who was in the right?

hussey

Hi!
was very nearly in an accident


anyway we we coming off the m50 (southbound) at the blanch exit, heading to navan road southbound (towards blanch s/c) and the driver who was behind us entering the roundabout (we were both in the rightmost lane as I was taking the 3rd exit) anyway, the driver moves into the 2nd lane at the lights before the navan road exit. The lane markings was (3lanes) ?(I don't know but think straight), Straight, Straight and right). but instead of taking the navan road exit she drove across us towards m50 exit (she came from m50 remember)

Hopefully the map I very crudely drew would clear it up

no accident occured, but she stated she was in the correct lane, and the straight arrow meant right or straight ahead, I argued straight meant take the left turn

now we said she was also behind us on m50, and she should have been in the rightmost lane until her exit, since no damage occured we left each other angry

please let me know who was in the right here!!

edit - coming up to the lights the road marking on my lane said : cavan, m50, something

so I know I could turn left from that lane

Bluetonic

You were in the right there, the other vechile shouldn't have changed lanes until after the N3 exit.... the confusion arises becasue the "roundabout" is controlled by traffic lights. In this case I'd say it not really a roundabout, also the road markings gove over the bridge clearly state the three lane are all for N3.

SparkyLarks

hussey wrote:

Hopefully the map I very crudely drew would clear it up

no accident occured, but she stated she was in the correct lane, and the straight arrow meant left or straight ahead, I argued straight meant take the left turn

I'm very confused.

I though she turned right.

It seams wrong that if your taking the next exit that oyou are in the inside lane. you should be in the middle or outside lane I would think.

otherwise everyone on te outside or middle lane hase to take the first exit.
Normally with a thre land roundabout the outside lane is for the first exit. The middle lane is for either the 2nd or 3rd exit and the inside lane is for the third or 4th.

The arrows however will tell you
A straight arrow means straight( i.e 2nd exit)
A left arroy means the next exit
a left and straight arrow means you can wither go left or straight
a right arrow measn you turn right i.e. 3rd or 4th exit

fletch

If you were going towards the Blanch Centre, then I know from driving around that roundabout very often, that from the road markings you had every right to be in that lane, not sure whether or not she was allowed to be in the middle lane if she was going back towards the M50 northbound.
Anyway that roundabout is a disaster, half way around it, it changes from 2 lanes to 3!

the jew

I didn't actually read YOUR account of what happened, but since you're telling the story, I'm guessing that you are gonna be in the right, considering it is your version of what happened.

Green_Martian

I have to agree with Fletch, that Roundabout is a disaster, if im going to the Blanch Centre i normally try to get in the middle lane. But its gets confusing as ou are in two lanes then all of a sudden the lane you were in changes and you find yourself between 2 lanes.............bit strange i think.

Anyway back to the topic, i think she was in the wrong, if she wanted to go back to the M50 she should have been in the lane you were in as she was going to the next and possibly last exit for her.

hussey

Blue tonic - yeah sorry, corrected that mistake

yeah it does change from 2-> 3 lanes, and I just wanted to make sure, what I was doing was correct, Next time I'll just jump into the middle land save all hassle

I was confused by the arrow really, as they are different to what the words say

anyway thanks for your opinions

murphaph

From what you've told us, you were in the right. I know the roundabout and it's 'markings' well. It is allowed to take the next exit (N3 towards Cavan) from the inside lane of the roundabout. The road markings mean the woman had to change lanes to get from the middle lane to the M50 Northbound exit (she was doing a U-turn, so clearly was confused anyway) and if she had hit you while doing so it would be just the same as if she'd hit you while performing a lane change on a dual carriageway-she was in the wrong.

seamus

hussey wrote:

yeah it does change from 2-> 3 lanes, and I just wanted to make sure, what I was doing was correct, Next time I'll just jump into the middle land save all hassle

I think ultimately she was in the wrong, as she failed to obey the road markings ("Straight arrow means straight or right"? WTF. We have to share a road with this moron?), and she 100% used the roundabout incorrectly. Had the collision occured, the law would have sided with you, as you were doing nothing wrong by staying in the right-hand lane when turning right on a roundabout (even though you too may have been disobeying the road markings). But then, afaik, there's no specific provision for signal-controlled roundabouts in law.

As you say, switch to the middle lane in future when dealing with any of these roundabouts, and all should be well. A lot of the other M50 interchanges have road markings which force you to switch from right-hand to middle lane when you come around, but iirc the blanch one doesn't.

FuzzyZoeller

You were right, she was wrong. See attached for markings.