 or earlier.

Flinty997

It WAS the OP who said that.

Going east or west is only useful in the context of the destination. In this case the OP can use either exit.

Asking why there is a left turn on the roundabout, or that you can get to the bell from the earlier slip implies the person asking doesn't know the junction and is only thinking of it from the point of view of exiting the M50 heading south. It's solely about the OP destination.

People coming from all other points of the compass need that exit to service a multitude of other destinations.

I still think it's of an awkward mess of a junction. I appreciate it's complicated by the canal and railway going through the middle of it.